By Ashley Hong
It is a typical Sunday night. A young man looks at his watch, it says 10:30 pm. He speeds up to work on his motorbike. At 7 o’clock next morning, when his colleagues head home for a good sleep after a long night shift, he rides home to pick up his stuff for school. He stays there till late afternoon finishing all his classes before finally going home to catch up on a few hours of sleep. This young man is a work-study student, working his way through college.
“I’ve made friends with other work-study students in my workplace. They’re like my spiritual support. If they don’t give up, why should I?”
Orca Pun, 26, is a Year 3 Arts student at the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST). He is also a part-time casino pit supervisor. “I love arts and design. I want to be a professional designer,” Pun said dreamily, then with a frown and a change of tone, “I don’t want to end up wasting my whole life working in a casino,” Pun repented.
Pun didn’t want to work in a casino in the first place, but he had no choice. Pun didn’t do well at school as a child, and had repeated the same grade a couple of times. As soon as he reached 18, his parents urged him to drop out of school. Despite his hard persuasion, sadly enough, Pun just had to yield in. “There was nothing I could do about it, I didn’t even have a single dime!” Pun recalled with a sigh.
With such low education profile, like any other drop-out teens in Macao, Pun started working in a casino for “fast money”. “They don’t care if you’ve just finished high school or primary school, as long as you’re 21(the legal age for working in a casino was 18 back then), and have a BIR (Macao Resident Identity Card), you’re in the game,” Pun smirked, sarcastically.
“Although a majority of the population in Macao is working in the gaming industry, people generally hold a bad impression or even look down upon drop-outs and casino workers,” Pun revealed. “They say ‘birds of a feather flock together’. They think that we’re just a group of uncivilized boors who like swearing, smoking, drinking, clubbing and gambling, but I want to prove them wrong!”
After working and saving up for a year, Pun started his back-breaking journey as a work-study student. “My parents couldn’t say no this time, ‘cos I’m paying for my own tuition fees,” Pun smiled satisfactorily. “But don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame or resent them. I even give half of what I earn to them. Family will always be family.”
Pun first spent some years at a night school to complete his high school study, then with much hard work, he finally got admitted to MUST. “I’m a Bachelor of Arts student now!” Pun exclaimed, knowing that he is one step closer to fulfilling his own dream. Though it is really hard studying and working at the same time, Pun expressed that it’s all worth it in the end. His eyes were all lit up “When I graduate, I want to set up my own design company!”