Migrants Mutual Care & Support Network and Connecting Cultures & Communities Report

Migrants Mutual Care and Support Network

With t h i s message of love and care, the Mission for Migrant Workers (MFMW) started its series of trainings, workshops and on-theground welfare delivery to migrant workers in Hong Kong under its Migrants Mutual Care and Support Network Project (MMCSN).

Supported by the Love Ideas, Love HK program of the Li Ka Shing Foundation, the MMCSN is one of two projects that won the first Professional Awards of the said program.

According to a media release of the Li Ka Shing Foundation after the winners were announced: “MFMW’s project aims to establish a network to provide psychological counselling and emotional support to foreign domestic helpers working in Hong Kong.

Though an acute need is pressing, the judges reckoned that there is scant financial help for projects dedicated to support Hong Kong’s foreign domestic helpers.

Building on the spirit of inclusiveness for a harmonious society, MFMW’s

project will serve foreign domestic helpers from different ethnic groups and develop a Chinese language website to foster better understanding and cooperation with local organisations.”

With the two-fold objectives of promoting mutual help and care among migrants and developing a condition in the society that is caring and more informed on the condition of migrant workers, the MMCSN took off with very positive results for the migrant workers the project wishes to serve.

Two Women’s Life Experience Seminars were conducted in September – On Women’s Rights and On Women and Culture – participated in by more than 30 women migrant workers.

Discussions were lively that focused on the thoughts and experiences of the participants.

According to many of them, they found the seminar enlightening and benefited their understanding of their current plight as women migrant workers. They pledged to encourage their relatives, friends and fellow migrant workers to come to future seminars that the MFMW will conduct.

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Meanwhile, the trainings for the formation and operationalization of the mutual care and support network among migrant organizations also started last month with the giving of orientation on welfare services and identifying aspects where migrant workers need help. This October, the Mission Volunteers (MOVERS) and welfare officers of partner organizations of the MFMW were gathered in an assembly and they agreed to work towards the realization of the project’s objectives.

To immediately provide concrete and responsive assistance to migrant workers, the MFMW also set up and operated two Migrant Counseling and Caring Centres in areas of concentration of migrant workers. The centres featured services for counseling, blood pressure taking and information work on agency fees.

These major components of the MMCSN were conducted while other aspects of the project such as translation and publication of educational materials for migrant workers and the outreach to local Chinese organizations commenced and is being readied for implementation.

After just almost two months, the MMCSN already showed the promise of succeeding in its aims of promoting a caring and inclusive Hong Kong, developing mutual care among migrant workers, and bringing closer migrant workers and local Hong Kong people.

With the support of migrant workers, community organizations, and the caring and loving people of Hong Kong, the MFMW is confident that the promise will be fulfilled. X

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Connecting Cultures and Communities Most of the time, migrant workers find it hard to adjust to their new homes because of the various cultural differences. Caught up in a place with a different language and perspective, migrant workers usually feel disconnected to the locals of Hong Kong and in their history and culture.

With that in mind, the Mission for Migrant Central’s Mid-Levels, was built to commemorate Workers (MFMW) launched the project Connecting the Chinese revolutionary who spent his life Cultures and Communities. Sponsored by the Love toppling the Qing Dynasty and making way Ideas, Love Hong Kong Project and funded by the for the Republic Li Ka Shing Foundation, Connecting of China.

Cultures and Communities gives an opportunity for members of the migrant communities

Through the museum exhibition halls, the participants were given a historical glimpse of a great man that shaped this country. After their trip, they returned to Chater Road to talk about the life and struggles of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen over dinner. The participants saw several comparisons between the historical experiences of China and the Philippines, as well as similarities between the life and advocacies of their national hero – Dr. Jose Rizal – to that of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. While the first museum trip provides landmark lessons on history, the second one gives the migrants a chance to immerse deeper into not only the past but also the present-day life of Hong Kong. Last October 2, almost 80 participants from Sha Tin migrant organizations visited the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

to learn and understand the history and culture of Hong Kong. From this understanding, they can immerse in the present day life of the locals, draw comparisons to their own cultural backgrounds and find connections among the diverse culture and lifestyles present in their new homes.

MFMW has so far launched two activities in line with this project: the cultural immersion trips to Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum and Heritage Museum. Last September 16, more than 70 participants attended the trip to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum. Members of migrant organizations such as POWER, ACFIL, Gabriella HKB, FMWUChater Garden, FMA, UPHK, FILWOM, JAM, Migrante HKB, and Maguilian were there.

The Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, located in 3

The museum galleries showcase exhibits dealing with the history, art and the contemporary life of Hong Kong.

Such exhibits include the Hong Kong Photography showcase, the Chao Shaoan gallery, and the T.T. Tsu Gallery of Chinese Art. Each of these exhibits captured the history and influences from around the world that have helped shape Hong Kong’s culture into what it is today.

The participants found connection in Hong Kong’s love for image and photography as seen in their exhibits of early magazine covers and pictures of their everyday city life. Other participants saw similarities between their own cultural background with that of Hong Kong’s past by citing how familiar some of the images engraved in the historical relics with that of their own cultural artifacts. Most of them drew profound connections to their history and culture in how the galleries showcase legacies of struggles of Hong Kong, and reflect on how familiar some of these struggles were back home.

With the success of these two Connecting Cultures and Communities trips, MFMW will facilitate more activities to help migrants connect and immerse deeper into the Hong Kong culture and life. To mark as the culminating activity, the mission also plans to launch a project that would allow the participants to share what they learn from these experiences and connect their own cultural roots to the people of Hong Kong. X

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