Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong

Dhruv M., 13, HKIS

At present, Domestic Helpers are not allowed right of abode in Hong Kong despite residing here for many years. Until recently, domestic helper Evangeline Banao Vallejos was part of the 250,000 domestic helper population in Hong Kong. She recently won a lawsuit with the backing of several renowned lawyers to be able to seek permanent residency. However, the rest of the hundreds of thousands of helpers present in Hong Kong still have not been granted the right to abode in this city and enjoy the benefits permanent residency ahs to offer. This is wrong. After living for 24 years Vallejos still had to go to court, and she is just on helper. The Hong Kong government must realize that after rechecking their system it would be illogical, and maybe even illegal, to prohibit domestic helpers the right of abode.

One of the foremost reasons that helpers should be enabled to have permanent residency because by denying residency, that is a contradiction of the Basic/Immigration Ordinance laws. The Basic Law states that discrimination is not legal in Hong Kong SAR. According to it, residents are of equal status when involved with the law. On the other hand is the Immigration Ordinance law, which according to the reference basically disables helpers from being granted “permanent resident” status. Not allowing helpers to get permanent residency based on their occupation is discriminatory, and by having one law that says that discrimination is unlawful, and another promoting discrimination there is, as earlier stated a crossover in the law. Basic Law is fundamental to the city, and in order to prevent violation Basic Hong Kong Law, regulators must make sure that helpers are no longer discriminated, because this could quickly become a massive flaw in the city’s vast legal system.

Secondly, helpers do in fact contribute to Hong Kong society. They give people the ability to not have to worry as much as they would have to without a helper about the home life, and whether everything is in check, and so on. While some people say their contribution to society is outweighed by the negative effect they would have on the economy if granted residency, these people may in fact be incorrect. Now that they debate on permanent residency has been raised, some helpers may leave if not granted citizenship, because they have “come to their senses”. The helpers leaving could create a domino effect.

First the helpers would leave, then people would work less in order to take care of the home, then income would reduce, and consequentially the economy will slow down. So now that the topic on residency has been raised within the helpers’ community it would be a safer bet for the government to grant them a right to abode.

On top of this, it makes no sense that the government are complaining about the effects on the economy, when the Hong Kong government just spent 5 billion dollars on a new headquarters. The amount the government would have to pay in order to give the helpers citizenship is dwarfed by the amount they paid on something that has no visible public benefit. The amount spent on Tamar (new headquarters) could have been allocated into many different projects across Hong Kong that would have had a larger public impact.

At the end of the day, it is time for the Hong Kong government to reanalyze their laws, and to double-check whether some of it may be wrong, and actually promote discrimination. It would most certainly save them quite a few million in probably future lawsuits from the now awoken helpers group of Hong Kong. It is time for a change.

On Body Image

Christie L., 15, St. Paul’s Convent

        Being skinny has already been a trend in the modern-day society. From teenage young ladies to middle-age women, keeping fit has already been a long-life goal to work for. Everyone thinks that skinny means beauty. They think that being skinny makes them feel confident and successful. Why is being skinny a trend for women (or even men) to achieve? One of the reasons is those models in the fashion shows or fashion magazines looked really skinny, and publishers try to build up a “skinny means beautiful” image and it influenced the way that people look towards health and beauty.

        Looking back in history, ancient people, especially Chinese, thought that being fat meant that the person was born in a wealthy family and they were brought up well. Fat also meant fortune. People thought that being fat meant the person was fortunate. Ancient wealthy or middle class people like to find a fat woman as a wife because they thought that fat women could act like a female pig by giving birth to a dozen babies! Lady Yang Yuhuan is a good example. According to the history, she was one of the four most beautiful ladies in Chinese history. She was described as a very fat woman, but she was the lady that the emperor Tang loved most. This shows that fat people were more favourable in history. So why has this thinking changed?

        Throughout thousands of years, people thought that being fat was great. However, in today’s society, people finally realized that being fat is not a good thing, but that being healthy is the best. Later on in this century, models are asked to be skinny and tall, magazines, pop stars, and actors help build the image that skinny means beautiful. Eventually, those photos made women think that being skinny is most important though it might look uneven. This idea made people lose weight with different methods such as taking pills that may be forbidden, joining some courses that promised to help you to lose weight with a certain period of time, etc. There may be harmful effects of taking these products but these people are willing to risk their lives in order to change into a “model” body.

        Advertisements are some of the most important factors that influence people about body image. They make images look uneven as they think that skinny is more important than uneven proportions. Also, the phrase “skinny equals beautiful has already been their objective. When there are tons of these advertisements lying around, people will be influenced by the ads and agree with skinny equals beautiful. Then, they forget what is the standard of being healthy and start to go for the trip to maek themselves skinny. When advertisements lie everywhere, from the streets to your house (leaflets), from magazines to TV, it is difficult to not be influenced. Then, once your friends are influenced, the conversation you hear may also include body image and eventually you become seriously influenced.

        To conclude, the power of advertising is enormous. We should be careful about the information we perceive and choose the truth. We should not follow the trend of society. Being healthy, not skinny, is best. 

Should the Mega Rich Be Allowed to Build Entire Skyscrapers Devoted to Themselves?

Jonathan C., 14, South Island School

Sometimes you have to work hard to become wealthy or sometimes you could be one of the lucky ones where your business becomes very big and earns you wealth, fame and status. Recently, a mega house was built in the center of Mumbai, India. In a city where many people live in the slums, the building has caused even further outrage when local media discovered that the owner of the house does not actually live in it but hosts many glamorous parties in it instead. There have been many environmentalists who have come out and shown their dismay by questioning the amount of natural resources used to build the house.

I am worried that many citizens will go protest the government’s decision to allow the project. It’s bad enough that he owns many luxurious items but what is even worse is that the building looks down on the poor areas. The poor may start to be jealous and think he is showing off and may wonder why the government has not developed affordable living for the poor instead. In the slums disease is lurking everywhere. On the other hand, if the government chooses to reinvest the money into developing affordable living then many of the poor would become happy.

Another issue that could arise is corruption and greed from the politicians and people. They could become inspired to use the country’s money and build a mega house for themselves instead of developing the country. I feel that the decision to allow this building to be made was wrong. The land could have been used for high rise affordable flats or even for a school or perhaps an orphanage. There is a famous saying that the simpler the house, the better it is. In my opinion this building is too excessive, it takes up space and it’s a huge carbon footprint.

The rich should be setting a good example to the people by being philanthropists, being humble and also being grateful for what they have. Instead of wasting money on lavish items, they should help the needy and educate people by giving speeches. The rich could inspire a better attitude and make others want to work hard. The building sends a wrong message to people because you have to save money instead of spending it on unnecessary items. If many others build things through the loan of banks and not be able to pay it back then it could lead to an increase in bankruptcy in India.

Looking at it from another perspective, the building could become a tourist attraction and bring in revenue to the government. I mean there are not many other places in the world where there is a 27 floor house overlooking the city. If the owner agrees to turn it into an attraction then it could pay dividends. He could also turn it into an office/hotel space. However this is highly unlikely.

In conclusion I believe the building sets a wrong example and should never have been made. The rich should be motivating others to follow suit not trying to show off and make the less fortunate feel worthless.

On Autism

Serena C.,15, HKIS

Autism, a condition believed to stem from variations in early brain development, is characterized by a wide spectrum of social impairments. The most common ones are talking to oneself in public, occasional uncontrollable outbursts of emotion, and an inability to sense others’ emotions. Because of this, it is quite hard for autistic people to find jobs, interact with others, and live an independent life. There are estimated to be 200,000 autistic teenagers set to come of age in the United States alone over the next five years, and the question looms above us: What are we going to do with them? Although autistic people have trouble interacting with others and sensing emotions, it doesn’t mean they are not smarter than we are. We need to give them a chance. If we don’t start accepting autistic people for schools and jobs, there will be nowhere for them to go.

Some say that society can benefit if we do not accept people whose brains function differently. Autistic people would have trouble fitting in with the general public. In schools, autistic students would require more attention from the teacher and would need things to be explained more than once. In the workplace, autistic people would have trouble focusing with so many other people around them, and conflicts could arise between them and their colleagues.

However, these views toward autistic people have stemmed from negative stereotypes associated with those who are diagnosed with diseases. Just because they communicate in different ways does not mean we should treat them as children or look down on them. Autistic people are not mentally disabled or mentally challenged; in fact, many of them are extremely good in math and science. These stereotypes are unjust and have no basis in facts, and because of them there is now a widespread, wrongful perception of autistic people.

Isolating autistic people from society is an unethical, blatant form of discrimination. Autistic people—like everyone else—have certain individual talents. When hiring or reading school applications we need to keep in mind that they can still do normal things and have potential. For example, there are two people going for the same job as a computer programmer. One of them is completely normal, and one of them has slight autism. However, they both have the same qualificat6ions and are very talented. The company hires the one without autism. Is this not a form of discrimination? The company is being prejudiced against the person even when he is just as talented as the other. If this company thinks this way, there are definitely going to be others who think the same. This brings us to the question: What are autistic people going to do?

We need to give autistic people a chance to live an independent life. This means taking their condition into consideration and giving them certain benefits. Autistic people have the right to an education and jobs and we cannot take that away from them. Schools and workplaces should give autistic people more of a chance to gain a position, because if we don’t accept them, they will have nowhere to go. The government should start more programs to help them transition into adulthood and deal with their autism.

As human beings, autistic people have the right to an education, jobs, friends, and most of all: respect. We need to throw away the negative stereotypes associated with autistic people and treat them no less than we would treat another human being.

President of Holanderlabi

Sharon Y., 7, Kiangsu

1)      If you were the president of your own country, what would you name it? 

I would name it Holanderlabi.

2)      Where would it be?

My Holanderlabi is in Europe next to Holland.

3)      Every country has a flag. Draw a picture of your country’s flag, then describe it:

There are six colours on my flag. There is a strawberry on my flag because there are a lot of strawberries in my country.

4)      Every country has a national anthem, or a song that describes their country. Write four lines of a song or poem for your country. If you can, make it rhyme!

Holanderlabi sala boni sea,

I love you Holanderlabi,

It has strawberries full of markets,

I have gold Ha Ha Holanderlabi!

5)      Hong Kong is full of mountains and skyscrapers. What does your country look like? How big is it?

It’s full of houses and strawberries. LIKE THIS BIG! Bigger than Hong Kong!

6)      You want more tourists to come to your country, so you print a travel guide that lists the three best things to do in your country. What are they?

l   Buy strawberries

l   Eat your own food

l   Go to the park and play

7)      As president, you get to make a new law that everyone in your country has to follow. What is it?

My law is: If you don’t buy strawberries then you’ll need to sleep on the roof!

8)      You learn that the people of your country are very upset about something. Why are they mad?

Because they need to bring their own food.

9)      Describe what you do to fix the problem.

I will say: Ok if you don’t listen to the rules you’ll be in trouble!

10)  Would you want to be the president of a country in real   life? Why or why not?

        I don’t want to be president because it’s so boring!

Life As Trash

Daphne C., 7, St. Paul's Co-Ed

I am a piece of trash. Someone will put me in the rubbish bin. I don’t like it because it is smelly. Someone will move the rubbish bin. Where do they put us? They put us in a huge and smelly truck. The truck drove to the landfill and they put us in the landfill. I feel miserable because I miss my family a lot. I must be brave because then I can be recycled. I want to be a paper in my next life. A little boy called Ryan will use me to write a story.