Whilst I am on the subject of my new computer I had a unplesant experience as I was getting off the MTR on my way home. As I stepped of the train a young girl looked at me and smiled but not in that way but in a manner of scared wonder. This girl must of been around 18-20 years old and was either Filipino or Indonesian and I must of been one of the first white people she had ever seen as it was the only reason she would look at me like that. As she walked past, complete with rucksack, I noticed she was with an older Chinese woman and the situation was clear and not uncommon; the girl had just been flown into Hong Kong from some tiny village in the middle of nowhere was being taken to her new home which would be the house or flat of some rich family here in Hong Kong and the place where she would now fill her days being the nanny/housekeeper/slave. Of course I am guessing most of this but based on experience I bet I am 99% right.
The reason this experience was bad was because I was carrying my HK$ 15,000 laptop as I walked behind her and it hit home, again, how much the gap between the rich and poor is here in Asia. My lavish,pointless purchase could have been a years salary for this girl and all of the possessions in her rucksack probably couldn’t buy 10% of this overpriced technology. It’s OK on paper knowing about the gulf between rich and poor but it’s another being eye-to-eye with it. One colleague at work has a nanny from Indonesia and her salary is, wait for it, HK$400 a month. that’s about 30 pounds or 60 dollars. Can you imagine how poor these people are? It’s heartbreaking.
If you ever live in Asia, anywhere in Asia, then you must be ready for the fact that slavery still exists and flesh and people are just another commodity to be bought and sold by the rich like modern day slave masters. I dread to think what will happen to this girl, she may be lucky and be with a good family or she could be thrust into a living hell. The rich don’t care as there are another ten like this one lined up and ready to go. And it’s not just Asians either as I’ve seen many white couples striding ahead of a Asian nanny struggling with their repulsive children. Life sucks in the UK but nothing compares to the hardship many of the worlds population have to suffer. We are truly blessed in the west.