Sunday, August 21, 2016

HDH

I recognize that I have not yet explained what I will be doing in Hong Kong. Once I receive my visa (which is sitting at immigrations) I will begin interning with the anglican cathedral, more specifically with helpers for domestic helpers. You may wonder what HDH does and what I will be doing there. HDH does lovely work in advocacy for the population of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. In large part these women migrated from the philipines and indonesia to work in peoples houses doing things like cleaning, childcare, and elder care. For numerous reasons these women are often abused by their employers, when this happens we provide a variety of services including but not limited to education of legal rights, support on criminal and civil court cases, and liaising with relevant government agencies.

I haven't officially started but I did attend a planning meeting where i was incredibly impressed with the employee and volunteer passion, drive, and welcoming nature. These women and men are wonderfully dedicated to seeking justice and rights for women who do not have many fighting for them.  I am honored to join them.

More to come as I meet more of the staff, the women we serve, and explore my role within the work.

on jet lag and a new city

Hellooooooo friends!

Right now i am experiencing jet lag in the incredible city that is hong kong. Although I have begun to sleep for longer I have still been unable to sleep past a certain point in the night. Oh well. 12 hour time difference and all.

You may be wondering to yourself (Self,) what has Adrienne been up to since she got in around 8 pm thursday local time? Well in large part I have been eating excellent food and doing my best not to get lost.

You may be surprised to learn that I've only gotten lost once, and that was in an attempt to kill time.

I have been able to find my way around in large part because of the guidance of my roommate, Caitlin. Caitlin is an ordinand from the UK who is staying in Hong Kong for four weeks. What I especially love about her (besides her willingness to adventure and love of comics) is that she's actually been to Hong Kong before and lived here for a year so she already knows some stuff on survival and can navigate with relative ease.

I was lucky enough on one of my first days to go for a run down the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade for an amazing view of the city and the sunrise (sometimes jet lag is a good thing)



I also am happy that my older brother, Justin, still lives in the city and is willing to show us around. We went to a beautiful rooftop restaurant with a view of the city on the 30th floor.


I am so blessed to have been welcomed to the city not only from the incomperable Catherine and Steven, but also from the cathedral community. We were asked to stand in front of the congragation and were almost immediately invited out by members of the congregation near our age (in a similar thread: I love dim sum and dumplings)

More to come as we continue to explore the city today!