Final Blog Post

Although I had to leave my internship at Mission for Migrant Workers early due to sickness, I had the most life changing experience. I met people that, in the United States on the other side of the world, I would never have had the opportunity to meet and I gained friendships that would last a lifetime. The greatest part, though, was the work that I was able to do. Alongside the two other interns, we helped migrant workers with their cases, attended immigration and worked with them to fight for their rights. I learned that in Hong Kong, the rights for migrant workers are very limited, which is why we need to fight for the ones that they do have, the ones that have been abused and manipulated by employers. Working with these migrant workers not only helped them but helped me. I learned about kind people who oftentimes were forced to leave their home countries due to impoverished conditions, leaving behind family and support. I am forever grateful to have met such wonderful people and made strong, lifelong friendships in such a short time.

Overall, interning at Mission For Migrant Workers impacted my view on the world. Growing up in the United States, the politics in Asia were never a focus in school classrooms for me. I never learned about the conditions of the Philippines or Indonesia, nor that Hong Kong was even separate from China. I still correct my friend from back home that I did not go to China, but instead Hong Kong. I gained an insight into what things look like on the other side of the world and was able to make an impact there. I can now spread my knowledge of Hong Kong and migrant workers to my school and can pass it on to the interns who plan on going the next year. This opportunity was fully funded by the Illinois Wesleyan University Freeman Asia Scholarship and The Fund for Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice and without it, I would never have been able to learn and make an impact in the way I did. Hopefully, this will not be my last time in Hong Kong, but I know that it will forever stay in my heart.

Understanding Philippines through Hong Kong

As I work in an office where a majority of the workers are from the Philippines, I have been learning about their home through their stories. The current frequent topic centers around the government’s plan to change the constitution. They want to move away from presidential and toward a more parliamentary style. The politicians are the ones who want to change it. It is an idea from the president which is supported by politicians because they will benefit it. This amendment would change the way the government is run and have a very big impact on the laws. One law that would be changed involves ownership. Currently, 60 percent of ownership/investment in the Philippines has to be owned by Filipinos. Under the new law, 100 percent can be owned by foreign investors. The implications of this would cause the entire structure of ownership to change, benefitting politicians and big business instead of the people from the Philippines. The prohibition on land ownership by foreigners would be removed. Under this prohibition removal, land, media, water, electricity, telecommunications, and educational institutions would now be owned by foreign companies. The Philippines would lie in the hands of the rest of the world.

Two surveys have currently been done, polling Filipinos’ opinions on changing the constitution. One found that nearly 70 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of changing the constitution. The other found around 80 percent not in favor. The ones who are in favor are the politicians and the president. The new constitution also would say that there is no limit on a political term, enabling politicians to remain in office till they decide otherwise. So much of the new constitution only benefits the government itself and takes away from the people.

Other things I have learned about the Philippines is the state of the people. Many live in rural towns where high-income jobs are near impossible to find. That leads a lot of people to work as a domestic worker in Hong Kong, Singapore, and others. This enables them to send money home to support their families. Even though they only make $4410 HKD per month here, the cost of living in the Philippines is a lot less.

Learning about the beautiful scenery has made me want to travel there in the future. As I am hoping to be a school counselor, I can possibly go there for a summer. I can also go to Thailand, Mongolia, Vietnam, and more. I hope to travel around Asia more in the future as there is so much culture to learn about.

Picture Update!

Our friend who likes to come say hi occasionally

Eman fighting for migrant workers’ rights

Eating some lychee from the market. Thanks Vivian for buying it for us!

Where we hangout on sundays, with the migrant workers themselves

One of the campus night bus drivers loves his decorations

Hong Kong/MFMW tips

My internship is about halfway done, so here are the things I have learned!

Bring lots of bug spray and an itch stick. Mosquitos are crazy out there.
Nice clothes are not really needed. Nice casual clothes are the only thing, except for one or two outfits for going to court. Otherwise, shorts and t-shirts are just fine.
Bring old things like old gym shoes and almost used up conditioner that you can throw out before leaving. This makes room for new things to be bought.
ALWAYS bring an umbrella wherever you go, and not the cheap kind. When it rains, it pours hard.
Find a Fusion or Park n Shop. This is a convenient place to get groceries and there’s one on campus.
The cheapest place to eat is also on campus. Food everywhere else is very expensive.
Bring a couple plastic forks, knives, spoons, maybe a cheap cup, bowl, or even spices and tea. All of this can be thrown out when leaving. Everything is expensive so its easiest to bring it along.
Don’t forget a towel (maybe two, one for the beach), shower shoes, scissors, a sewing kit, and really anything you would bring to a dorm because that’s where you’ll be living. Preferably, bring old ones again that you can throw out.
Grab a big water bottle because you will increase your water intake by 300%.
Bring a pillow. It’s great for the plane and the pillows that are given are very hard.
Try a time change calculator a week before you leave. This will help with jet lag and you’ll have a much better time settling in.
Save money! Transportation adds up very quickly here and the living stipend runs out fast in Hong Kong. I mean the average cost of a house is over 1 million USD. Everything in Hong Kong is expensive.
Do not shop for everything at Sha Tin mall. It’s conveniently placed but the prices are outrageous. Find other places to go. Park n shop and Ikea is good for house appliances and the night market is great for souvenirs and clothes. Find a food market, like Tai Po market, for fresh food needs.
No need for moisturizer here. You will almost always be constantly sweating and will feel gross if you layer the moisturizer on top of that.
Bring lots of reusable bags. Plastic bags cost money here and it’s just easier to carry everything in bigger bags.
Definitely grab some books. The plane ride is long and the first week, we had no wifi and so we just read for hours.
Bring a couple of warm cloths too! The office at MFMW is VERY cold so a sweater and pants are definitely needed to stay sane.
Citymapper will be your life guide. It’s an app and it will tell you how to get everywhere using the public transportation. It can be confusing without it so this app is an absolute must. Also download uber too for when you’re out late and the public transportation closes for the night.
Made plans to do something in Hong Kong already? You might want to forget them. You get one rest day to yourself (your other rest day will be spending time with the coordinator, which is fun so don’t worry) and you will want to use your single rest day to rest. City life is exhausting and most days you will leave around 9 am and not get back till 8 pm.
Make some Spotify playlists that are long. The commute to work is an hour to an hour and a half each way and you have to take three trains (which sounds intimidating but it really is not difficult). There’s not enough room to read so you can either bond with those around you, jam out or both!

Make the best of the short time you have and hopefully these tips can reach any future Hong Kong interns.

Saturday Adventures

The girls and I pulled our swimsuits on and stuffed sunscreen in our bags as we were going to the beach. It was June 23rd and we had been wanting to go since we first arrived here. We walked down the stairs of our dorm and as we went to stand by the bus stop, rain started pouring down on our heads. Clearly, beach day was not going to happen.

We arrived at Central on time anyway and quickly decided that today was not that day. Instead, we would go to the museum. We got lost a couple times and found ourselves in places that appeared to be heading in the right direction but quickly brought us down the wrong paths. We tread through the rain for almost 2 hours before finally arriving. There, we walked through the entire history of Hong Kong starting with the first known records. We watched movies about the culture and climbed in a historical bus. We also learned about the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, where bun towers are built 60 feet high and people race to the top of the tower to reach as high up as possible. The higher the bun collected, the better the luck spirits would bring to your family. We also learned about how Japan affected Hong Kong during their occupation and about the water rationing in the 1960s. After walking through the exhibit, we made our way back to the dorm room.

The next Saturday, we made our ways to Cheung Chau island, an expensive ferry ride away from Central. No cars are allowed on this island and upon arrival, I quickly realized it should have been named dog island since stray dogs roamed everywhere. It was a hot, humid day and each of us dripped in sweat. I packed my pb&j for lunch while everyone else enjoyed their fish balls, a classic of the island. We walked fast to the beach to get in the water as quick as possible and feel some relief from the hot air. We whipped our shoes off but then suddenly were burning from the rocky sand. I awkwardly plodded over to the water as my feet burned with each step and upon arriving at the shore, delved deep into the warm sea. A couple of my friends did not know how to swim so I engaged them in a very poor floating lesson. I swam to the middle of the swimming area as the rest of them stayed as close to the shore as possible. We hopped on out and strolled around the island and climbed some mysterious staircases that led us nowhere. We ate a classic Hong Kong dinner filled with lots of noodles, unknown veggies, and a chicken with the head left on the plate (which I did not take part in eating). As the sun set for the day, we rode the choppy ferry back and only felt a little seasick.

Our Saturday adventures have only just begun and I am excited to see what is to come.

The Three W’s

On July 1st, 1997, Hong Kong was freed from British colonization and returned back to China, gaining their independence and creating Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day. This day is celebrated very differently than my own independence day, where protests are the biggest thing to do. Hong Kong residents use this day to bring awareness to the government the issues that are currently going on. Mission for Migrant Workers participated, campaigning for the rights of the workers. There are three main rights that we are fighting for and they are known as the three W’s, working hours, wages, and workers rights.
For working hours, MFMW was clever in deciding what to ask for. There are no laws pertaining to working hours for anyone here, leading to very long working hours. Migrant workers on average work around 12-16 hours. This leads to sleep deprivation and chronic stress. 140 migrant workers died in 2016 due to stress-related illnesses due to the slave-like conditions they have to endure. This is a problem because they are severely overworked. MFMW realized that if they fought for capping working hours, employers might claim that their helper is not working the entire 8 hours and therefore should be allowed to work for longer. Although this claim is not great, for example, firefighters are not always putting out fires but that does not mean they should not get paid for the hours they are waiting, employers have more power and may have been able to use this as a fighting point. Instead, MFMW is fighting for rest hours, 8 hours of sleep and 3 hours of rest time, totaling 11 hours of rest. This is harder to fight because no employer is going to fight with “my helper should not get enough rest”. This presents the employer as mean and that is why MFMW is fighting for rest hours.
For wages, the minimum wage here in Hong Kong is $34.5 HKD ($4.42 USD). This is not a living wage here since the cost of living is so high. Migrant workers are making even less. They receive $4,410 HKD ($562.09 USD) per month. When calculating how much this is per hour using the average number of hours of work, this only comes to $8 HKD ($1.01 USD) per hour. This is absurdly low. The average price of a home here is $8.08 million HKD ($1.28 million USD). The cost of living here is extremely high and $8 per hour is just not enough. MFMW is asking for the salary to be raised to $5,500 HKD ($701.02 USD) per month. This still seems very low to me but it would make a big difference. MFMW is asking for a living wage since the current wage for migrant workers is more near to a slave wage.
For workers rights, they are asking for suitable accommodations to be defined. Currently, there is a lot of ambiguity as to what defines “suitable”. Bathrooms, above cabinets, laundry rooms, and on top of the roof are some locations that currently are defined as okay under the current laws, but clearly, these are not suitable accommodations to us. Defining clearly what is not suitable is a very important issue because currently there are a lot of migrant workers living in situations that are unimaginable. Another issue is that there is a live-in requirement for migrant workers. They have to live in the house of their employer. This not only creates issues with privacy and being overworked, but also issues arise with accommodations. Hong Kong only has so much space and so houses tend to be very small. It is very infrequent that a migrant worker would have their own room and so MFMW is pushing to remove this live-in requirement for the betterment of the migrant workers.
MFMW is very clever is choosing what to fight for and how to present it. They are fighting for living wages and rest hours instead of maximum working hours and a minimum wage increase. They are rights that I take for granted sometimes and that are not extended to these workers that I am spending a lot of time with here. These seem like natural human rights to me. Everyone should be able to get rest, but not everyone has the right to do it. Although I could not participate in the protest due to policy reasons, I very much align with the fight and am supporting it through helping my clients fight for the rights that they do already have.

A note to those who work at my internship: if any information you find here is incorrect, please let me know! I am only still learning as I go and would not want to represent MFMW incorrectly.

Mission for Migrant Workers- My Internship

My internship is located in Central Hong Kong with the Mission for Migrant Workers. The first couple of days involved a lot of learning and I realized that there was a lot I did not know. First, I was handed a little book about their recent research that they have conducted here. It included information about the living conditions of migrant workers and how it came to be that way. In the legal written contract, the migrant workers are required to live in the house of their employer and the only conditions are that the employer supplies “suitable accommodation”. This leaves a lot of room for what is considered suitable. Oftentimes, the workers are placed either in rooms with children or rooms that serve another purpose, such as a laundry room or even bathrooms. There are situations where migrant workers have to sleep on top of a bathtub or sometimes are just given a fold out mattress. When their bed is the living room couch, they have to wait for the family to all go to bed to sleep and oftentimes are awakened in the night by the employers. The live-in situation has caused quite the struggle for the migrant workers because the apartments and houses here are already so small to start and employers typically do not have the extra room to give to the migrant workers.

After going through the book about the living situations, we moved onto reading the contract. It was only 2 pages long but took a total of 3 hours to go over. Something as simple as “location of origin” has so much more to it. This location is used for calculating how much an employer has to pay to cover the workers’ transportation home. This can have issues if a migrant worker uses another location, such as if their aunt lives in Manila and they use this address instead to process paperwork quicker. Something as simple as this can have so many issues if not done properly. Another thing that is explained is that the migrant workers should not terminate the contract with their employer due to fighting because this cannot be upheld in court. Only sexual and physical abuse count as a legal reason to terminate contracts, but not verbal abuse. In a lot of ways, the contract seems to be against the migrant workers. Oftentimes they do not terminate contracts and file reports because when they do, they are unable to work and therefore have to find shelter (which Mission for Migrant Workers provide). Sometimes these cases can take years and they cannot leave Hong Kong in the meantime either to visit their family. The system here seems to be against them.

Another big thing I noticed was the pay of the migrant workers. They receive $52,920 HKD (Hong Kong Dollars) per year, which is only $6,784 USD. They send a majority of this to their families at home since that was their purpose in coming to work this job. The crazy part to me is that they make much less at home. To me, the 6,784 already seems so little so I could not even imagine what the salaries at their homes are.

This internship has made me so grateful for the opportunities that I have been given. I was lucky enough to be born in the United States and that alone is a great privilege. Seeing what the migrant workers have gone through has made me realize to be thankful for that I have, even when I complain that it is not enough. There are a lot of migrant workers who are happy with their situations. It is not always the material things that can make one happiest.

What I’ve Learned

I have been in Hong Kong for about two weeks now and I have learned quite a lot about the culture. I arrived on Monday, June 11^th, 2018 with one other IWU student and we had to grab a taxi and tell a man who didn’t speak English where to go by using pictures. I had talked to previous IWU students who participated in this same internship in years past who had said that not everyone will speak English so I had expected it but navigating any kind of conversation was difficult. Of course, I do not place any expectations on the people here to know English because they are in Hong Kong, but a fair amount of people do. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 when China pushed to get it back, which is why there is a lot of English present here.

Anyway, we spent the first couple of days exploring the university that we are staying at and figuring out the train system on our own. Having been to London twice now, I noticed that the train system was almost exactly like London’s but just a bit smaller so it was very easy for me to navigate. The most difficult thing so far has been trying to find food. I have been vegan for almost 5 years now (vegetarian when I travel as sometimes vegan is almost impossible) and trying to order food when I cannot read the menu is very difficult. I cannot ask the cashiers if something does or does not have meat in it and half the time when I order something, they do not have the veggie ones. Luckily, the lady hosting us speaks both Cantonese and English so when we are together, she typically just orders something for me.

The biggest thing I have learned while here is how expensive city living is. I live in the suburbs of Chicago in the United States and having grown up there, I know which places not to shop at. Here, I was given no hints about where to go expect the internet and the first place I was led to was the grocery store in the mall, two stops away by train. The store is hidden deep within the mall and took a lot of searching to find it. We bought our groceries and headed on our way. The food I bought mostly consisted of instant noodles and peanut butter and jelly fixings. Without any cooking supplies, my options were very limited. I ate at fast food places often and very quickly my money started disappearing. The five other students and I decided we needed to invest in some cooking supplies and we all split a pan and some containers (which we have yet to use) but the food still added up fast. We eventually found a little grocery store on campus that was about half the price but had limited options so we stocked up on some more instant noodles and snacks. Today we plan on finding a discount store to buy some bulk rice, beans, lentils, etc. and hopefully we’ll finally be able to bring down food costs.

The other major spending cost is transportation, which I had no idea I would be spending this much money on. Since our housing is located at a pretty far distance from the main city of Hong Kong, getting anywhere is quite the trip. We take one bus (which is free) to get down to the station and then typically three to four trains to get to our destination. My workplace is in Central, so we take three trains costing a total of $17 HKD each way. This comes to $170 HKD each week, and while that does not seem like much, that is only for work. If I want to visit places at all, it adds up very quickly. On Saturdays, our coordinator also likes to take us places and transportation there is usually another $50 HKD. That doesn’t include the food we have to buy while we’re out because she likes to take us to places to eat (which I’m not complaining about the trips, only the cost).

For those planning on going to Hong Kong, my biggest tip is to budget well. Find some night markets if you want to buy clothes and look up places to buy budget food in bulk. Bring food wherever you go and never say no to free food (which I have been lucky enough to have come across frequently). Try to avoid extra costs like drinks with your meals or desserts. This has saved me a ton and allowed me to buy things like souvenirs which I can bring home with me. Don’t forget to pack things like towels, laundry detergent, some simple kitchen things like a spoon, fork, a sandwich container, and any basic thing that you would bring to a dorm room because that’s the accommodation. I am so thankful to have received this opportunity but beware that there is a large financial cost, prepare for it, and pack well!

Hong Kong- Things To Do

This first week and a half here, I have traveled to so many beautiful places. We went to the Dragon Boat Festival in Stanley, explored Central Hong Kong, visited Shatin, and traveled through Macau. The Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday that I was told about but had no idea what it was about. When we showed up to Stanley, a bunch of teams were rowing the dragon boats as we watched from the beach shores and I noticed that University of Michigan was participating. I was excited to see a team that I knew and could root for! Many little markets lined the streets around us and we walked through the steaming temperatures to arrive at the rocky shore line on the other side of Stanley. We climbed the slippery slopes and found places to sit to watch the ocean crash at our feet. The beautiful town lay far from our campus, but it was well worth the 3 train rides and two busses to get there.

We also visited the night market a different night after a fantastic dinner which involved sharing all our plates with each other. Little shops lined the lit up night market and antiques could be found at almost every shop. A couple of us bought paintings, clothes, little Buddhas, and more. As we walked further into the market, we walked to street karaoke and of course decided to go in. Every song cost money to sing but most songs we’re unrecognizable so I chose Jingle Bells, an American classic. Our entire group got up and danced to the song and it was the by far the most I have ever jammed out to Jingle Bells. The night market is a must-do in Hong Kong as there are not only great shopping opportunities, but also great times to be spent.

One other intern here celebrated his birthday with us and so our coordinator brought us to Ozone, a rooftop lounge. It’s one of the tallest buildings in the world and also the number one tallest in Hong Kong. We went at night and hung out on the couches as we looked down at the beautiful city below us and the open roof created a very strong wind. Everything looked so little from all the way up there and it’s something I never would have experienced had it not been for Vivian, our coordinator. Ozone did not cost anything to go up and is definitely another must-do.

My favorite place we visited overall so far was definitely Macau, which lies outside of Hong Kong. We explored there because we needed to leave the city in order to activate our Visas so we could work but we made a trip out of it. Macau is very different than Hong Kong and closer resembles Las Vegas, although we didn’t visit any of the casinos. Made up of many different places, Macau has both new and old parts and I actually enjoyed the old parts even more. The buildings had been there for so long and the wear on them was just beautiful. We visited an old church that had burned down three times but only the facade remains and we also visited the fairly secluded black sand beach which had warm water and naked babies running around. Macau is a very beautiful city and although I will most likely never visit it again, I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit it.