Daily Risks for Daily Bread

For many of us when we hear of taking risks, we think of thrills, excitement and adventure, of stepping out of the norm, leaving the daily humdrum behind, seeking the rush of adrenalin and new vistas and frontiers, of doing things we always wanted to, but were scared to embark on. Such experiences can greatly enrich and even transform our life.

For many millions though risk means heading out the door in the morning or at night to work at a dangerous job with inadequate safety equipment or under dangerous conditions in dangerous places, not for the thrill of it, but to put food on the table for your family.

While Taiwan is a fairly developed and modern place in many ways, it is not uncommon to see people work for their daily bread under precarious circumstances, taking risks each and every day. Negligence, pressures of time and profit, carelessness by management and the Chinese mindset of Chabuduo “差不多” (loosely translated as “good enough”, or “cutting corners”) can often lead to tragic consequences.

High up in an unfinished building this man tries to pull in a heavy bucket of cement.

Setting up an outdoor stage for a rock concert without safety equipment.

Traditional bamboo scaffolding is just held together with thin wires.

Building a bridge in southern Taiwan across the Gaoping River

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