Sundays in Hong Kong

One of my favorite traditions I've discovered in Hong Kong is Filipino gatherings on Sunday.

According to the Philippine Consulate there are 52,000 Filipino women living in Hong Kong under a Domestic worker program. These women come from Manila and rural parts of the Philippines to work full-time in Hong Kong, for both wealthy and average middle-class families. The 'lucky' women work for wealthy families and might get their own bed, but the majority sleep on floors or couches that must be cleaned up before the families awakes. They work 6 days a week cooking, cleaning, and looking after other people's children for wages rarely exceeding $400 USD/month.

That leaves Sundays.

Although they have almost no spending money, (what little they make is sent home to their husbands and children in the Philippines,) tens of thousands of these women gather together every Sunday across all of Central Hong Kong island.

They wake up early to board trains, trams, ferries and buses to take them to the center of life in Hong Kong, a neighborhood fittingly called Central. Central is near the ferry docks (which makes it most convenient for those coming from the outlying islands) and where many of the largest skyscrapers are located. The area is unique in its abundance of sidewalk space on overpasses and its parks and benches.

The women lay out mats and towels on the sidewalk and set up for the day as one might set up for a day at the beach. They bring books, magazines, playing cards, music, home-made dishes, nail polish, hair brushes and clothes to trade. They sit in groups for hours talking in rapid-fire Filipino, laughing, catching up and beautifying one another.

These women, brave, self-sacrificing, and lively have come to be synonymous with Sunday in Hong Kong.

They are an inspiring reminder to me that even in the worst of situations, life is what you make of it.