Veteran NGO, the Mission For Migrant Workers (MFMW), has launched a new project aimed at developing and promoting harmony in Hong Kong households employing foreign domestic workers (FDWs).
Dubbed as “Project: HAPPY HOMES”, the ground-breaking initiative is based on the MFMW’s belief that a harmonious relationship inside households is an ideal that must be pursued.
Participating households will be given a “Happy Home” badge to indicate that their household is a space where “love, care and understanding” thrive.
According to Cynthia Tellez, MFMW general manager, the project is mutually beneficial to FDWs and employers.
“For FDWs, it will mean reducing their insecurity and vulnerability for a more favorable living and working condition. Meanwhile for employers, it will lead to peace of mind and confidence that their homes, children and elderly are taken care of sufficiently,” she remarked.
Project: HAPPY HOMES is composed of three parts: Harmony in Households, Christian Household project, and the Employer Awareness Program.
Harmony in Households is an initiative that will gather and promote positive short stories and vignettes of events from the employers and FDWs detailing events that showed harmony in the household, in the lives of the employers or workers or in general society.
These stories, said Tellez, can serve as inspiration for many other households as they will feature practices that can be encouraged and emulated.
Employers, domestic workers and people in Hong Kong are encouraged to like, read and contribute to the dedicated Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HappyHomesHK
The Christian Household Project, meanwhile, is part the MFMW’s ministry that aims to expand on Christian values of love, care and fellowship. In line with this effort, the MFMW will produce information materials that will be distributed among churchgoers all over Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Tellez said, the Employer Awareness Program will make more systematic the help that MFMW gives to employers who approach their office.
“We have had cases where employers were fed with wrong or incomplete information by recruiters or other agents. This has led to misunderstandings and has even exposed employers to liabilities,” Tellez related.
The MFMW is now announcing a dedicated telephone number (2522-8261) for inquiries coming from employers needing timely and accurate information regarding employing foreign domestic workers.
The launch of HAPPY HOMES coincided with the international observance of World Kindness Day on Nov. 13 which highlights good deeds and focuses on the positive power of kindness in our communities to bridge the divides of race, economic status, religion, or gender.
Through these project features, Tellez, concluded, the MFMW is hoping to disseminate messages of harmony, multiculturalism and mutual understanding that will “create happy homes to contribute to a Hong Kong society that is truly caring and inclusive of all.”
For reference:
Cynthia Tellez
General Manager
MFMW Ltd. (Mission For Migrant Workers)
St. John’s Cathedral, 4-8 Garden Road,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel. No.: 97409406
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This is the monthly column from the Mission for Migrant Workers, an institution that has been serving the needs of migrant workers in Hong Kong for over 31 years. The Mission, headed by its general manager, Cynthia Tellez, assists migrant workers who are in distress, and focuses its efforts on crisis intervention and prevention through migrant empowerment. Mission has its offices at St John’s Cathedral on Garden Road, Central, and may be reached through tel. no. 2522 8264.
