Fai is of Guangdong descent. In the\n1970s he immigrated to Macao where he started a family and raised two sons. He\njoined UM in 1989. From the General Affairs Office to the Campus Management\nOffice to the Security and Transport Section, over the years Fai has witnessed\nthe expansion of the university which he has come to see as his other family.\nWhat does Fai think is the most important thing in life? \u201cBe happy. That\u2019s all\nthat matters in life.\u201d says Fai.<\/p>\n\n
Fai\nthe Driver: Witness to UM\u2019s Growth<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Fai was working at a bus company before\nhe got the job as a driver in UM\u2019s General Affairs Office by chance in 1989, thus\nbeginning his long career at the university. Over the past 23 years, he has\nwitnessed the numerous changes of the university\u2014from government acquisition of\nthe University of East Asia and renaming it University of Macau in 1991, to the\nuniversity\u2019s imminent relocation to its new campus. \u201cBack then, the New Century\nHotel was just built. There were only a few students and staff. I was the only\ndriver in the General Affairs Office, so I had to do pretty much everything\nmyself,\u201d recalls Fai. \u201cWe had two other drivers, but they mainly took care of the\nrector. I was responsible for delivering mail and driving university guests. We\ndidn\u2019t have a lot of cars, so I had to drive the university car to deliver\ndocuments and pick up mail and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Having witnessed UM\u2019s growth all these\nyears, Fai is especially happy for the university\u2019s rapid progress. \u201cThe\nuniversity has improved a lot in many areas, thanks to the great support of the\ngovernment and the country, and I\u2019m truly happy for it,\u201d says Fai. With\nexpansion comes a heavier workload. But Fai doesn\u2019t seem to mind: \u201cI\u2019m happy doing\nwhat I do, so the increased workload doesn\u2019t bother me.\u201d Apart from being the\nvice rector\u2019s driver and performing daily document delivery, Fai also needs to\nprovide support to other tasks. \u201cNow we have a lot more students, teaching\nstaff and administrative colleagues, and I hope one day UM can become a famous\nuniversity, but maybe I\u2019m already retired by then,\u201d Fai says smilingly.<\/p>\n\n
Fai\nthe Father: I give them the freedom to choose<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Several months after Fai started working\nat UM, Fai\u2019s wife also joined UM, in the Faculty of Education. Commuting between\nMacao and Taipa was not very convenient, so they decided to move to Taipa, leaving\ntheir two sons, who were still in middle school, to fend for themselves in\ntheir old apartment. This decision would later prove to be good for their boys\u2019\ngrowth. \u201cThey were forced to take care of themselves,\u201d recalls Fai. \u201cThey did\neverything on their own\u2014homework, cleaning, cooking.\u201d The only family reunion\ntime was during supper\u2014Fai and his wife would rush home after work to eat supper\nwith their sons before rushing back to their apartment in Taipa. Maybe it was\nbecause the boys have spent so much time together since a young age that they\nhave always been close to each other.<\/p>\n\n
Fai says he gives his sons the freedom\nto choose what they want to do with their life. \u201cI seldom interfere, whether\nwith study or work, as long as they like what they do and don\u2019t do anything bad\nor illegal.\u201d His elder son, being good at study, used to help his little brother\nwith homework. The younger one, a lover of sports, used to practice jogging\nafter class. Is it pure luck to be blessed with children so wonderful that\nraising them is made a breeze? Well, perhaps not entirely. Perhaps Fai\u2019s laissez-faire\napproach has played a part too. \u201cPersonally, I think keeping children on too\ntight a leash is only going to backfire,\u201d says Fai.<\/p>\n\n
Fai admits that like every parent in the\nworld, there were times when he asked himself if he was doing the best job he could\nwith his two sons, and he always finds comfort in the knowledge that he has\nnever imposed his own wishes on his children, that he always lets them choose\nwhat they want to do with their life. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is to teach children to\ntell right from wrong, and to lead an honest and down-to-earth life,\u201d says Fai.\n\u201cWe as parents never tell them they have to achieve this or that. We let life\ntake them where they are meant to be by giving them the freedom to choose and\ndecide, whether they were the young boys they used to be or the grown-ups they are\nnow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Fai\u2019s elder son studied at a medical\nuniversity in Taiwan, and after graduation he returned to Macao to work at a\nlocal hospital. Now he is happily married. Fai\u2019s younger son studied in Macao\nand the United States and now works in the media sector (was it a coincidence\nthat he used to study at UM where his father works? When asked if Fai had any\ninfluence in his son\u2019s decision, Fai shook his head, \u201cAbsolutely not. It was entirely\nhis own decision.\u201d) Fai jokes that with his two sons graduating from\nuniversity, he considers himself to have also passed the course of raising them.\n\u201cLike I said, being happy is all that really matters in life,\u201d says Fai with a\ntoothy grin. \u201cAnd how can I not be with two sons so good?\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fai is of Guangdong descent. In the 1970s he immigrated to Macao where he started a family and raised two sons. He joined UM in 1989. From the General Affairs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n