(1) Origin：

 

　　ONE-FORTY, a non-profit organization established in July, 2015 by a group of young adults under 30 years old, aims to help South-eastern Asian workers to develop advanced skills and cultural exchange. In 2015, the population of migrant workers in Taiwan was 40% of the total population, so they named their organization “ONE-FORTY.” Kevin Chen, one of the founders, once felt lost in life, found his way after countless travel experiences in search of his destination. After graduating university and before beginning his career, Kevin traveled to Gap Year in Phillipine for three months and felt the local’s extraordinary hospitality, which gave him remarkable memories and appreciation, forming an exceptional bond with migrant workers. Another co-founder, Jyh-Ning Wu, met Yani, an Indonesian woman who is also 23 years old who enlightened Wu, that there are young people out there living an arduous life for education and dreams. That encounter prompted Wu to indulge in migrant workers’ contemporary issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2) Motivation：

 

　　 In public’s understanding, “migrant worker”, is inevitably containing certain discrimination and stereotype; currently, there are almost 600 thousand migrant workers in Taiwan. And what they do are jobs that many Taiwanese found exhausted and hard to do. For instance, they fill up the positions of home care, factory labor, and marine fishing labor that requires long working hours and toil works. Although the migrant workers sustain the comfort zone for Taiwanese, however, they faced social oppression and unequal treatment in the society. ONE-FORTY’s team members had interacted with migrant workers from south-east Asia and encountered their story in the past. Which leads them to devote themselves to issues about migrant workers. Their motivation and core idea is aiming to assist migrant workers accumulate knowledge and skills besides their work. The organization also intends to help migrant workers understand their future goals and directions; making the trip in Taiwan more valuable. And at the same time, they promote a friendly communication environment, provides opportunities for Taiwanese and migrant workers to contact and exchange culture and to tolerate their situation and culture difference.

 

(3) Individualism：

 

　　ONE-FORTY shares migrant worker’s stories through their website as blogs for the public to acknowledge their life, motivation, and dreams, trying to abolish the social stereotypes. There are also related organizations such as Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA), Serve the People Association (SPA), and Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union (Ymfu).

 

 

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The founder of One-Forty: Kevin Chen