bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Connor Mycroft

When Indonesian domestic helper Sri* ran away from her employer’s home two months ago, she made her way to Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge.
It has provided her with free boarding, food and support while her complaint of assault is dealt with by the police and the Labour Tribunal handles a separate case.
The 46-year-old alleged that her employer’s adult daughter would routinely get drunk and assault her. The police got involved one night, after the daughter was suspected of throwing a phone at Sri.
Sri filed assault charges over that incident, but said she fled her employer’s home fearing for her safety. Without money to support herself, she went to the shelter on the recommendation of a friend.
Bethune House has allowed her to stay in Hong Kong, but she has been shaken by news that it is at risk of closing down by the end of the year.
“I’m very worried,” she said. “If my case isn’t settled by December I don’t know what will happen.”
The shelter put out an urgent call for donations last month, revealing that it would have to close if it did not raise HK$1 million (US$128,800).
Its Save Our Shelter campaign received support from domestic helper unions, NGOs and an international school, but has managed to reach only about 40 per cent of its funding goal, executive director Edwina Antonio-Santoyo told the Post.
With monthly operating costs of around HK$250,000, she said the campaign would help it stay open through to December, allowing time to find more permanent support and new donors to carry on.
“It is really an SOS for us,” she said. “We are running out of time.”

Opened in 1986 by a group of women of various Christian denominations and local academia, Bethune House is one of Hong Kong’s longest-running shelters for migrant women, with its clients drawn mainly from the city’s about 360,000 foreign domestic helpers.
Its two locations in Sheung Wan and Jordan offer shelter for up to 30 women every day, and more than 680 a year. Many are domestic helpers who have been left either jobless, homeless or stuck in abusive situations.
Beyond free lodging and food, it offers clients medical support, skills training, accompanies them to hearings of their cases, and conducts 24-hour rescue operations.
It has two permanent staff and runs with the help of volunteers who include locals, Filipino residents and migrant workers.
The shelter needs HK$3 million annually to keep going, but Antonio-Santoya said it had become increasingly difficult in recent years as demand for its services grew while donations and funding shrank.
A Filipino national involved with the shelter since 1989, she said that at one point during the pandemic, Bethune House became a Covid-19 centre when a wave of domestic helpers fell ill and their employers did not want them at home.
The number seeking help has not abated in the years since. Each day her team learns of as many as seven domestic helpers who have had their contracts terminated, but the shelter can only take in two to three new residents each week, as spaces become available.
Some of the funding the shelter used to rely on fell through this year.
Two large charitable foundations stopped their regular funding without giving reasons, Antonio-Santoyo said, while other donors – both locals and expatriates – had left the city.
Businesses, individual donors and other organisations were also finding it hard to donate amid the city’s struggling economic recovery.
She and her team had tried contacting previous donors and wooing new ones, but with limited success. “It is really difficult to get support,” she said.

One donor tried approaching the Hong Kong Jockey Club on the shelter’s behalf, but Bethune House was deemed ineligible for support.
A club spokesman told the Post it could not reveal details as all requests for help were confidential.
The team also reached out to the Indonesian and Philippine consulates, whose nationals make up most of the city’s foreign domestic helpers, but had not received a response.
The Indonesian consulate told the Post it provided shelter for domestic helpers from the country.
It welcomed initiatives to provide shelter for those who are stranded, including Indonesians, and said any request for financial support would be assessed and followed up in accordance with Indonesian laws, regulations and policies.
This is not the first time Bethune House has found itself on the verge of closure. In 2018, it ran a similar HK$1 million campaign after funding from overseas churches dried up.
That year, schools, churches and individuals pitched in to help reach 65 per cent of the target sum before an anonymous donor stepped in with a large donation to keep the shelter running.
Antonio-Santoyo said West Island School and St Stephen’s Church, which supported the 2018 drive have also helped raise funds this year.
Filipina Editha Victoria, 51, turned to Bethune House in July 2020 when her employer threatened to terminate her contract after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She stayed for six months after undergoing initial surgery, and shelter staff and volunteers took her to chemotherapy sessions and provided support throughout her recovery.
Close to being declared cancer-free, Victoria is now with another employer and has been paying it forward by volunteering at the shelter on her days off.
“This is really my second home, I am so grateful for them,” she said, tears welling in her eyes as she thought of Bethune House closing.
“A lot of migrant workers need this shelter.”
* Name changed at interviewee’s request


Hong Kong shelter for migrant women set to close without urgent HK$1 million donation

Hong Kong raises minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers by 2.5%

When those who care for others need help themselves: mental health for Hong Kong’s domestic helpers

China’s birth rate unlikely to benefit from influx of Filipino helpers, analysts say

Foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Bethune House executive director Edwina Antonio-Santoya says past sources of funding have dried up. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong is home to about 360,000 foreign domestic helpers working in the city. Photo: Sam Tsang

Editha Victoria, volunteers at Bethune House after the organisation offered its support as she battled breast cancer. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Domestic helpers enjoy their Sunday off in Central. Photo: Sam Tsang

(From left): Concern group leaders Eman Villanueva and Sringatin at a press conference in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong

Swedish businessman found guilty of raping domestic helper in his Hong Kong home

Patrik Tobias Ekstrom, leaves the High Court during a court break. Photo: Elson Li

Patrik Tobias Ekstrom will be sentenced in the High Court on November 11. Photo: Warton Li

Operation Santa Claus: Hong Kong charity supporting exploited migrant workers dreams that one day it will not be needed

Kartika Puspitasari, a domestic helper who had been abused by her employer, gets support at the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Edwina Antonio-Santoyo, executive director of the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

News

Hong Kong

Society

Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge says donations have dried up, and urgently needs HK$1 million and more to stay open next year


Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge says donations have dried up, and urgently needs HK$1 million and more to stay open next year.


Hong Kong society

Hong Kong Jockey Club