Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
When Dyan Agonoy left the Philippines to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, she had to leave her family.
“I’ve missed a lot of my kids’ milestones ... I’m always the only one missing from the pictures,” she said.
Agonoy left university, married young and started a family. Without the bachelor’s degree required for many jobs, she took up domestic work abroad.
Her life changed in 2024, when she came across FullPhils, a non-profit organisation that helps overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong earn bachelor’s degrees. The courses are fully online. The group subsidises 80 per cent of the costs, leaving students to pay about HK$600 per term.
FullPhils was founded in 2022 by Emilio Baja, when he was just 14 years old. Originally from the Philippines, Baja lived in Hong Kong for two years. He was struck by the crowds of domestic helpers gathering every Sunday in makeshift tents and on cardboard boxes.
FullPhils partners with institutions in the Philippines, including AMA University, Philippine Women’s University and the University of the Philippines, to offer domestic workers online courses where they can be full-time students.
