Taiwan hosts almost 600,000 migrant workers from South-east Asian countries, and one in 40 residents is a migrant.
Although there are jobs, a vicious circle is perpetuated because they usually offer limited transferable skills, restricting the workers to low salaries when they return home.
The Taipei-based One-Forty Foundation aids migrant workers in cultivating personal goals and bridging the gap with the locals through education.
Its One-Forty School teaches the workers skills that they need for a steady career in either Taiwan or back home, including Chinese lessons and business courses.
It started with just 15 students in the first semester, but the school has received more than 100 applications this year.
An Open Sunday event once a month not only allows migrant workers to enjoy some down time, but also creates a forum for them to socialise with the locals.
The founders of the One-Forty Foundation, Mr Kevin Chen and Ms Sophia Wu, started it in 2015, after Mr Chen took a three-month trip to the Philippines. He made many local friends there and discovered that most of their families had worked in Taiwan.
As a Taiwanese, he had not realised the impact of these migrant workers on his homeland.
Mr Chen and Ms Wu believe in the importance of making issues real for an audience, and their foundation's website features a Migrant Life channel. The activities and stories on the channel help the locals recognise racial and cultural stereotypes, and overcome feelings of discrimination against migrant workers, seeing them as more than just factory workers or caretakers.
Yani was one of the 15 students who attended the first semester of One-Forty School. She has returned to Indonesia and is employed as a Chinese translator at a Taiwanese company, earning a monthly salary of 20,000 New Taiwanese dollars (S$910), three times the local average.
Posted on :
Jun 18, 2018