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December 30, 2016 Dear supporters, Your prayers and financial offerings are much appreciated. Here are some pictures of current ministry activities. May God be with you and your household in the coming year. Charlie and Mary Taiwan  Christmas celebration at the ministry center  Evangelizing to female workers at the detention center  Migrant workers at a shelter wait to be picked up for church. (Photo courtesy of the Dangs) By Charlie and Mary Dang
C&MA International Ministries assigned us to serve in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. As we began to minister among the Vietnamese diaspora, we felt God leading us to rent a ministry center. Its location is close to an industrial park where many migrant workers reside—thus we began reaching these people. More than 630,000 migrant workers are in Taiwan. Wishing to provide for their families, they come from Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and other countries in the region. They are easy targets for brokerage agencies that seek to deceive and lure them with promises of attractive salaries, benefits, and overtime pay. These young people eagerly sign work contracts; however, they have no money to pay expensive brokerage fees. So they take loans from a bank or money lender, hoping that one day they will save enough to pay the debt.
2) Ministry Access to Detention CentersTwo detention centers still remain inaccessible to Christian evangelism and care-giving. The present warden is believed to be anti-Christian; thus, he's ordered to turn away missionaries who come to visit the migrant workers. Missionaries believe most inmates are victims of labor exploitation and abuse. Please pray that God will change the situation so the hurting people will have a chance to respond to God's salvation and get the needed help.
Thanks for your prayers and support!  Grant Outcome SummaryThe grant supplied by Transparent Fish Fund was used to provide practical care to the neediest migrant workers at the shelter. This care is shown through providing nutritious meals, clothes, sandals, phone cards, transportation assistance, and activities.
Prayer Request: Healing and Jobs for New GroupPlease pray for another group of workers that just arrived at the shelter. So many workers are mistreated, and as they suffer, their families back home also suffer.
For example, three men were illegally assigned to work at a big restaurant and were forced to work from 5am to 8pm with no breaks. They were paid 12,000 NTD (a little less than $400 USD). Another example is a lady who just left the shelter to care for an elderly man. The elderly man just liked to sleep in the same room with her and took his clothes off. She couldn't take it and went back to a shelter at a different location. Stories similar to these abound. These migrant workers not only need jobs, but far more than that, they need God to heal their hurts and wounds.  Caring for Migrant WorkersThroughout 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. |
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