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| Members of the Domestic Workers Corner assemble at Cafeteria Beach in Tuen Mun . (Photo by Bebs Cobilla Leonardo) |
By Rodelia Villar
Around 150 members of Domestic Workers Corner, a Facebook group of mostly newly arrived Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong, decided to spend a day marked in their honor by having fun.
The group gathered at Cafeteria Beach in Tuen Mun on May 1, Labor Day, for a sports fest and to partake of food prepared by some of the best cooks among them, who are all active members of DWC’s “All About Food” online group.
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After their hearty lunch, the DWC members gathered for an inspirational message from Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre, who warmly paid tribute to them for their sacrifices in working for a better future for their families back home.
Labatt dela Torre focused on his Project HealthWise, which provides free basic medical check-ups to Filipino migrant workers. He said he launched the project after seeing a lot of Filipino helpers in Hong Kong getting seriously ill.
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A survey conducted by his office revealed the startling finding that in the past two years alone, many FDWs became sick with cancer, kidney failure, stroke or heart attack. This wasn’t the case for the past 10 years, he said, so it is better to take preventive steps to buck the emerging trend.
Through HealthWise, he said a total of 2,773 FDWs were given free medical checks from November last year to February this year. Of these, 621 (or 22%) were found to have high blood pressure, a third was found to be overweight, based on their body mass index (BMI), and 21% were diabetic.
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It was thus useful that DWC helped organize outreach programs by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to different churches across Hong Kong to offer the free basic medical checkup.
The outreach also provides help to FDWs who need an overseas employment certificate before flying out to the Philippines for a vacation, want to apply for a card from OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, or simply to sign up for an account with BMOnline.
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Labatt urged DWC to help spread the word about HealthWise, which he said is important in maintaining good health.
“Alam naman natin na stressful din yung trabaho natin, challenging yung ating accommodation, at kahit rest day ay pinapagtrabaho pa din tayo ng amo,” he said.
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After his speech, Dela Torre was swarmed by FDWs who wanted to have their pictures taken with him.
The mini sports event followed. Participants were asked to do a simple catwalk, then compete in the best in swimming attire contest. Afterwards there was a quiz show, then a cheering presentation and a volleyball game.
The Purple team under the leadership of the Saturday Group won the volleyball contest, with the medals being provided by DWC administrators Bebs Leonardo and Rain Tuando.
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