By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Antonio calls on the community to continue supporting Bethune House's work |
If you saw the happy faces of about 100 people who
attended the 36th anniversary party of the Bethune House Migrant
Women’s Refuge on Friday night at Blue Ocean restaurant in Jordan, you would be
hard put to tell that the shelter has been a refuge for women undergoing untold
hardship.
The job was made even more difficult by the coronavirus
pandemic that raged in the first months of the year in Hong Kong. Many migrant
domestic workers were thrown out of their employers’ homes or boarding houses,
and Bethune House was among a few groups that waded through the challenges to
lend a hand.
As Edwina Antonio, executive director of Bethune House
said in her welcome speech, “The pandemic created additional pressures (on us).”
But as has been its practice for nearly four decades of service, the shelter
wasted no time gathering resources and organizing people to extend help.
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By the time the so-called fifth (and most devastating)
wave of the pandemic had eased, Bethune House had distributed more than 5,000 care
packs to migrant workers and helped more than 90 of them who tested positive
for Covid-19.
This was apart from the 400 or so other migrants who
needed help with their legal cases, even amid the worst onslaught of the
coronavirus on the city.
“And so, (through) 36 years of compassion and
perseverance, even with the scourge of Covid thrown at us, Bethune House
responded to the call for service,” Antonio said.
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Among those who threw a lifeline to them was the YMCA
HK, which opened its doors to migrants who needed shelter during this difficult
time, all the way until mid-June.
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| Antonio hands out certificates of appreciation to donors and supporters |
YMCA’s chief executive officer Peter Ho, who credited two of his staff members for doing much of the groundwork for the collaboration, said he was honored and grateful to have been asked to take part in the celebration.
On the receiving end of such generous support for
Bethune’s advocacies are the migrant women, many of them abused, sick or
enmeshed in legal disputes, whose lives were transformed after they turned to
the shelter for help.
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They include Kartika, who told the gathering how Bethune
House and its affiliate, the Mission for Migrant Workers, had given her fresh
hope after she returned home to Indonesia in 2018 virtually penniless, despite
succeeding in putting her former employers behind bars for torturing her for
two years.
Kartika recounted how Antonio and Mission’s Cynthia
Tellez had brought her back to Hong Kong so she could pursue a civil claim
against her tormentors. She is now just awaiting the court’s decision on how
much compensation she is entitled to.
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| Kartika (in brown) thanks Bethune and Mission for helping her fight for her rights |
Erwiana, another abused Indonesian migrant worker whose year-long abuse at the hands of her female employer made headlines around the world, also paid tribute to the Mission and Bethune House for helping turn her life around by convincing her to return to Hong Kong to pursue her torturer.
In a videotaped message, Erwiana appealed for help on
behalf of Bethune House, saying it is through donors’ generosity that the shelter
is able to come to the aid of distressed migrants like she once was.
Another migrant worker who gave testimony for Bethune
House was Estrella Pineda, a Filipina who is battling stage two cancer. She
said Bethune House has been her home for nearly two years, while she undergoes
medical treatment for her ailment.
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While the worst may be over for the pandemic, Bethune
House cannot rest easy for long. As Antonio said, more and more distressed migrant
women are knocking at their door, and it is only through help from generous
supporters that they could respond to the many challenges that lay ahead.
“We have always believed that it takes a community to
shelter migrant workers in distress,” she said. “We know you will never leave
us…please all join hands to sustain Bethune House’s work.”
As a community-driven shelter, Bethune House relies heavily on support from the community. To donate, please click: https://bethunehouse.org/donate
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For
in-kind donation or to volunteer, please send message to the Facebook page,
Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge or email: shelter@bethunehouse.org.hk
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