Women’s Health Outreach to Migrant Domestic Workers

On Sunday 16 May, I prayed for a wonderful group of young Christians and our staff before they conducted an Outreach event to 200+ migrant domestic workers (MDW) in Tsim Sha Tsui. The group of 12 volunteers consisted of medical students and Indonesian translators who are members of Harvest Mission Community Church. Together with Christian Action's Centre for Migrant Domestic Workers (CMDW), this group organised free health checks and a seminar on reproductive health for 27 June. The Outreach team started in Kowloon Park and made their way to the world-famous Tsim Sha Tsui harbour front, two popular places where migrant workers gather on Sundays.

During the outreach, the volunteers distributed leaflets to promote the free health check and seminar event. They also spoke to the workers about women's health, Covid-19 vaccines and life in general. Although the target audience was migrant workers with partners in Hong Kong, the team reached out to anyone with whom they could engage in conversation.

ViVi Wangka, who is in charge of the shelter, said, "I am encouraged by the young people from church! They are really good at assisting and talking to migrant workers. It didn't matter if they talked about the health services, they just wanted to get to know them."

The Harvest Mission Community Church group is led by Alvin Leung, Hanson Chin and Angel Lee. They are medical students at different Hong Kong medical schools. They are aware of the various problems that MDWs face, such as feeling discriminated against and their fear of seeking medical help. This group is passionate to serve and educate the MDW community. Alvin Leung stated, “It’s important to show them that they matter to us and to God. We want to participate in helping them to make good decisions, and we also want to share the love of Christ with them.”

The migrant domestic workers, most of whom are women from Indonesia and the Philippines, warmly received the young volunteers. They were interested in the 27 June event and learning about how to take care of their health.

A group of Christian Filipino migrant domestic workers invited the Outreach team to join their prayer meeting. When this happened, CMDW staff member, Jennifer Dwicahyani, reflected: "We connected with other Christians and all of a sudden, we all became much closer."