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Thursday, June 5, 2008

A closed street..for the helpers

Checked out the M bar on way out of mah wah. Such a small puny drinking area and its smoked filled from eve onwards with all the expats and western visitors hanging there.

I liked the drawings on the wall, each frame is about an ancient chinese trade. From butchering, weaving to farming. It was interesting to look at.

Sunday is off day for all the Philippine and Indonesia maids. In HK, I think the household helps get more freedom and recognition than those in Singapore. Its no wonder most would rather work in Hk than in Singapore. I could be wrong but for one, it seemed that HK govt respect their presence and contributions to the nation more than we do, even cornering off a main street in central so that these foreign workers can gather together with folks from hometown. They will sleep on mat, chatted around seated on stools, and many would even have portable mic to sing, and groups to do social dance. This is only at 12pm and not even at full force crowd of what i saw by 3pm.
The whole street was crowded, lively and vibrant and I think its very nice for them to have a weekly chance to connect with fellow peers from hometown. In Singapore, sadly, the only park in orchard (next to borders) where the maids use to gather have been ripped to bits and replaced with another monsterous ugly new cono with shopping. (Come to think of it, I sorely missed my motherly Indonesia helpers Geraldine and Malu......)
I am not sure where the poor helpers in Singapore can go now. East coast park I guess... Geraldine use to head off to shop in orchard with her friends. I dunno if its feasible but perhaps its time for our minister in charge of foreign help to take a leaf from HK, corner some road off in shenton way on sunday and let these people have their fun. If a busy land sacred HK can do it, why couldnt sg do something similar? Oh well....

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