They were among hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians in the city β mostly Thai, Filipina and Indonesian women β who work to support their families back home, or to fulfill a modest dream like building a house or saving for a small business.
Her parents, who are farmers, tell TIME that she worked as a nanny when she was 18, shortly after she left her husband and gave birth to a baby boy in Life was a struggle. Two years later, in , she went to Hong Kong, leaving her son in the care of her parents. After working as a domestic helper, Sumarti found a job β illegally β in a Hong Kong restaurant as a waitress. Then she returned to Cilacap in Back in Indonesia, she took a DJ course, and then traveled to Hong Kong at least twice more, staying for months at a time.
The most recent, and the last, visit began in August, when she arrived on a tourist visa. Other Indonesian women in Hong Kong take on similar work, particularly those who overstay their domestic-helper visas. One such overstayer was the second victim, Seneng Mujiasih.
Finding a new employer meant paying large sums β the equivalent to many months of wages β to an employment agency. Instead, Seneng, known as Jesse Lorena to her friends, chose to stay on and work illegally in Hong Kong, taking on whatever job she could find. There are around 6. Many of these migrant workers are women working as domestic helpers in the Middle East and East Asia. Newcomers incur huge debts to employment agencies.
In a case that shocked the world, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was tortured for months by her employer before she was sent home emaciated and disfigured in January. Despite her plea for help, her agency had refused to intervene because she still owed them money. Strapped for cash, mired in debt or simply wishing to earn more, some migrant workers, including overstayers like Seneng, take on other kinds of work, from other cleaning jobs to washing dishes or waitressing in restaurants or, in a comparatively few cases, selling sex.
