Apprentice chef Ah Wun had high hopes for the future. One day, he told himself, he would save enough money to open his own restaurant. But his girlfriend's pregnancy three years ago has thrown a spanner in the works. 'I never wanted to get married,' he says. 'I thought that if I just had to fend for myself, I would be able save a lot of money.'
He eventually tied the knot with his girlfriend, but the surprise responsibilities of being a father and having to support a family weigh heavily on the 23-year-old who left school after Form Three.
'I want to help my wife, who was just 17 when she became a mother. But I know nothing about child rearing. I earn about HK$12,000 per month but our rent costs HK$5,000, so we are just scraping by.'
Ah Wun's worries are typical among young men who become accidental fathers, many while barely out of their teens. But compared to pregnant teenage girls, this is a group that gets little sympathy or help.
'The media portrays us as scoundrels who make a young girl pregnant. After becoming fathers, we are portrayed as layabouts who are glued to video games, while leaving our wives to care for the babies on their own,' Ah Wun says.
'There's no way to seek outside help. Services for young parents are mainly for mothers who are considered more vulnerable. We are left to our own devices.'
