by Retno Intani ZA
Board of Editor of indonesiatoday.co Head of Education Division of the Central Indonesian Cyber Media Union (SMSI Pusat)
Taipei – Taiwan is one of the main destinations for Indonesian Migrant Workers. Data from the Taiwan Immigration Authority (National Immigration Agency/NIA) as of 31 December 2022 there were 243,795 Indonesian citizens living in Taiwan with details of 66.9 percent women and 33.1 percent men. Meanwhile, data from the Taiwan Ministry of Labor (MoL) recorded 250,114 Indonesian citizens as Indonesian Migrant Workers.
Titilah is one of the 250,114 Indonesian Migrant Workers. She works in the service sector in Taiwan, namely caring for disabled people with special needs. Titilah who is often called Tilah, a 46 years woman who was born in Petoyan, Gunung Kidul, Special Region of Yogyakarta, has been working to care for Yuhsiang Lin, a young man with disabilities, for 11 years. A traffic accident has caused his body not to function normally.
Yuhsiang Lin started from waking up until he lay back asleep is in Tilah’s care. Yuhsiang Lin, Tilah’s employer, with his limitations, is able to work in an office managing a consulting agency that motivates people with special needs to act like ordinary people. He is able to move the wheelchair that accompanies his activities through buttons that are pressed with his mouth. Every morning, Tilah prepares ‘mas bos’ calls for Yuhsiang Lin to go to the office and accompany him on the train or public bus.
Tilah walked with Yuhsiang in a wheelchair. In Taiwan, people with disabilities are given facilities to use public transportation, especially trains and buses. When there is a passenger in a wheelchair, the bus driver will press a button that opens the door with a mat to enter the wheelchair. The small group of SMSI who were watching the opening of the Lantern Festival in Taipei (5/2) met Tilah and ‘mas boss’ in the festive area of the lantern festival.
Even though it was raining, it didn’t stop them from taking the bus to join in the excitement of the opening of the lantern festival. Tilah was so patient and painstaking in taking care of her employer.”Caring for people like what I do now requires patience and extra effort. alhamdulillah, thanks God, I’ve been trained from the start,” she said.
Although only a Junior High School (SMP) graduate, Tilah is fluent in Taiwanese and teaches Yuhsiang Indonesian. But why did she choose to work as a migrant worker? She felt that with her education, which only finished Junior High Sschool, she could not get many job opportunities. “Because my education is only junior high school, it is difficult to find a job in my own country,” he said.
She has two children, Dodik Aryo Nugroho now 23 years old and Denisa Candra Dewi 15 years. Eleven years ago her two kids needed a lot of money to grow up so she decided to work as a migrant worker. “To grow up normally at that time, my two children still need a lot of money, so I have the heart to leave my two children to work abroad,” she explained.
Initially, she was invited to work in Taiwan by one of her friends through the Indonesian Migrant Service Company (PJTKI). At the PJTKI she received training in caring for the elderly and sick people and was provided with knowledge of the everyday local language where she would work. When she first started working in Taiwan, Tilah was often sad because she was away from her children and family, but because her employers and family were very kind and tolerant, supported by the hospitality of the Taiwanese people, she was able to get to know many people, understand Taiwanese culture and enjoy her work.
At certain moments such as Chinese New Year, she is often invited to go on tours with the boss and family. “Taiwan’s tourist attractions are very comfortable, beautiful and beautiful, tickets and transportation are all affordable. For lodging, just choose according to what we want, Taiwan is very safe and clean,” she explained.
When asked to choose which tourist attractions in Taiwan are the best to visit, she was being confused because all the tourist attractions in Taiwan are charming.”In Taiwan there are many very good tourist attractions, so if you are asked to choose, it is hard for me to choose.. very confused because everything is good and beautiful, especially the night market, lots of delicious food.” she said happily.
Tilah really enjoys her job. In addition to her salary being sufficient for his family’s life in Indonesia, her rights as a migrant worker are fulfilled, she can also introduce Indonesia to the ‘mas boss’ and his family. During the 2019 holidays, before the pandemic, ‘mas boss’ and his family came to Indonesia to visit Tanah Lot, Nusa Dua and other areas in Bali. With his special wheelchair, Tilah escorted ‘mas boss’ in Indonesia, not alone. The father of ‘mas boss’ also took care of it so that holidays in Indonesia can be enjoyed by ‘mas boss’ and his family. “I want to go to Bali again,” said Luhsiang when asked when to go back to visit Indonesia.
For Titilah, hard work is very important. Hard work is accompanied by attempting and praying. Titilah’s hard work as a migrant worker has paid off. Her dream to send her children to study until college was achieved. Last year, her eldest son, Dodik succeeded in obtaining a degree in Computer Science from the Overseas Chinese University (OCU) in Taichung, Taiwan.
She is able to record her inspiring life journey and her daily work activities in Taiwan in a ‘daily vlog’ via YouTube labeled Titi Tilah Channel. Up today, Tilah continues to actualize herself by making vlogs of her daily activities, which on average have more than a thousand likes and thousands viewers. This personal vlog was made on Tilah’s will to fill her free time. “That was my own wish to sharing stories and of course my boss helped me.. it was about my daily life and my activities to take care of ‘boss’ only. For editing I find time between my work and time at night after work is done.” said Tilah.
For the activity of making vlogs on YouTube, she managed to get Silver Play Buton from Youtube. Tilah hopes that the daily stories that she narrates in her YouTube vlog can give an idea that whatever a person’s work is, if it is done sincerely and sincerely, it will certainly bring blessings. Tilah feels happy and grateful to be able to fulfill her dreams one by one to make her family happy. “The important thing is to work hard, to attempt and to pray.” she messaged.
Titilah, is a portrait of a persistent female migrant worker supported by a working environment, regulations for migrant workers also a tolerant and friendly Taiwanese society that enables workers like Tilah to be empowered to realize their dreams of prosperity for their lives.(RI)
