Hong Kong’s unseen heroes

Elderly residents displaced by the fire at a shelter in Tai Po, Hong Kong. At least eight workers died, and many of those who survived, after saving children and others in their care, are worried about losing their jobs and being forced to leave. — Billy HC Kwok/The New York Times

FOR many Hong Kong families, foreign domestic workers are indispensable – cooking meals, bathing elderly parents and caring for infants – and are often unseen and underappreciated.

On Nov 26, a fire swept through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, the deadliest in the city for decades. More than 200 foreign domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, were living there.