View Static Version

Above: A portion of Hong Kong at night as seen from Victoria Peak. More than 400,000 migrant domestic workers live in Hong Kong, about five percent of the total population. They cook and clean and care for children, pets, and the elderly. They also at times endure horrible treatment.

A United Methodist pastor from the Philippines and a deaconess from the U.S. work to empower migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. The migrants are mostly women who often face difficult challenges in both their workplace and their relationship to families back home.

Jan. 27, 2025 | HONG KONG (UM News)

When Narcisa Basilio was fired in October from her job as a domestic servant in Hong Kong, she wasn’t given any notice. She was simply told to leave.

“I packed my bags and took the elevator to the lobby. I didn’t know what to do. It was evening, and I had no money for a boarding house or food. So, I just sat there,” she said.

Basilio overheard a couple speaking in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, her homeland. They were in line at a McDonald’s in the building lobby. The couple noticed her looking at them, her bags at her feet, so the woman approached Basilio and asked if she needed help.

“I told her what had happened, and she asked me if I had a place to go. I said no. She told me about a place called Bethune House. Her husband made a phone call, and then they took me on the MTR (the subway) to a station, where we met a woman who took me to the shelter. I’m so lucky I met them,” she said.

United Methodist Deaconess Joy Prim prays before a meal in a shelter run by Bethune House in Hong Kong. The shelter houses women, mostly migrants working as domestic servants, who have been abused or lost their employment and have no other housing options. Bethune House, which operates two shelters in Hong Kong, has long received support from United Women in Faith. Prim is a United Methodist missionary, working with the Mission For Migrant Workers in Hong Kong.

It wasn’t just luck. The Rev. Israel Bangsil is a United Methodist pastor from the Northwest Philippines Conference appointed to the Methodist International Church in Hong Kong. His ministry focuses on responding to the needs of migrant workers like Basilio. As most of the migrants are women, Bangsil’s wife, Josie, is often involved. It was Israel and Josie Bangsil who helped Basilio.

Staying in Bethune House for a week, Basilio said the support she received in the shelter helped her recover from the trauma of being fired abruptly. She said that while finding a new job was important, she wouldn’t mind going back to the Philippines, where her 12-year-old son lives with her mother-in-law. “I talk to him every day on Messenger, but that’s an impossible way to be a parent,” she said.

With the money she sends home every month, her husband built a modest house and bought a small rice field, but she doesn’t know if they could survive without her income from Hong Kong. “It’s hard to pay school fees for my son, let alone have enough food for the family on the salaries they pay in the Philippines,” Basilio said.

Nurul Hikmah Hidayah, a migrant worker from Indonesia, and Sharon Agustin, a migrant worker from the Philippines, help prepare a community meal in a shelter run by Bethune House.
Sharon Agustin, a migrant worker from the Philippines, talks over the phone to her daughter back in the Philippines while staying in a shelter run by Bethune House.
Narcisa Basilio (left), a migrant worker from the Philippines, is counseled by Esther Bangoawayan while staying in a shelter run by Bethune House. Basilio was taken to the shelter by a United Methodist pastor and his wife who encountered Basilio after she had been suddenly terminated from her job. Bangoawayan is project coordinator for Bethune House, which operates two shelters in Hong Kong. She often counsels women about their legal options in dealing with employment in Hong Kong.
Bethune House Migrant Women's Refuge in Hong Kong raises money by selling greeting cards crafted by the women in its two shelters. On the right is Edwina Antonio, the executive director.
The Rev. Israel Bangsil, a United Methodist minister from the Philippines who serves as associate pastor of the Methodist International Church in Hong Kong, talks with migrant members of the church who are preparing for an anniversary celebration. A principal focus of Bangsil's ministry is working with Filipina migrant domestic workers who come to Hong Kong to work as domestic servants. He and his wife, Josie, are often called on short notice to help workers who lose their jobs and have nowhere to stay.

According to Bangsil, encounters with terminated workers like Basilio have been a common experience during the two years he has served in Hong Kong. Although his church schedule is filled with meetings and worship services in Tagalog and Ilocano, interruptions take precedence.

“Josie and I are essentially on call, so every time there is a domestic worker who has been terminated by her employer, we make ourselves available. Whenever they need us, we’ll cancel any meetings in order to be there,” he said.

Melba Manzano, a Filipina migrant worker who spends Saturdays — her one day off each week — at Bangsil’s church, said workers can count on the pastor and his wife.

“If they get a phone call that someone has been terminated, they stop what they’re doing and go attend to the sister. The worker could call her friends, but they’re working and can’t get away. So, they call the pastor and Josie, and they find them and their luggage in the middle of the road,” said Manzano, who has worked in Hong Kong for 19 years.

Bangsil collaborates extensively with two United Methodist-supported agencies in the city. Bethune House, which provides emergency shelter to migrants, has long been supported by United Women in Faith. The Mission For Migrant Workers, an ecumenical effort to help with legal and other problems, gets support from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Lia Quirante folds laundry in the apartment where she works and lives in Hong Kong. Originally a primary school teacher in her native Philippines, she became a migrant domestic servant in Hong Kong eight years ago in order to pay off crippling medical debt and to support her family. She has also become a leader among Filipina migrant workers, and in 2023 was elected secretary general of United Filipinos in Hong Kong.
Jayson Gaela picks up his 11-year-old daughter Jehm at her school in Nagcarlan, a community in Laguna, Philippines. Gaela's partner, Lia Quirante, has worked as a migrant domestic worker in Hong Kong for eight years, sending money home to help support her family. Gaela also earns money driving a motorcycle taxi and operating a small milk tea shop from the front of his house.
Jayson Gaela takes in their laundry while his 11-year-old daughter Jehm does her homework at a small milk tea shop in the front of their home in in Nagcarlan. Gaela's partner, Lia Quirante, has worked as a migrant domestic worker in Hong Kong for eight years, sending money home to help support her family. Gaela also earns money driving a motorcycle taxi that the family purchased with Quirante's remittances.

The two agencies often work closely together. In Basilio’s case, for example, while she stayed at Bethune House, the Mission helped her navigate the legal ramifications of her sudden termination and start the process of finding a new job. In Hong Kong, a migrant worker without a job for two weeks can be deported.

Hong Kong hosts some 400,000 migrant domestic workers, about 5% of the population. Slightly more than half come from the Philippines. Every day, they cook, clean and care for children, pets and older adults. They are required to live in the home of the family that hires them, even though that often means sleeping in a hallway or cupboard.

Bangsil considers migrant workers to be “modern slaves” who have become a commodity in the international economy.

Migrant workers from the Philippines gather on Sundays in Hong Kong along Chater Road to relax, eat, and visit with their friends. Sunday is the only day off for most of the women, who work as domestic servants throughout the city. They often sit on cardboard that they rent for a few hours from Chinese women.
A Chinese woman pushes a cart of cardboard along Chater Road in Hong Kong on a Sunday morning. Migrant workers from the Philippines rent the cardboard for the day as they relax and visit with their friends. Sunday is the only day off for most of the women, who work as domestic servants throughout the city.

“Becoming a domestic worker here is a forced choice. People don’t want to leave their families back in the Philippines. If there were employment there, they wouldn’t come here,” Bangsil said.

“I hear constantly from the women about the difficulties they face, the lack of food and privacy in the workplace, the outright abuse that some of them suffer. At Christmastime, when their families back home in the Philippines are celebrating with lechon (roasted pork), bought with the migrants’ salaries, their food here is meager and their celebration simple and often lonely. But they won’t post about that on social media, as they try to hide their real situation from their families back home.”

Bangsil said the women’s faith “helps them to hold on and survive whatever challenges they face here.” He said the church he serves provides a safe space “where they can cry and share their burdens.”

When migrant workers from the Philippines gather on Sundays along Chater Road in Hong Kong to relax, eat, and visit with their friends, United Methodist Deaconess Joy Prim (right) uses the opportunity to teach workers about their rights, using a book, "Know Your Rights & Responsibilities," published by the Mission For Migrant Workers, to guide the discussion. A United Methodist missionary, Prim is assigned to the Mission For Migrant Workers. The book was published with support from United Women in Faith.

Another person to whom migrant workers in Hong Kong often turn is Joy Prim, a United Methodist deaconess who coordinates training programs and volunteer work for the Mission For Migrant Workers. Originally from North Carolina, she speaks fluent Tagalog.

Prim said a key to effective mission is the ability to listen.

“A lot of what we do at the Mission is listen to the migrants, listen to their needs so we can adjust our services. During the pandemic, for example, all the schools went online, so many domestic workers became teachers in the homes where they worked. But some didn’t know how to use computers or didn’t understand online security. We hurriedly provided training so they could keep the children and the elderly in their care from being scammed,” Prim said.

“Too often in the church we assume we know what people need. By listening and then responding, we can better meet their actual needs and show that Christians know how to listen.”

Prim first came to Hong Kong in 2011 as a young adult mission intern. When she was accepted into the Global Ministries program, she was so convinced she’d be assigned to Africa that she started learning Swahili.

“When they told me I would be going to Hong Kong, I had to use Google to find out where it was,” she said.

Migrant workers from the Philippines dance in the streets of Hong Kong on a Sunday when they gather along Chater Road to relax, eat, visit with their friends, and dance. These women are members of Star Pinoy, a Filipina dance group that practices on Sundays on Chater Road.

Assigned to the Mission For Migrant Workers, where she heard story after story of abuse of migrant workers, Prim said she wondered why the number of Filipina workers in Hong Kong was so high. She decided to start spending her Sundays with migrant partner organizations, sitting along Chater Road, where Filipina migrants gather on their day off.

“That’s where I listened to the migrants themselves, learning about the overall situation in the Philippines and how the Philippines government forced migrants to go overseas. I learned about the human rights crisis there and the role of the United States in equipping the government with billions of dollars in weapons,” Prim said.

When she returned to the U.S., Prim became an active participant in groups supporting human rights and democracy in the Philippines. Since her return to Hong Kong in 2020 as a United Methodist missionary, again assigned to the Mission For Migrant Workers, she has continued that work.

“Here I’ve learned the true meaning of solidarity. It’s not a noun like we throw around in the States but, rather, a verb, a daily choice to wake up and to fight for each other’s rights, hand in hand, arm in arm, following Jesus to the margins where the widows and orphans and migrants live. We’re called to support the ways that God is already working among them, rather than constantly thinking we have to come in and solve their problems for them,” Prim said.

Choir members gather before a Filipino-language worship service at the Methodist International Church in Hong Kong. Many Filipina migrant domestic workers have found a spiritual home in the church, which has a Filipino United Methodist associate pastor and hosts Tagalog- and Ilocano-language worship.
Filipina women learn pastry-making in a skills-training program at the Methodist International Church in Hong Kong.
Migrant workers from the Philippines package boxes full of Christmas gifts for their families back home as they gather on a Sunday in November along Chater Road in Hong Kong.

While the Mission directly assists thousands of migrants each year, Prim said it encourages the workers to use their own unions and associations to push for better working conditions, fair wages and just treatment.

Lia Quirante is a migrant domestic worker in Hong Kong who’s pushing for change.

She talks every day on Messenger with her 11-year-old daughter back home in the Philippines. “I won’t sleep at night until I’ve checked her homework assignment and we’ve talked about how things are going in school. I’m as hands-on as I can be as a virtual mom,” she said.

Quirante came to Hong Kong eight years ago because working as a domestic servant earned her three times more than what she’d made as a schoolteacher in the Philippines. She’d also run up crippling medical debt when her daughter was hospitalized. In 2019, she quit her job because of abuse and ended up staying in a Bethune House shelter. There she listened to the experiences of other women who’d survived experiences much worse than her own.

Volunteers from the Mission For Migrant Workers provide blood pressure checks for other migrants from the Philippines on Chater Road in Hong Kong, where the women gather on Sundays to relax, eat, and visit with their friends. The Mission For Migrant Workers receives support from United Women in Faith and the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
Johannie Tong (back to camera), a community relations officer for the Mission For Migrant Workers, talks with migrant domestic workers along Chater Road in Hong Kong. She provides information about labor rights and offers referrals to agencies and organizations that can help the migrants. Filipina migrant workers, most of whom work as domestic servants, often spend Sunday—their only day off from work—visiting with other migrants along Chater Road. Migrant workers from Indonesia gather at a separate location.
When migrant workers from the Philippines gather on Sundays along Chater Road in Hong Kong to relax, eat, and visit with their friends, Amy Toreno (right) uses the opportunity to teach other workers about their rights. She uses a book, "Know Your Rights & Responsibilities," published by the Mission For Migrant Workers, to guide the discussion. A migrant worker herself, Toreno is a volunteer with the group, which receives support from United Women in Faith and the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
A migrant worker pushes an elderly Chinese man in a wheelchair along a street in Hong Kong. Migrant workers--primarily from the Philippines and Indonesia--have been coming to work as domestic servants in Hong Kong for decades. Yet as the city's the population grows older, they are increasingly being hired specifically as caregivers for the aged.

“If they couldn’t speak up on their own behalf, if they weren’t able to demand that their rights be respected, then I realized that nothing would change unless I would speak up for them. That’s why I became a migrant leader,” said Quirante, who in 2023 was elected secretary-general of United Filipinos in Hong Kong during its convention held in the Methodist International Church.

When she’s not folding laundry or caring for her employer’s child, Quirante is lobbying the government for better working conditions, including requiring a living wage for migrants rather than the current minimum wage.

She said Bangsil and Prim are essential allies in their struggle.

“They’re not trying to solve our problems for us, but rather empowering us, helping us fight for our own rights. As such, they are more than friends. They have become part of our family. They provide us with emotional and spiritual support to keep fighting,” Quirante said.

Jovie Cantre (front) and another migrant worker from the Philippines dance in the streets of Hong Kong on a Sunday when they gather along Chater Road to relax, eat, and visit with their friends. Cantre has worked in Hong Kong since 2009, and has become an activist for workers' rights.

The Rev. Paul Jeffrey is a freelance photojournalist who lives in Oregon. A former United Methodist missionary, he is a founder of Life on Earth Pictures.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.