The values of death, overemphasized, while, the living are, mostly, overlooked, or ignored, translated…
The Filipino migrant worker, Melody, perhaps, she’d become, the most “famous” migrant worker in these past, couple of months, but she would, never get to see, just how famous she now is. The earthquake that hit, deep in the nights, on February 6th in Hualien took her life. At the age of only twenty-eight, to help make the medical payments for her husband who’s paralyzed, Melody came to Taiwan alone to work, and worked as a nurse of a certain resident of Yunmen Tsueiti Building, and yet, due to the twisted hand of fate, she would, NEVER go back to her home country, to her beloved back hoem again.
After Melody died, her Japanese boss recalled the wonders she’d brought to her and her families on television, it’d moved a lot of the public, and, it’d made Melody, someone who used to be unknown to anyone, because a huge hit overnight, and, a lot of people here, wanted to donate to her families. And, with the help from the local governments and the privately owned enterprises, Melody’s families can live with all the resources they will ever need, that was, something wonderful that came, from her death.
And yet, being involved in the matters of rights of the migrant workers, I’m glad, but I’m also, worried. I’m glad, that people are willing to, show compassion toward someone they are not related to, showing the kindness of the Taiwanese people; worried, that it was due to the media’s overreporting of the events, that was, what gave Melody the “first class treatment”, then, what of all those other migrant workers who’d, died here, but never got the attention of the new media?
Or maybe, some of you may remember, that there was an apartment fire in Zhonghe, Hsinbei City that took the lives of many migrant workers, or, that a month later, a fire in the Luzu Factory in Taoyuan, took the lives of six Vietnamese migrant workers, they’re just like Melody, for the sakes of their parents, their spouses, their own young, wanted to give them something better, and came to Taiwan to work, and, they were also, unlucky, to have, died here. And what was even more heart-wrenching was, Melody’s life was due to a natural disaster, and the lives lost in all of the fires, are all caused by man. In theory, we should show more care and concern for the problem of a safety workplace, and how to compensate the victims, but, in reality?
Plus, everybody knew, that not all the bosses are like Melody’s owner, treated the nurse’s aide like a member of the family, giving them kindness, a show of gratitude, a lot of the public treats the migrant workers who looked after their loved ones like “second class citizens”. For instance, ordering them to clean, to take care of children, to look after the shopfronts, the things unrelated to what they were, hired for, to look after someone medically, or used verbal abuse, to cuss these women who are not fluent enough in Chinese, not mentioning the sexual harassments, the rapes that’s already, happened. These invisible victims, did they get enough love, care and attention from the public?
What shocked me the most was, let alone these beliefs, actually, the systems set up by the governments, and the laws, were set up, against these migrant workers—the Southeastern Asian female nurses’ aides including Melody, are “laboring orphans”, not included by the “Basic migrant worker laws”, they couldn’t have the one-day-a-week off regular breaks, nor can they receive the minimum wage of $22,000N.T.s per month, and, there are still, many owners of bigger enterprises screaming loudly each and every year, “Don’t pay the migrant workers minimum wages! Don’t give them too many days off!”
When the entire society zoomed in on an already deceased migrant worker, and ignoring the over 100,000 other migrant workers who are still living, and working here in Taiwan, and consider that what they’re giving to our society, is very valuable, that to me, is absurd and hypocritical.
And so, because of how this migrant worker had, lost her life in the earthquake from a short while ago, the news media became so into her giving to the community, how she’d helped the family who’d hired her, and it’d, started up this snowball of kindness that just, rolled downhill, but, what of, ALL the other migrant workers, they’re, working just as hard, if not harder, but, their stories are, not told, because, they didn’t make the front page news or the T.V. news stations, so, they basically, don’t count, because, we must see things, to believe them…and so, all those, other migrant workers’ hardworking mannerisms, what they’d been, giving to the families of their employers, all get, overlooked…
Life, the Obstacle Course 