Living on the breadline

According to some workers, they had not been paid for over six months after their employers lost their jobs amid the pandemic. "They were perplexed about how and where to get their money back, especially the newcomers," said Wijesinghe.

Mary Lobo, a beneficiary of HELP for Domestic Workers, said she had been mistreated by her employer. "I was given only leftovers to eat and just HK$400 every month as food allowance." Under Hong Kong labor laws, foreign domestic workers are entitled to a food allowance of HK$1,121 per month. "They verbally insulted me every day, criticizing me for being 'smelly, dirty and disgusting'. I was hurt and felt enslaved."

Lobo's employer terminated the contract, which was somewhat of a relief for her because it ended her trauma. "I had to put up with it for more than 10 months. I just couldn't take it anymore," she said. But her heart sunk at the thought of having to find a new employer within 14 days, or she would have to return to the Philippines.

Some domestic workers at the end of their tether ended up taking loans from unscrupulous moneylenders who prey on the vulnerable by offering them "too good to be true" deals, Monteiro said. This aggravates their financial situation.

According to the survey conducted by HelperChoice and Enrich HK, nearly 60 percent of foreign domestic workers said they had borrowed from moneylenders, with 11 percent claiming they were charged an interest rate of than 88.6 percent annually, which exceeds Hong Kong's maximum legal annual interest rate of 48 percent per annum.

Huge stress has pushed some domestic workers to the verge of deep anxiety and depression. A survey jointly conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres and local non-profit organization Uplifters late last year showed that 72 percent of foreign domestic workers polled had depression-related symptoms.

Wijesinghe also noted a rise in the number of domestic workers seeking mental support around Christmas last year when they normally would have gone home. "Their community support networks were gone as church and Sunday gatherings were banned."