United Nations in miniatureA peek at school life in the international schools
United Nations in miniature
A peek at school life in the international schools
By Becky Chu and Teresa Fung
Miss Josephine C. Egoy, 29, is a Filipino maid for Katty Leung Shuk Man, 12. Katty treats Josephine as her friend.
She eats with Josephine, buys her birthday presents, and plays TV games and listens to music with her.
Katty said, “I know Josephine likes writing letters, so I have bought her a letter pad as a birthday present.
“She loves it so much that she keeps the pad and doesn’t use it. I know she treasures my gift.
“Though I don’t treat her as my very close friend, I don’t treat her as my servant.”
Katty said Josephine is her very good companion, especially when she feels lonely.
Miss Elena Aldama, 43, is a Filipino maid who has the charge of two children. She said, “I treat them as my own children.
“I love children very much. I had the experience of looking after 10 children in one family in the Middle East.”
The family she is working for will emigrate to Canada later. Therefore, Elena is applying to work in Canada as a domestic helper.
She said, “I want to see how the children grow up. I’ll cry if I have to leave them.”
Touching photos of Filipino maids hugging children they look after often appear in the Tining Filipino International, a monthly Filipino magazine.
Said Mr. Noel Nellas, the executive manager of the magazine: “We receive five to 10 photos every day. Almost two out of 10 photos are about Filipino maids and the children they look after.”
Dr. Jane A. Margold, a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, is a specialist in international labour migration.
Recalling her past interviews with Filipino maids, she said, “They love and are concerned about children. Some teach the children English and play with them.
“The relationship is very good. I don’t see they have great difficulties while living together.”
With an increasing number of cases of child abuse by the maids, training for the Filipino maids has been a matter of some concern.
In fact, all maids have to undergo a week’s training before working in Hong Kong. Some agencies have a list of policies for the maids to follow, including prohibitions against beating children.
Elena admits to scolding the two sisters — Sharon Chau Gi Feng, 5, and Chau Gi Yeug, 3 — when they are naughty.
She explained, “When Sharon hits Yeug’s head, I shout and scold her. I’m afraid that Yeug would be hurt.”
Sharon said that when Miss Elena scolds her, she does not like her.
Similarly, Katty does not like Josephine scolding her. Said she: “I’ll accept her opinions if what she says are correct. I think she has the right to scold me, but no right to beat me.”
To avoid conflict and to develop a basis for love, compromise and communication are essential.
However, these are not easily achieved, especially when living with a person who has come from a different country and a different cultural background.
Different languages are a problem.
Sharon can only speak and understand some simple English words.
She can only guess what Elena says by looking at her facial expressions.
Sharon’s younger sister, Yeug can speak very little English and seldom uses English to communicate with Elena.
Mrs. Eppie Chau, mother of Sharon and Yeug, said, “Sharon is learning to speak Cantonese very slowly.
Sometimes, she mixes Cantonese with English and causes some confusion. Yeug is better because Sharon teaches her to speak Cantonese.”
For Katty, she can understand almost 70 percent of what Josephine says. Sometimes Josephine draws pictures to communicate.
“But I can’t tell her my inner feelings in English. English is an obstacle,” said Katty.
A developmental psychologist in the Department of Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong pointed out a problem.
She said, “Children at 2 to 5 years old are at an important developmental stage of their language skills.
“If a young child is being looked after by a person who speaks a different language, his language skills will be affected. Yet, grownups would not have this problem.”
Though the children may spend more time with their maids than with their parents, they find differences between the relationship with the maids and their parents.
“Mothers and Filipino maids are different. No one can replace the role of my mum. I love to see my mother,” said Katty.
The developmental psychologist said, “Parent-child relationship depends a lot on the quality rather than the quantity of interaction.”
