I chose the road to...human trafficking

WOW…it has been so long since I’ve blogged and so much has happened that I need to catch you up on! I am going to break it up into two blogs, so here is the first one...

First and foremost, my dear sweet fellow YASCer Melanie Jianakoplos came to visit me in Hong Kong back in October and we had the most amazing time! I saw more of Hong Kong while she was here than I had the entire two months before she arrived. She did an excellent job of blogging about it, so if you’d like to hear the details of our excursions please visit her blog here
http://melaniespineapplediaries.blogspot.com/2009/11/hong-kong.html


The week after Melanie left, my life was forever changed. The United Nations Anglican Observer’s Office hosted its first Consultation on Human Trafficking in Hong Kong, November 2nd-6th, 2009 to address the growing epidemic that is silently terrorizing hundreds of thousands of women and children across the globe every day. Approximately forty people were invited to attend the conference, ranging from trafficking experts, to clergy, to young adult women delegates who had previously attended meetings of the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York. Delegates to the consultation included Anglicans from 12 provinces – Korea, Japan, Philippines, England, Canada, USA, Mexico, Kenya, North India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong.
Definition of Human Trafficking- recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. (for the use of forced labor, sexual purposes, or organs)
The insatiable demand for sex with children is not something that can be easily digested, yet it is increasing with magnitude daily. The human-trafficking industry is a multi-billion dollar trade with numbers steadily rising and no decline in sight. In varying degrees and circumstances, men, women and children all over the world are victims of what has become a modern day slave trade. As one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world, trafficking in persons results in serious breaches of human rights and dignity of human beings.

In between the presentations given by these experts, were heart-breaking personal stories told by people working through churches, and best practices in response to trafficking. Edwina Antonio, Executive Director of the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge where I work, gave a presentation on the services that are provided to domestic helpers in distress in Hong Kong. And as an intern, I was asked to give a presentation including personal stories from victims who have encountered abuses and who became residents at the Bethune House.


The purpose for this five-day conference was to create awareness of the escalating issue and to form strategies on how to go forward and combat this global crisis. I met some of the most amazing women (and men) at this conference who I hope to always remain in contact with. I learned so much in these short, but intense five days. I feel called now in so many ways to this field and will continue to pray for God’s guidance and direction as I try to decipher the next steps to take in making that happen. As the conference came to a close, an exhausted but hopeful group of people joined together in a farewell service and said good-bye to each other with promises of future consultations, and an assurance that this is not an end but only the beginning of what will be a battle we must undertake together for the rights and safety of the countless victims of this monstrous crime of human-trafficking.

The alMOST Rev. Peter Ng and Rev. Winston Ching receiving much deserved awards

Archbishop Paul Kwong and I at the welcoming dinner...Nagulan, what course are we on again??

The beautiful Benny Mendoza from the Philippines and I getting ready for dinner


My new, dear friend Phoebe Griswold (wife of our 25th Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold) and I on Day 2 of the Conference

I chose the road to...counselor/paralegal?

I realized having arrived nearly 2 months ago that I have probably not painted a full picture of what it is exactly that I am doing here in Hong Kong and what my day to day life is like. I have decided to dedicate this blog to just that and hopefully give you a general feel for my life and work so far. (Before I get started I have a small disclaimer: I am not able to control who all reads this blog, nor would I want to, so there may be some details of my day that I might be a little vague about. Due to the nature of the work I am doing in Hong Kong I must be sensitive to the victim’s situations and safety. Thank you for understanding)

My first 6 weeks on the job I was working 6 days a week, with one off day on Saturday. I would spend 3 days at the Bethune House, Migrant Women’s Shelter in Jordan on the Kowloon side and 3 days at the Mission for Migrant Workers in Central, on Hong Kong Island. This past week my schedule changed to 5 days a week. You might be wondering why I don't get Sunday off, but Sunday is our busiest day because it is the only day off for migrant workers. (I go to church usually before work or a service during lunch). I usually work from 10-5, unless there is some other activity going on. I live in Jordan, so on the days that I work at the Bethune House I am able to conveniently walk to work. On the days that I work in Central I take the MTR (mass transit railway, aka subway/train) which is incredibly swift and efficient. I have gotten in the habit of exercising everyday, so usually I wake up around 7:00am, have a cup of coffee while checking email or skyping, walk/jog/bike, take a shower, and get to work.

THE BETHUNE HOUSE The Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge was established in 1986 to provide charitable assistance, counselling, temporary shelter, emergency relief, and a place of refuge for needy and distressed migrant workers. The Bethune House caters to domestic workers who have been terminated by their employers and/or forced to leave for various reasons of discrimination, contract violations, rape, sexual assault, physical abuse, labor-related conflicts, and human rights violations. Most of them are from Indonesia or the Philippines. The Bethune House accommodates I would say anywhere from 25-30 women at a time (sometimes more), which is well over its capacity, but the women make do sleeping anywhere there is space.

My days spent at the Bethune House might be viewed as more casual, but are by no means less important or less productive. When I arrive on normal days the residents can usually be found cooking; either finishing with breakfast or starting lunch. The residents take turns cooking; Filipino dishes one day (or one meal) and Indonesian the next, and they rotate cleaning the kitchen as well. The most amazing smells come from the BH Kitchen.
When I settle in for the day I usually have at least one new client waiting. She might have shown up over night through one outlet or another and she is filling out paperwork. If she speaks English I will take her into the office also known as the “counselling” room and begin to take her statement. If she does not speak English I will ask someone who does to accompany us and translate for me. A general rule of thumb is that a lot of the Filipina helpers speak English along with their native language Tagalog. The Indonesian helpers speak Cantonese along with their native language Bahasa. Sometimes they speak more languages, but for the most part this is how it is. Usually only one or two Indonesian residents speak English so they are constantly asked to translate, and fortunately for me they are usually willing to. I’m not going to go through every case detail, but I underwent paralegal training when I first arrived in Hong Kong and I essentially take a legal statement of facts and type it into something ready to be presented to the Labor Tribunal or Court, depending on what type of claims we are making. From this point it can be either simple or complicated depending on the client’s case. Some cases are merely monetary claims, and then some are criminal charges placed on the client or on the employer. (As you can see it’s a lengthy process and would take too much space and time to explain it all.) After I type the statement I print a copy and the client will take it to the Labor Tribunal or Labor Department to file her claims. After filing their claims they must take their paperwork to Immigration and pay a fine and extend their Visa. The process goes on from there and I continue to work their case with them. We usually take lunch anywhere from 12:00 to 1:30pm and it is a MUST that you stop for lunch. No options. We always eat together. After lunch I will pick-up where I left off and continue on about the day working cases with clients.
Some days I will be asked to accompany a fear-stricken client to an Agency to retrieve her illegally confiscated passport and employment contract, to the Labor Department to support her in filing her claims, or to any type of government or nongovernment department that is some part of her process in seeking retribution for the wrongs against her. I am usually more than willing to go, because despite how much this truly bothers me internally, the fact that I am a white-skinned American I seem to carry a “fear factor” with me. Both the client feels safer with me and the person I am dealing with seem to be intimidated by me, based only on the color of my skin. I absolutely despise this fact and am sickened by it, but because it helps these women I am willing to use it in their favor.
I love these women that live in this house. The hardest part is that they come and go so quickly.
Some have been here for months, but some are gone in a matter of weeks. It’s hard not to get attached to them and their beautiful faces and spirits, but before you know it they are packing up preparing to leave to go back to their home country. Each one of them gives me something, whether they realize it or not. I can’t heal their wounds, or take away the pain caused to them, but I can let them know that everyone is not the same. And every “westerner” or person with “white” skin is not here to abuse them. I only hope that I have been able to help them in some small way.

MISSION FOR MIGRANT WORKERS
When I work at the Mission, I have to leave home earlier and take the MTR. I do basically the same duties in an office building on the 2nd floor at St. John’s Cathedral. We are a walk-in center of sorts, but the Mission has many more simultaneous functions, while I am only there participating in a few of them. I work cases in much the same way as I do at the Bethune House. When I am not working with a case, I am updating and encoding files into a computer. Some days I am sent out into the community with various Migrant Organizations who are protesting, to be a photographer. This can be quite interesting. I have photographed multiple protests at the Philippine Consulate and Chinese Central Government Offices. It is amazing to watch how strong and confident these people are who are fighting for such a just and worthy cause.


So I think that is it for now. I've nearly written a novel and honestly I've only touched on the surface of my day, not really the depth of it at all. More later.


God's peace.

I chose the road to...St.Francis Day

We celebrated St. Francis of Assisi Day at the 11:45 Blessing of the Animals Service at St. John’s Cathedral on Sunday. It was one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. I had been talking with Father Des (Desmond Cox) previously in the week and he seemed a bit anxious about whether the animals would all get along and whether anyone would fight or eat each other. I tried to calm his nerves but of course I couldn't resist teasing him a bit as well. I knew God would be on our side when “show time” actually arrived. They had originally planned to have the children bring pictures of their pets, but decided to throw that idea out the window and go for the gusto and invite the congregation to go ahead and bring on your LIVE animals! It was truly a glorious day.

Father Des, Dean Chan, and Father Martin anxiously waiting to bless the animals





There were puppies, small dogs, big dogs, kitty cats, goldfish, baby turtles, creepy crawlers, you name it and a parishioner brought it. The blessings were bountiful and gratefully ALL of God's creatures got along in the name of St. Francis on Sunday.

All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colors, He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset and the morning, That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter, The pleasant summer sun, The ripe fruits in the garden, He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood, The meadows where we play, The rushes by the water, We gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell, How great is God almighty, Who has made ALL things well.

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL, THE LORD GOD MADE THEM ALL

I chose the road to...Dim Sum

I was delighted to be visited by Douglas Fenton and Peter Ng about a week ago, as one of their many stops on a tour through Asia. Peter is from Hong Kong and was able to enlighten me on a few things about the area. One in particular was a delicious Chinese Noodle Restaurant (his personal favorite) named Tai Ping Koon, where we had Beef Fried Noodles among other wonderful things. It is very close to my house and I have plans to go back soon. I also had my first experience with Dim Sum. It is a Chinese tradition and it literally means “to touch the heart”. Dim Sum involves a wide range of light dishes and is usually served early in the morning or for brunch.



The dishes come in very small portions that might include different meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, and dessert and it is always served with hot tea. It was quite an experience and I was so grateful to have the two of them there to order for me and show me the ropes. Everything I tried was really good and for some reason that really surprised me. Looks can be so deceiving sometimes.




After eating, Douglas and Peter decided to help me find and install a curtain to cover one of my windows where I had an unfortunate incident involving me changing clothes and someone with a camera in another building. Yikes! It was the funniest thing watching the two of them…Douglas the obvious natural "Interior Decorator", and Peter trying desperately not to get stabbed with the scissors.

It was a riot. But moments later, VOILA!!!! Thank you Douglas and Peter!!

As it turns out there is a light show in the Harbor every night around 8:00pm. Basically there are laser lights that bounce off the tops of the TALL TALL Buildings and keep the beat of some background music that is playing. It is really quite a show, so my friends Janine and Kitty took me to see it for the first time. After it was over we took pictures in front of a lantern exhibit.





While we were taking pictures all of a sudden this Jackie Chan look-a-like comes running up to me and asks if he can take a picture with me. I was stunned....and I was like, uh uh , sure of course. Janine was dying laughing and started taking pictures. And then sure enough not five minutes later another guy walks up and asks if he can have a picture with all 3 of us. It was the funniest thing ever. I'm a celebrity in Hong Kong, who knew?!?

I have been here for a month now and it has been busy busy busy. This week at the Mission we have been preparing for the 23rd Anniversary of the Bethune House. Tomorrow we are having an Open House and Charity Auction Fundraiser. It has been a lot of work, but hopefully it will pay off and we will be able to raise the much needed money for the welfare of girls in the house.

Please pray for a productive and successful day tomorrow!!!

I chose the road to...surrender

NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT

In the past three weeks I have dealt with cases that are easy and some that are more difficult…but then there was this girl, we'll call her Anna. I was drawn to her from the moment she walked into the door at the Bethune House. She was so quiet and tiny. Unlike the other girls in the house who are often times outgoing and flamboyant with their new found freedom, Anna was withdrawn and child-like, but beautiful. She said she was 25, but looked to be about 18. She couldn’t have weighed more than 90 lbs and was probably not even 5 feet tall. I must have looked like a giant next to her. Maybe that’s why she seemed so scared? Either way, she was to be my first case that I would work from start to finish all by myself. We started off with an interpreter but I realized pretty quickly that she spoke English, so I dismissed the interpreter. She was Indonesian. Usually they speak only their native language along with Chinese, but not English so I was impressed with her more advanced language skills. I wanted her to feel comfortable so we made small talk about the fact that she had learned to speak in English in Singapore which is where she worked before she came to work in Hong Kong. Things were going fine until we got to the part in her case where I have to find out why she was terminated from her employment. I’m not going to go into all of the details of her case because I don’t feel like that is appropriate, but what I will say is that she was over-worked, under-paid, abused, and left in a desperate situation. She made a decision to steal a very small amount of money from her employer in hopes to have them terminate her so that she could be freed from her contract and seek other employment, but she was unaware of the laws of Hong Kong and made a very large mistake that will cost her dearly. My heart sunk. She had no idea that regardless of what the amount was or what the employer wanted, the Hong Kong Government would press charges against her and she would most likely go to jail and have a criminal record and never be able to work in Hong Kong again. She told her employer on purpose that she took the children’s change purse with money in it, hoping to be terminated, but the employer refused to terminate her. Her plan back-fired on her and created an even larger problem. Long story short she ended up on our door step at the safe house having no idea what to do. I took her statement and my supervisor asked me to go with her to her Employment Agency and help her ask them to get her clothes and things out of her employer’s house so that she could move into our safe house. This is where the story takes a painful turn. These Employment Agencies are manipulating, money-hungry, slave-owners for lack of a better term. They basically make a fortune on exporting labor (ie, PEOPLE!!) So the last thing that they care about is the welfare or well-being of any of these girls, they just want their money and to continue to make the employer’s of the domestic helpers happy. So when I show up with Anna to get her things, first of all they see an American and they all rush to my side to help me because they think I am there to BUY A SLAVE!! They see “Rich American”. In other words, they think I am there to purchase a domestic helper for myself. When I inform them that no, in fact I am not, I am here with my friend to help her get her belongings back they quickly change their tune. They take her from me to a room and won’t let me come with them even though I try. After 20 minutes she comes back and tells me thank you so much for my help and that I can go. I was so confused and helpless. I didn’t know what to do. There was a woman from the agency standing over us and I asked her to please allow me to speak to Anna alone. I asked her if she was okay, and she said she thought so, but that the agency told her that she needed to go back to the employer’s house and make things right. I felt so bad. I could see the fear in her. I didn’t want to leave her there alone. I wanted to protect her and I couldn’t. I was so powerless and I had to walk out the door without her, without knowing if she was going to be okay or not. I gave her my number and told her to call me anytime day or night and I would come get her, but I still don’t know if she is okay. I pray that she is.
As I began walking back to work alone I was remembering our conversation on the MTR on the way to the agency; she asked me if I was from America and I said yes. She said she wanted to be “big” like me. I laughed and said, oh no, I want to be small like you!! Then I said, “isn’t it funny how all of us want to be different than what we are?” I would give anything to have taken her picture. I can still see her face in my mind, but eventually I know that I won’t be able to remember it anymore. Cases and faces will come and go and it will be hard to keep hers in my mind. Maybe she will come back or even better maybe things will work out for her.
Once again I am reminded why God has called me to Hong Kong and even though this reminder was more painful than the last, I obediently accept all that is to come.