​Caring for Migrant Workers

Throughout the island of Taiwan, there are 5 detention centers with approximately 200 migrant workers housed in each one. Many of the workers are victims of exploitation and various kinds of abuse by brokerage agencies and employers. As a result, they willfully leave contracted jobs and find work elsewhere. Sooner or later, they get caught and are transferred to detention centers. They stay there for about 4 months while waiting for their legal documents to be recovered, and then they return to their home countries. 

The Christian and Missionary Alliance  goes into the detention centers to evangelize, counsel, and care for the migrant workers' basic needs. As the laborers stay at the shelter and wait for offers on new jobs, they have no source of income. The grant we have given to the Taiwan Labor Concern program enables the migrant workers to have sandals, soap bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, coffee, tea, snacks, weekly meals, telephone cards, and ferry and subway tickets. As care is shown to them in practical ways, these hurting workers have responded in attending weekly activities and church meetings.

​O’Keefe Family Center Tutoring Program successfully completed the 2014-2015 school year with tutoring on two evenings and Bible Club on one evening per week, as usual. This year, several students who have been with the program for the entirety of their elementary school years have graduated to middle school. At the same time, several first grade students began coming to receive tutoring. O’Keefe also recruited several new tutors for the 2015-2016 school year in efforts to keep the student:tutor ratio low and ensure that each student who comes receives adequate individual attention.
​TFish’s partnership helped the program by providing supplies for tutoring, snacks for kids and tutors, and stipends for certain volunteers. O’Keefe has benefited from our support, saying, “We really appreciate the TFish partnership. Everyone from the organization has been pleasant to interact with. We have really seen benefit from receiving TFish support for the past few years, and we would be excited to continue our partnership.”