The office is a bit quiet today as there is a massive storm throughout the country and thus the government has issued a day-off for (all?) workers. Currently, the wind gusts and rain are furious and the news says that it will continue for the next two days or so. This is all very new to me. On the bright side, it is a little cooler now (but still sticky).

Last week I went to the Sansia Detention Center with Cha Hung. We rode up the elevator to where the detainees were staying and I was genuinely shocked to find that these people were behind metal bars--treated as if they were criminals. I was not expecting this at all, but this is precisely how the government is treating these individuals because they have no legal documentation, or escaped from their employers (I don't blame them). These people are victims of deceit, abuse, and exploitation, and yet they are further being victimized by the system.

I was able to talk to some of the victims individually and one woman cried to me about how she has kidney problems and it is very painful for her to even get out of bed, eat, etc., but she is not being properly treated for her condition. I tried to fight back tears as she told me her story about she was over-worked by her employer and basically did not get any time off. She was treated horribly--for example, she explained that she was only given the left-overs of what the family had already eaten, and most of the time they were just fish bones or other things that were inedible. She was not even considered a human being to these people. At this point, I could no longer hold back my tears and I reached for her hand through the metal bars.

Another women I spoke to was telling me how she was cheated of her wages and was waiting to get the money that she deserved. She also expressed that she would rather stay in the detention center than go home (to Vietnam) empty-handed. She had accrued a huge amount of debt in order to get to Taiwan, and (through tears) told me there was no way for her to go back if she did not make the money to repay these loans. She tells me she misses her family immensely and it pains her that she can't go back home.

I remained silent on the car ride back to the office.