The Unsung Heroes of Hong Kong

When I first got to Hong Kong, the first thing I noticed were thousands of non Chinese women, sitting on cardboard, laughing, drinking, eating, gossiping, having a grand old time. This, looked very very odd. In the middle of a bank metropolis, surrounded by the largest shiniest buildings imaginable, were literally 100,000 women camped out and no one was acting like it was odd. To me, it looked very very odd. First of all, it was all women, and while they seemed happy, it made me feel really confused. I desperately needed to understand what was happening here. So I started asking around and was told since it was a National holiday, all of the domestic helpers were out celebrating. There are 385,000 domestic workers currently in Hong Kong. They make up the literal back bone of society, and also are making up large amounts of the GDP in both Indonesia and the Philippines with the money they are sending back home. All good right? Well, alot of them are not being treated kindly, many of them are being abused, overworked and underpaid. While the rules and regulations are finally starting to protect them, there is still a huge amount of work to be done to protect these women's safety. So I was able to meet with Jane Engelmann who started the Unsung Heroes HK Choir and try to figure out why she did this and learn a little more about the fabulous women who make up her choir. Thank you Jane, and all the women who sat with me. I'm still working on making your dream of going to see the Ellen Show happen. If anyone has connections to Ellen, please let us know! You can learn more about them on their website here: https://www.unsungheroeshk.com/support and email Jane if you want to help her cause [email protected]