My first year in Taiwan made me a victim of human trafficking. I am thankful that my story is not anywhere near as terrible as others. But, I understand the damage that human trafficking does to people, crippling their lives for years. After ten years, I’m still at a disadvantage because Taiwan did not protect my rights as a foreigner.
Foreigners have limited rights when in another country. That is good, in a way. But, it puts foreigners at a disadvantage, making foreigners easy for dishonest people to take advantage of foreigners. Employers know about these disadvantages and game the system to turn foreigners into partial slaves. That happened to me. Though it was very mild, I am a victim of human trafficking.
But, then I discovered something else even more shocking. I’ll explain that after I tell my story.
In Taiwan, I was the foreigner. My first two bosses tried to control me by seizing my legally-required paperwork; my second boss succeeded. · · · →
Saturday morning I awoke at 4:00 am to my apartment shaking. I had a feeling nothing would fall. So, I went back to sleep. I was right, about my own apartment, that was. In fact, I was right about most people who also had woken up.
