A Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong was selected to play the lead role in a movie about the plight of domestic helpers in a foreign land.
Overseas Filipina worker (OFW) Minpa Gervacio plays the role of Martika, a Filipina helper who was employed by Hok Lun, played by Patrick Tang Kin-wang, to take care of his sick father.
The story revolves around the struggles of Martika in adjusting for a Chinese family and taking care of an elderly man with dementia.
According to film director Wong Fei-pang, she knew Gervacio was the character she had been looking for from the moment the OFW delivered the script.
“As I was writing the script, I realised it was still lacking something, though I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. You couldn’t really feel the emotions of the character,” Wong told South China Morning Post.
“When we met Minpa, suddenly everything was solved. She made the character a lot more layered.”
Gervacio said that she was able to give depth to the character because she has emotional connections to the story of Martika since she is a domestic helper herself.
The OFW, who hailed from El Nido, Palawan, arrived in Hong Kong eight years ago where she initially worked for a family of 12.
Gervacio added that at some point, she saw herself crying as she walked in the streets of Sham Shui Po in the middle of the night after her fellow helpers kicked her out for suffering from chickenpox.
Gervacio had no choice but to stay since she had to pay for the money she borrowed to pay her recruitment agency.
“I told myself, I am not going to leave Hong Kong without showing you that I have succeeded. So even when I’m having a hard time, I cannot tell [my family back home],” the OFW said.
The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has met with the OFW to praise her for being an inspiration to other domestic helpers.
Gervacio is happy to learn about the overflowing support of Filipinos and her fellow domestic helpers. She hopes that the movie can be an inspiration that employers can live harmoniously with domestic helpers.
