The animation master Hayao Miyazaki had said: "Even life has against-wind, but I never give up hope." The saying reflects how he built his dream in life. He was passionate about comics in his childhood, but studied political economy because of his father's insistence. After graduating, he joined an animation company and founded Studio Ghibli at age 44. Looking back, he said, "My wife says I'm very lucky."

His success is undoubtedly due to his own hard work, but it also stems from being well-prepared, hopeful, and having the courage to take a chance when good fortune comes his way.

For those who work hard to make themselves come true, his life story is an excellent example. It further inspires more of those youths who have been "abandoned," such as Mr. Chen Wei-zhi, a social entrepreneur from a street youth.

Mr. Chen Wei-zhi, the Co-founder and Chairman of Taiwan Against Wind Reintegration Association, said, "I had often been kicked out of my home since resisting my father's physical violence. I had no place to stay at night, so I went and stayed at my classmate, Mr. Cheng Wei-sheng's home." The family background tagged Mr. Chen as a "Troubled Student" in school; therefore, he met those teachers and social workers who had been company with him back on a normal track step by step. This inspired him to turn his own experience into a force for helping others. After being admitted to university to study Social Welfare, he devoted himself to public service throughout his studies.
 

Theatrical Performances Teach the Youths Communication, Working Division, and Responsibility
In 2015, Mr. Chen established Against Wind Theater with Mr. Cheng Wei-sheng and Mr. Qiu Yi-chun. Through practical activities such as theatrical performances, artistic creation, and educational philanthropy, they hope to guide and deeply care for high-risk adolescents to transform their lives with a diverse, comprehensive, and long-term companionship and support.

The decision to use theatrical drama stems from Mr. Cheng Wei-sheng's experience in high school, where he joined a drama performance program and found a positive accomplishment that led him to a major turning point in his life. Mr. Chen Wei-zhi explained that the marginalized youths are usually not understood and even misunderstood. However, they desired confirmation in mind. A drama program needs a long preparation period, requiring everyone to build camaraderie, communicate effectively, and divide tasks appropriately before finally stepping on the stage and working together to achieve their dreams. This mutual goal made everyone realize the responsibility they carry and learn how to take theirs for the team.

Initially, they focus on recruiting marginalized youths who aren't continuing their studies, are unemployed, and come from financially struggling families, often displaying deviant behavior. The drama's main storyline reflects their real-life experiences. The goal is to support them in exploring their thoughts, confronting darkness and difficulties, and ultimately overcoming fear to transform themselves positively.

This proposal made the three passionate but no-funds entrepreneurs secure the investment from a private foundation in the first year. In the next year, they took 30 high-risk youths from Taipei and New Taipei City to the stage of "What's Young National Youth Theatre Festival" for the first time and won the Best Popularity Award. The story of overcoming adversity and striving upwards attracted the Minister of Education to attend and highly praised the performance in 2019. Mr. Chen jokingly said, "We all say that the youths who were once abandoned by education can one day be recognized by the education again."
 

The Theater, Association, and Café Implement Companionship, Empowerment, and Reintegration
Gradually, Against Wild Theater is increasingly recognized by enterprises that want to give back to society. The theater team has also realized that not every recipient of assistance is willing to stand on the stage; furthermore, with the first group of assisting youth who have grown up, their life lessons are integrating into society and workplaces.

In 2020, they established Taiwan Wild Youth Reintegration Association (in 2024, it changed to Taiwan Against Wild Youth Reintegration Association) to serve targeted youth of the whole nation and build a place that can empower and integrate them back into society. Therefore, A Fighter Café was launched in 2022.

So far, the Theater, Association, and Café are three operational pillars. The Theater clearly focuses on companionship. The Association emphasizes empowerment that trains its seed teachers to become companions from colleges and universities, and it also extends to diverse and customized educational courses, charity Car fleets, arts and culture, and catering skills.

Although A Fighter's Café is the newest and smallest business, it represents the last miles of the adversity youths' re-alive journey, which combines responsibilities of empowerment and reintegration. The founding principle has been highly recognized by the Taiyuan Arts and Culture Foundation, which has leased the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Museum in Dadaocheng to the Café as its operational headquarters. In 2024, they accepted a suggestion and applied for the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program" of the Ministry of Labor, obtaining a 3-year Social Type Project, which subsidized 5 project staff.
 

Learning People Skills and Working Ability in the Café
Mr. Chen Wei-zhi emphasizes that A Father's Café only hired youths above 16 years old. Inside, the staff members must obtain Barista Certifications and learn the coffee techniques such as front and back extraction, latte art, etc. Outside, the Café's four-floor building has countless stories to tell, proving an excellent material for guided tours. Therefore, the staff members also need to learn presentation skills from the founder, ideally incorporating their own life stories. A more advanced requirement is receiving basic English conversation training.

For most of the "abundant Children by education" named by Mr. Chen. Are the expectations too high? Mr. Chen Wei-zhi states frankly that the positioning of A Fighter's Café is: To create a "Realistic" preparatory workplace for the youths, within an inclusive framework, thereby accumulating professional skills. "Only by providing customers with products that offer good value for money can these youths truly find their place."

About providing an inclusive framework, the Association self-hires social workers to deal with the frustrations that the youth members faced during the learning process, improving their resilience and self-confidence. They also talk to the youths at the proper time to adjust their physical and mental states. In terms of creating a Realistic Workplace, the Association self-hires a store manager to manage the youth staff and designs a guiding tour and service feedback system, using voting and Q&A methods for customers to rate and provide feedback.

Mr. Chen presented the concrete results as evidence. The Association has started to implement the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program" since January, 2025. As of June, the team has guided tours to 255 customers, exceeding the target of 90 customers per quarter, with a satisfaction rate of 4.93/5 stars. The average monthly income exceeds NT$159,000, exceeding the target of NT$100,000 per month, with more than half coming from beverages and private bookings. The total surplus for the first half of the year was over NT$593,000.

He admitted that not all sponsored youths can adapt to long working hours or adjust their physical and mental state effectively. Therefore, A Fighter's Café currently only employs 2 youths and 7 part-time students. However, he emphasized that over the past 10 years of operation, the rate of sponsored youth returning to school or stable employment has remained around 70%.
 

Encourage Prior Sponsored Youth to Accompany New Members to Bond Between Them
Generally, the recidivism rate among Rehabilitated Youths is about 25%. This is mainly because after leaving the Halfway House, the youths are left to their own devices. Without the support of social networks, the youths are more likely to return to their old ways. Therefore, in addition to encouraging adult members to transform recipients of aid into providers, and to return to accompany new members occasionally. The Association also organizes regular cycling trips around the island to "Meet up with old friends," maintaining the association's positive cycle.

Mr. Chen Wei-zhi cited examples. In the first batch of nearly 20 assisted youths, 4 returned to university to study, 1 started a restaurant business, and the rest have stable employment. A slightly extreme example is a youth who has been "7 times in and 7 times out" of a rehabilitation center. He/she is now accompanying younger students at the same counseling center he previously attended.

"Although there are few cases devoted to this area like us, in fact, we don't hope the recipients will finally return to their familiar environment." Mr. Chen indicated, "Instead, we expect that they can follow the transformed life track and stabilize their presentation in the workplace. At the same time, they can share their life stories with others and bring positive energy back to society. This is the powerful proof of the impact our kind of organization can have."

The Official Website of Taiwan Against Wind Youth Reintegration Association

▲Mr. Chen Wei-zhi (Left), Cheng Wei-sheng, and Mr. Qiu Yi-chun established the Against Wild Theater together. Through the practical activities, they hope to guide high-risk adolescents to transform their lives with a diverse, comprehensive, and long-term companionship and support.

▲Through the drama preparation, the Against Wild Theater helped everyone learn how to take responsibilities for the team, reflecting their real-life experience to help marginalized youths explore their inner thoughts and transform themselves positively.

▲Located in Dadaocheng, A Fighter's Café combines the empowerment and reintegration missions. Inside, the staff must obtain Barista Certification; Outside, they must learn presentation skills to guide the building's story for guests and even receive basic English conversation training.

▲Through the Theater, Association, and A Fighter's Café, the Taiwan Against Wind Youth Reintegration Association hopes to provide companionship, empowerment, and reintegration, so that marginalized youths can believe that they still can change.

▲Mr. Chen Wei-zhi (center), the Co-founder and Chairman of the Taiwan Against Wind Youth Reintegration Association: As long as we continue to believe, these youths have the potential to change.
 

Case story: Multi-Employment Promotion Program
Interviewee: Taiwan Against Wind Youth Reintegration Association

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Please attribute this article to“Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor.”