Hong Kong: "Strangers at Home" - selected stories and photos available online
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HONG KONG -
Selected stories and photos from the award winning book "Strangers at Home" (外傭—住在家中的陌生人), which explores the lives of migrant domestic workers who go to Hong Kong to work, are now available on the Rights Exposure website: j.mp/24bEsBG
The book, written by independent journalist, Mei Chi So (蘇美智) with photographs from human rights campaigner/photographer, Robert Godden, was sponsored by Amnesty International Hong Kong who organised a series of accompanying events, including exhibitions and book talks, in order to create a space for dialogue on the issues raised.
"The aim of this book is to present a more nuanced and representative story of the lives of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, where we see a side of their lives that we may not have been previously aware of.
It is not about ‘humanising’ them—for they possess the vibrant, flawed, amazing and ordinary humanity that all of us possess—nor about ‘giving them a voice’—for they can speak loudly and clearly for themselves.
No, the aim of the book is to simply tell ordinary stories that reveal the extraordinary, showing the complexities and contradictions we all recognize from our own lives and feel some connection with. By doing this, we hope to contribute to a more constructive dialogue, whether at the local park, the office water cooler, or the corridors of the Central Government Complex. I believe it is through this dialogue that attitudes will change and improvements will gradually come and be felt.
I hope you gained an insight into the challenges the women we had the pleasure of meeting face, women who left their lives behind back home and came to work here in hope of a better future. I hope these stories will stay with you, stored away in your memories, and in the future when the time is right you will unwrap them and add your voice to the growing call for change." - Robert Godden, Director, Campaigns & Communications, Rights Exposure
- More photos and stories >>> j.mp/24bEsBG
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