By: Eamon Sheridan
Fr. Eamon Sheridan is a young Irish Missionary working with Fr. Dodong Redulla and other columbans in Taiwan. Here he tells us of a tragic death and its strange consequences.
Mostly Illegal
It is estimated that there are between 30,000 to 50,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan. Most are working illegally. They have filled a large gap in the labor market, and contributed not insignificantly to the “Taiwan economic miracle.” However like Sri Lankans and other illegal migrants they are forced to live in fear being caught and put in detention center where they can stay for up to six months before they are sent home. Let me tell you a story of two Sri Lankans who I knew.
Once Beautiful Island
Over the past thirty years Taiwan has become an industrialized country, and a leading economic power in Asia. It now has the worlds largest foreign reserves. The cost of this rapid change has been great. What once called Formosa (beautiful island) by the Portuguese has now become terribly polluted. The polluting of this once beautiful place continues with only lipservice to the values of environmental protection.
They have a Dream
The human cost has also been great. A tiny percentage of local labor is unionized. These unions are weak and almost powerless. Workers are protected by a Labor Law that is weak and rarely implemented. However, migrant laborers, who come from all over Asia and even as far away as Africa, are the ones who suffer most in this situation. Recently some have been allowed to come to Taiwan legally and fill the gap in the labor Market. However most are here illegally, they work mostly in small family run factories with no protection from the labor law. They work at jobs that the Taiwanese will no longer work at. They come here with a dream to escape the cycle of poverty in their own countries and to build a better future for themselves and their families.
Struggling for Life
Nisanka Gunateleke was a young 28 years old Sri Lankan who came to Taiwan in 1989 in search of his future. He was one of about 3,000 Sri Lankans working legally in Taiwan. He worked with ten other Sri Lankans in a small factory that made computer casings. They worked hard for what they earned.
Saman and Nisanka
I met Saman, Nisanka’s best friend, about two years ago. At that time he was very sick. He had no Chinese language and did not know what to do. I brought him to the local Catholic Hospital where he was nursed backed to health. After that we became friends. He and Nisanka would often come to my house and I would visit them in their factory after work.
Tragic Crash
On the Wednesday before Holy Week of 1992 at a lunch break Saman and Nisanka borrowed a motorbike to go to a factory nearby to see if they could find work there. They wanted to change jobs because a few days before, their present employer beat Saman for refusing, at four o’clock in the morning, to go and buy beer for him and his drunken friends and the prostitutes he had brought back to the factory. It was to be Nisanka’s last journey. A large truck forced them into the side of the road where they went over a bump. Saman lost control of the bike and they feel. Nisanka hit his head. He was conscious but after a short while he fell into a deep coma. He died on Friday morning at three o’clock in the morning surround by his friends.
Muslims, Buddhists, Christians...Together
At least forty Sri Lankans gathered at the hospital over those days. Four of them were Catholic, and they asked me to pray with them for Nisanka. As we prayed in the corner of the hospital the others gathered around in silence. Two were Muslims and the rest were Buddhist. One of the Catholics suggested that a Buddhist monk be called. One of the other knew of a Sri Lankan monk in a monastery not far from the hospital. He rushed to get him while one of the Muslims went to get the Holy Koran. The saffron robed monk arrived and was brought to the bed. Muslims Christians and Buddhist were united by a common concern for Nisanka. It was a moving scene and I felt close to God. When we had finished there was a great sense of relief among the Sri Lakans.
False Accusation
However Nisanka’s death was not the end of the journey. For Saman the passion would continue. That Friday morning before Passion Sunday the police arrested Saman and charged him with causing the death of his friend. When I heard this I went straight to the police station. Saman was handcuffed to the chair, tears were rolling down his cheeks. Six policemen stood around him laughing at his inability to understand Chinese. They asked me if I could speak the “barbarian’s language. Saman and Nisanka had worked for their employer for over two years. Now, however, he saw them as liability. He washed his hands of Saman at the police station and of Nisanka at the hospital. He told me he wanted nothing more to do with them. After a long day Saman was eventually released into my custody. He waits trial and a possible three year sentence. We eventually managed to send Nisanka’s body back to Sri Lanka. His friends collected the money over 4,000 US dollars.
Ripe for Exploitation
This is the story of one small group of Migrant Workers. It is a story that is repeated many times over in Taiwan and throughout the world. I have had the privilege of meeting people from Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Mauritius, the Philippines, South Africa and Nepal. They all come from common background of poverty. All of them are unprotected by the weak Labor Law and ripe for exploitation. There is no shortage of employers whose only object is to increase profit and those who see these workers and the environment we all live in as a means to an end.
Hope Foundation
Hope Workers Center in Chungli where I am now involved was founded by Columban Fr. George Hergott in 1987. Fr. George is now working in the US. However the work of the center continues. It now deals full-time with migrant workers problems.. Chang Hsu Fang and Lee I Kuan, the two Taiwanese employed there work many more hours than they are paid for, to fight for justice for these people. It is often a thankless job but one that should be at the heart o the Church’s mission.
Filipinos are Missionaries
I say Mass for a group of Filipinos every Sunday. Their faith has moved me deeply. They are truly missionary. They bring their faith right into the factory and home they are working in. The small group of Filipinos I meet with every week, when they heard of Nisanka’s death collected NT 10,000 (the same in pesos) to help me send the body home to Sri Lanka. Each week they invite many of their Taiwanese workmates to church.
The biggest contribution of Filipino migrants to Taiwan will not be economic, it is and will continue to be their faith expressed in their care for others. I know a group of Sri- Lankans who will always remember that care.