Maitreyi Karanth (second from left) delivers her homecooked meal to representatives of the Refugee Union. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

For many Hong Kong residents not of Chinese origin, self-restraint, mutual help and reaching out to others helps liven up their days in the city and enables them to overcome the challenges brought by current wave of pandemic.

Manisha Wijesinghe, executive director of HELP for Domestic Workers, is among those ready to extend a helping hand to migrant domestic helpers. 

The Sri Lanka-born human rights lawyer calls Hong Kong home and has contributed to the city’s fight against the pandemic through her work as an advocate for migrant workers’ rights.

Maitreyi Karanth on her way to distribute food to those in hotel quarantine. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

In the past two years, more domestic workers have been coming to the group’s centers, burdened by fear, anxiety and depression, she said. This prompted HELP to partner with some organizations in 2021 to provide free one-on-one counseling as the pandemic has weighed on domestic workers’ mental health.

“A lot of domestic workers were not able to go back to their home countries for more than two years. (Most of) these domestic workers are women. Many of them are mothers or wives, they haven’t been able to see their families and a lot of their families are going through financial difficulties. 

“We have had clients, who have lost family members back home, who haven’t been able to go to their (loved ones’) funerals, who had crisis in their families (but were) not able to be there,” Wijesinghe said.

While some media reports focused on how many expats were leaving Hong Kong, more long-time residents and expats think otherwise. 

Another such resident is Chris Bowers, a promoter of events and music. Amid news of people relocating to ride out the virus elsewhere, the Hong Kong-born British Chinese musician decided to stay put as she believes the city will need the services of people like her for the foreseeable future.

“Hong Kong is my home. I was born here and I’m hopeful (about the city’s prospects),” she said.

Bowers, more known by her stage name Chris B, uses her break from work to help those in need — musicians who lost their livelihood due to the suspension of live music and entertainment in the city. 

Marites Palma. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

She established the Musicians Foundation to extend financial assistance to professional musicians in Hong Kong.

“We help them pay their bills because, to be honest right now, if someone could help you pay your rent because you do not have any income, that actually helps a lot,” she said. The foundation does not give people cash.

Like Bowers, the India-born comedienne-actor and producer Maitreyi Karanth remains busy even though COVID-19 has shut down the stage lights. She uses this free time to cook and distribute food to the homeless and people in COVID-related quarantine.

“For the last three years, I have felt very fortunate that we were in a place where everything was amazing and we did whatever we wanted to do,” Karanth said.

“We have had that most amazing time already when the world was suffering. So we are just going through the same thing. We’re going to come back in a few months. People who do want to come back (to Hong Kong), will come back.”

Chris Bowers. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Filipina migrant worker Marites Palma only gets a break on weekends, but she prefers to devote that spare time to help her fellow migrant workers. Palma spends most of her Sundays distributing food, medicines and toiletries to domestic helpers in COVID-related quarantine in Hong Kong.

She is the founder of Social Justice for Migrant Workers, a three-year-old NGO that supports domestic helpers. She said helping her fellow domestic workers is more urgent now as the pandemic has been especially difficult for these migrant workers.

Palma said her group uses social media networks to communicate with each other, and provide support as needed. This is how they learned that many employers do not provide the quarantined helpers with enough food, medicines and other essentials that they require. 

Members of Social Justice pooled their money so that they can send care packages to the quarantined helpers every weekend.

“Even though we have (a small) salary, we have the heart to share (what we have) to our fellow domestic workers,” she said.

Contact the writers at prime@chinadailyapac.com