Pinoy Life In Hong Kong

What is it with Pinoys and the habit of congregating in one place? A public place such as footbridges, covered walkways and the like. Parks are fine but footbridges?

I was surprised to see a lot of my "kababayans" converting these walking paths to a place where they can hang out with other fellow Pinoys. In short, the footbridges became a makeshift "tambayan". They were busy chatting with one another and I was shocked to see one lady eating rice and possibly pork adobo in a paper plate. The exact place was the footbridge in IFC Mall Hong Kong. It was a breezy Sunday afternoon.



I was tempted to take a photo of the interesting scene in front of me but I decided to forego of the thought. Seeing them in groups talking and laughing together also reminded me of Lucky Plaza in Singapore. There, many Pinoys gather and congregate during their off days.

When I got back to the hotel, I thought of the Philippines and I thought of the children of these women who were left behind. These women, most of whom are mothers, chose to work abroad and take care of other people's children so that their own children back home will have a better life.

But how much does a domestic helper earn in Hong Kong?

From my limited readings about OFW life in Hong Kong, their wages amount to PHP25,000 a month including meal allowance. This is the set minimum wage for domestic helpers. If they send half of their earnings to their families in the Philippines, they're left with practically a pittance. The cost of living in Hong Kong is expensive. And if you want to eat a clean and decent meal, you have to spend HKD20 at the least. I'm not sure if the daily meal allowance given to domestic helpers reaches HKD20. I hope it does.

Working overseas is definitely not a bed of roses. People back home think that once you earn $$$, you become filthy rich. What they don't understand is that the OFWs also spend $$$ overseas to survive. They don't convert in PHP because the food, the goods, the fares and everything else are not in PHP anyway. Thus, nothing much is left with them. It's sad but they have to do it in order to survive and send money back home.