The migrant workers in Taiwan learning new skills with dreams of leaving manual labour behind
- Despite many getting only one day off a week or less, a number of Southeast Asian migrant workers are spending that time bettering themselves
- Non-profits such as One-Forty and Global Workers Organisation provide education in areas including Mandarin, business and computers
Trapped in a system sometimes described as modern slavery, some migrant workers in Taiwan still manage to devote a portion of their precious free time to learning new skills that may one day better their lives.
Factory worker and mother-of-four Julia Rasyada believes labourers should develop expertise outside their jobs to improve their chances of moving on from manual labour. Too poor to finish college in her hometown on the Indonesian island of Lombok, the 43-year-old jumps at every chance she has at self-improvement.
Employed at an electronics plant in Taipei, Rasyada has been living in Taiwan for more than seven years. She left her four children in care in Indonesia after her husband died and travelled abroad to make a living. In her spare time she has been attending professional beauty classes organised especially for migrant workers.
“Initially, I wanted to learn make-up for myself. I wanted to look beautiful. I used to just slap baby powder on my face,” Rasyada says with a laugh.
August Chen, her teacher in the beauty class, says Rasyada is one of his best students. He encouraged and instructed her for free for years, sometimes at the beauty school and sometimes at a 7-Eleven store where they would meet after Rasyada finished her shift at the factory.
“August was determined to teach me make-up until I mastered it,” Rasyada says. “He is truly my best friend.”