• Me and my colleague at the One-Forty graduation ceremony, celebrating the success of our learners.
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    #10 Learning Journal: Needs Assessment and Program Design

    December 15, 2024 - By 

    What Do I Do at One-Forty? One of the most common questions I get in Taiwan is, “What do you do?” This post is my attempt to explain what exactly it is that I do here. Hopefully, it will not only help others understand but also help me clarify my own thoughts about what I aim to accomplish at One-Forty — all in alignment with the organization’s mission to make “every migrant’s journey worthy and inspiring.” Who Are Our Target Populations? This is a harder question to answer than I expected. On paper, my job is to nurture One-Forty’s Indonesian…

  • A fire extinguisher mounted on a wall next to multilingual safety instructions and a rack of colorful fabric samples.
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    #9 Learning Journal: Taoyuan’s Fabric Factory

    November 17, 2024 - By 

    The day started early, with a quiet ride on the high-speed rail to Taoyuan. By 7:20 AM, I had joined a small group at Exit 4 of the station, ready to take a taxi to a nearby factory. This was the kickoff for One-Forty’s paThWay Program, a partnership with VF Corporation—the company behind brands like Vans and The North Face—designed to support Southeast Asian factory workers in Taiwan. The program provides lessons in Mandarin, financial literacy, and personal development to help workers make the most of their time in Taiwan and beyond. The entrance to the factory where the paThWay…

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    #7 Learning Journal: Financial Management Class

    October 7, 2024 - By 

    Yesterday, on October 6, 2024, I spent the day immersed in One-Forty’s vibrant course environment. I started with the Indonesian financial management class in the morning, participated in a One-Forty donor event for ASML—a Dutch semiconductor company—at a separate venue, and wrapped up the day with the Chinese listening and speaking class with the Indonesian students in the afternoon. In this post, I’ll dive into my experiences and insights from the morning’s financial management session, where I observed the students’ diverse backgrounds, entrepreneurial aspirations, and the unique teaching approaches that made this class so impactful. Background: One-Forty’s Course Day for…

  • A photograph by a Filippino migrant worker
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    #6 Learning Journal: Photovoice

    September 19, 2024 - By 

    Did you know that among Taiwan’s 23 million people, over 760,000 are migrant workers employed in low-skill, low-paying industries like domestic care and factory work? This means that 1 in 33 people in Taiwan is a migrant worker, most of whom come from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Migrant workers in Taiwan Vietnam: 256,576 Indonesia: 255,874 Philippines:154,027 Thailand: 67,954 Taiwan employs a “guest worker” system, a prevalent labour migration model in many Asian countries. Under this regime, migrant workers are hired on temporary contracts and are not allowed to immigrate or become naturalized citizens. This approach is common in…

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    #5 Learning Journal: IOM’s Reintegration Handbook

    September 5, 2024 - By 

    One-Forty and the Career Center Vision I’m now entering my third week in Taiwan, working with One-Forty while finalizing my project with IOM Indonesia. While I am thrilled with the crisis preparedness module I developed for Indonesian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) abroad, that’s a topic for another day. What I really want to share is how IOM’s Reintegration Handbook has helped me launch my new project: creating One-Forty’s very own reintegration handbook for Indonesian migrant workers. One-Forty has this amazing vision to create a Career Center for its migrant students and alumni. It’s not just a lofty idea either—this would…

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    #4 Learning Journal: Moving Overseas for Work is Hard

    August 19, 2024 - By 

    You landed at the airport, exited the gate and saw a woman holding a placard “TKI berkumpul di sini” (female migrant workers meeting point). You assumed you’d stop and wait there. I followed the English signs because I could speak English. Thankfully, almost all signs are bilingual. I had to get the metro card and train ticket to the city centre. I had to follow a Line chat from my landlord with my 30kg suitcase, down an alleyway and into an old building. I had to carry that heavy suitcase up 4 flights of stairs. That was only the beginning.…