 Two Young Women Share Stories of Immigrants in Hong Kong |
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by Yvette Moore and Kelly Martini |
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The Global Justice Volunteer program, supported by United Methodist Women's undesignated giving and the Mission Volunteers Program Area, enabled eight United Methodist young adults to devote two months this summer, working in programs and projects dealing with justice issues. The Global Justice Volunteer program enabled eight United Methodist young adults to devote two months this summer, working in programs and projects dealing with justice issues. The program is housed in the Mission Volunteers Program Area of GBGM and is strongly supported by United Methodist Women's undesignated giving. Finda Fengai-Kabba knew the value of peace and equity even before becoming a 2004-2005 Global Justice Volunteer of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. As a youth, she and her family had to trek across their native Sierra Leone to safety during the 10-year civil war that ended in 2002 after claiming between 50,000-200,000 lives. "During the rebel war, poverty was the order of the day in my country," explained Ms. Fengai-Kabba, a youth leader in the United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone. "People were unable to provide for their families, which led to thousands of thousands of deaths. Poverty led to prostitution in my country and in the process led to destruction. Young girls slept with foreign troops and wealthy people irrespective of their condition in terms of sexually transmitted diseases – all in the name of survival." Ms. Fengai-Kabba saw the results of poverty and injustice from another perspective as a Global Justice Volunteer working with Filipina migrant laborers at Bethune House/Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers in Hong Kong. Poverty sent the women in search of a better life that too often proved illusive in Hong Kong. Ms. Fengai-Kabba assisted women seeking redress for labor abuses and violations of their work contracts. She went with them to their nation's Consulate. "They were facing injustice, but nobody at the Consulate would hear them," Ms. Fengai-Kabba said. "One lady had cuts on her, but the Consulate didn't care." She went with them to court. "I didn't know the law, but I went just so they'd have someone to stand with them," Ms. Fengai-Kabba said. Through it all, the women did not despair, she said. Rather, they encouraged one another, laughed with one another and continued to organize ways to address their labor and immigrant concerns, Ms. Fengai-Kabba reported. And that gave the women – and Ms. Fengai-Kabba – hope that one day things will change. Ms. Fengai-Kabba thanked United Methodist Women for supporting the Global Justice Volunteer program. "You give hope to young women," she said. Carol Kimball's Experience Carol Kimball, 25, of Green Street United Methodist Church in Augusta, Maine, also worked as a Global Justice Volunteer in Hong Kong. She remembers, Edelyn , a young woman who emigrated to Hong Kong from the Philippines, spending her first two months as a domestic laborer. Her payment was physical and emotional abuse daily. In a new land with little money and now terrified, Edelyn courageously escaped, leaving her possessions behind. She sought shelter at the Bethune House. Ms. Kimball met Edelyn when the woman arrived at the Bethune House. Repeatedly, Ms. Kimball tried to get Edelyn's belongings back from the employer. "There were four attempts to get Edelyn's belongings back -- all which failed -- because the employer said that he owned Edelyn and her belongings," Ms. Kimball says. "Three days before Edelyn's visa expired, I accompanied her to her former employer's house to try once more to retrieve her belongings… this attempt also failed." The next day, the two women went to the employers house again, imploring the police to help. Their response: "Edelyn had no grounds to claim her belongings." Ms. Kimball would not take "no" for an answer, imploring them with repeated calls until the police agreed to go to the house. An hour after arriving there, Edelyn carried her belongings down the stairs of the house. Ms. Kimball heard many stories at the Bethune House about abuse of domestic workers from foreign lands. It's the stories she'll never forget and the experience that shapes her future. She plans to apply for the two-year US-2 program, a U.S.-based mission program for young people. "Now that I have had this experience, I can't wait to get the word out about the happenings I saw this summer-- the injustices and inhuman treatment. I hope that I can relate this experience to some of the happenings in my own backyard," she says.
Date posted: Oct 05, 2005 |
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