YESTERDAY'S column was titled "Happiness is power." Yes, it is power.
Not just as a "saleable" trait for Filipina domestic workers whose
cheerfulness is an unstated but sought for quality among foreign employers,
but also as a personal bulwark against the vicissitudes of loneliness
and alienation.
It is a power that can be harnessed not just for personal protection
and morale boosting, but also for organizing and consciousness raising.
And it is a power that is puzzling for, according to an article in The
Economist, in Hong Kong at least it is wielded by those who should by
all rights be the most miserable. (And the planned reduction in the
minimum wage for domestics should make them all the more miserable.)
Why are the Filipinas of Hong Kong, majority of whom work as domestics
under often harrowing conditions, so happy? The Economist wanted to
find out why and sought answers from both the experts and the subjects
themselves.
"The usual hypothesis puts it down to the unique ethnic and historical
cocktail that is Philippine culture: Malay roots (warm, sensual,
mystical) mixed with the Catholicism and fiesta spirit of the former Spanish
colonizers, to which is added a dash of western flavor from the
islands' days as an American colony. (UP Professor Felipe) de Leon, after a
decade of researching, has concluded that Filipino culture is the most
inclusive and open of all those he has studied. It is the opposite of the
individualistic culture of the West, with its emphasis on privacy and
personal fulfillment. It is also the opposite of certain collectivistic
cultures, as one finds them in Confucian societies, that value
hierarchy and �face.'
"BY CONTRAST, Filipino culture is based on the notion of kapwa, a
Tagalog word that roughly translates into �shared being.' In essence, it
means that most Filipinos, deep down, do not believe that their own
existence is separable from that of the people around them. Everything, from
pain to a snack or a joke, is there to be shared. �The strongest social
urge of the Filipino is to connect, to become one with people,' says De
Leon. As a result, he believes, there is much less loneliness among
them.
"It is a tall thesis," admits the writer, so for confirmation a little
"field research" was done among the Filipinas who every Sunday turn
Statue Square in Hong Kong into "a map of the Philippine archipelago."
Here and in other gathering places, "Hong Kong's Filipinas�replicate
their village communities, and these surrogate families form a first
circle of shared being. Indeed, some of the new arrivals in Hong Kong
already have aunts, nieces, former students, teachers, or neighbors who are
there, and gossip from home spreads like wildfire."
"What is most striking about Statue Square, however, is that the
sharing is in no way confined to any dialect group," notes The Economist.
"Filipinas who are total strangers move from one group to another--always
welcomed, never rejected, never awkward. Indeed, even Indonesian maids
(after Filipinas, the largest group of amahs), and Chinese or foreign
passers-by who linger for even a moment are likely to be invited to
share the snacks.
"The same sense of light-hearted intimacy extends to religion. Father
Lim, for instance, is a Filipino priest in Hong Kong�His Sunday service
in Tagalog at St Joseph's Church on Garden Road�is, by turns, stand-up
comedy, rock concert and group therapy. And it is packed. For most of
the hour, Father Lim squeezes through his flock with a microphone. �Are
you happy?' he asks the congregation. A hand snatches the mike from
him. �Yes, because I love God.' Amid wild applause, the mike finds its way
to another amah. �I'm so happy because I got my HK$3,670 this month
[$470, the amahs' statutory wage]. But my employer was expecting a million
and didn't get it. Now he's miserable.' The others hoot with laughter."
This "intimate approach to faith," is one reason Father Lim believes
there is virtually no drug abuse, suicide or depression among the
domestics, "problems that are growing among the Chinese."
An even more concrete form of "sharing" are the money, goods and little
luxuries, like t-shirts, toys, perfume and chocolates that the women
send home regularly. Many of the DH's, says the writer, borrow to send
home money to their families, "often with ruinous financial
consequences."
Father Lim shares a story that is both amusing and appalling: "An
eminent Filipino died while abroad, and it was decided that local
compatriots should bid the coffin adieu before its journey home. So amahs showed up to file past it. When the coffin arrived in the Philippines and was
reopened, the corpse was covered from head to toe with padded bras,
platform shoes, Nike trainers, and the like, all neatly tagged with the
correct addresses."
It is with good reason that the domestics have wholeheartedly adopted
the concept that they are the bagong bayani or new heroes of the
country. "Bayani" is also the root word for "bayanihan," the communal exercise
of moving home that has become for us a symbol of national
togetherness.
In "Bayanihan House," a center for Filipino workers in Hong Kong, the
writer chances upon a beauty pageant where one of the contestants was
asked how she overcame homesickness, and why she thought the people back
home considered her a hero. "She looked down into her audience of
amahs. �We're heroes because we sacrifice for the ones we love. And
homesickness is just a part of it. But we deal with it because we're together.'
The room erupted with applause and agreement.
"�Nowadays, bayanihan really means togetherness,' says De Leon, and
�togetherness is happiness.' It might sound too obvious, almost banal, to
point out--had not so many people across the world forgotten it."