Letters | Children of domestic helpers also deserve the best start in life

Readers discuss the hardships of migrant domestic worker mums, the call for the government to avert the property downturn, and the policy allowing more non-local students to enrol in Hong Kong universities

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A migrant worker mother and her child in October 2021. In Hong Kong, children born to foreign domestic workers may not have access to public healthcare and welfare services. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 11:30am, 20 Nov 2023

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Today is World Children’s Day – a day for children like myself to speak out and reimagine a better world. In a developed society like Hong Kong, can you imagine that there are still children who don’t have a legal identity and struggle to have their basic needs for food, shelter, education and healthcare met?

My mother is a paediatric nurse who works with PathFinders. She looks after pregnant migrant domestic workers and their babies after they are born. I could not believe some of the stories she shared.

One was about a mother who could not breastfeed her baby and did not have money to buy formula milk. Her baby had to go hungry and was very underweight. This inspired me to find out more about their lives here.

Pregnant migrant domestic workers face many hardships, such as being illegally fired from their jobs or treated badly by employers. Some end up unemployed, homeless, staying illegally in Hong Kong and unable to access important public healthcare and welfare services for themselves and their children. I can imagine how hard it is to be in such a situation.

My own Aunty has been a part of our family for nearly 10 years, and all my memories of my time in Hong Kong have her in them. While my parents are at work, she takes care of my brother and me. I have learnt about her life and the sacrifices she has made to give her child a better future. She can’t see him often and care for him the way she cares for us. This makes me determined to do what I can within my life and community to help.