Day Off in Victoria Park: Blooming Solidarity Within Indonesian Domestic Workers Community
This article was originally published by Pangyao and is re-published here with permission.
Every Sunday, a warming atmosphere spreads out in Victoria Park, a green spot in the centre of Hong Kong where groups of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) spend their one day off. Since in Hong Kong, domestic workers are forced by law to live in their employers’ houses, they often find themselves trapped in their workplace. For this reason, on Sunday, they gather in Victoria Park to share their skills and celebrate life in all its forms.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, November 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
Bulan Hidayat, a 27-year-old Indonesian domestic worker, gently moves her body in a traditional dance full of beauty and mystery. She dances in the middle of a circle of people wearing masks and hanging their phones up, hypnotised by her powerful moves.
Hidayat's dance communicates a sense of hope and restriction, an interplay of conflicting emotions that many domestic workers experience during the pandemic in Hong Kong.
"Dancing for me is a way to feel spiritually connected with my community and reminds me that before being a worker, I am a human," said Hidayat after her performance.
On Sundays, Victoria Park has become a place for domestic workers to share their diverse customs and traditions from home and enjoy life. The Indonesian domestic workers' community in Hong Kong entails a patchwork of ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities that coexist respectfully and peacefully.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, October 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
Their gathering on Sunday speaks about domestic workers' humanity, often overlooked and neglected by their employers and Hong Kong public opinion.
Apart from being the city's economic backbone, domestic workers also contribute on a social and cultural level by enriching the identity of Hong Kong itself with their multiculturality and lived experiences.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, October 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
For many domestic workers, gathering in Victoria Park on Sunday is an opportunity to develop new peer-to-peer skills and passions in a safe environment.
Community leaders organise outdoor activities: praying, organising fashion competitions, doing makeup and sewing workshops, performing traditional dances and martial arts, attending language courses, etc.
The dedication to cultivating their skills and passions is incredibly contagious. In addition, it shows the passion of domestic workers in sharing the many facets of their culture with a more extensive community
Siswati Yozie, a community organiser from Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate Cabang Khusus, a grassroots organisation promoting Indonesian culture in Hong Kong, weekly invites several domestic workers to perform traditional dances, martial arts, and fashion competitions in Victoria Park.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, October 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
Despite many difficulties in the last few years due to the Umbrella Movement protests and Covid-19 restrictions, she and her community continued to organise events in Victoria Park in accordance with the sanitary regulations.
"Since many domestic workers live away from their families, holding performances here is crucial for us,” she said, “because it enforces our sense of community and allows us to get to know new people."
Indeed, organising activities in Victoria Park further opens the opportunity for Indonesian domestic workers to encounter different cultures and ethnic groups, such as the Filipino community, while creating a tight solidarity network.
While walking through a group of people and tents, a line of domestic workers wearing charming makeup and dressed up in glamorous clothes is standing in a crowded circle of people, waiting to start a fashion competition. On the other side of the red carpet, the jury is at a table where several prizes are displaced, ready to decide the winners of the parade.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, November 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
“I did this dress by myself in the past four months by learning from my friends here in the park,” said Indah Aminah after winning the first prize of the day. “Wearing it makes me proud, and modelling gives me a sense of freedom and happiness that I did not feel in the past months during the lockdown because I could not go out of my employer's apartment.”
During the lockdown, many employers forced domestic workers to spend their day off at home, making it harder for domestic workers to preserve the free time of their only day off.
Among 30 domestic workers the reporter interviewed in Victoria Park, 19 said they stayed in the house during the pandemic and worked on Sundays due to their employers' worries of catching the virus on the streets.
However, the day off is a fundamental right and need of domestic workers and a pivotal opportunity to recharge mentally and physically. Moreover, in Victoria Park, the Indonesian domestic workers' community encourages domestic workers to develop and share their traditions and skills in a supportive environment.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, November 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
"I choose to come here every Sunday and teach Pencak Silat, a traditional Indonesian martial art, because I want to teach other women combat techniques and improve my self-defence within a community that I trust," said Istiq Omah, a teacher at Pagar Nusa, an Indonesian Islamic organisation.
Sundays at Victoria Park is a place of empowerment and expression for many domestic workers through cultivating their passions, skills and hobbies. Moreover, the participation of people from various backgrounds, places, cultures, and passions makes Sundays in Victoria Park a unique, values-based community in which individuals share a sense of belonging and experiences that enrich their lives.
"I love to spend the day praying and singing together with my sisters because it gives me the energy to start a new week," said Buana Suryani, a 35-year-old Indonesian domestic worker.
She sits in a circle with other Indonesian domestic workers wearing yellow hijabs, reading the Koran, and playing percussion in a driving rhythm.
Suryani holds a woman's hand next to her and looks at the shy with a smile full of energy while a chant of traditional prayers filled the air with a puzzling sense of melancholy and hope.
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, October 2021. (Photo: Gaia Guatri)
