‘This is our city too’: From crook to social worker, one man’s transformation
Hong Kong-born Indian has a message for city’s lost youth
From gangster to social worker, Hong Kong-born Indian Jeffrey Andrews has got through the worst of times and shaken off a life of crime and violence.
“I had experienced racism first hand when I was inside a prison cell and I immediately realised how tough it would be for ethnic minorities if they got on the wrong side of the law,” the 31-year-old social worker said of his time inside a Wan Chai detention centre for stealing and fighting when he was 19 years of age. “It was a wake-up call.”
“I was lucky. It was like I hit the Mark Six jackpot that day,” he said. “But many of my friends didn’t have the same luck and are still paying the price.”
Andrews had been 16 when he was first approached by the triads.
Back then he was frustrated about his future as he was not doing well in school and didn’t want to join his father’s business selling frozen meat.
The policy and system may not seem fair to us, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying
“I thought being in the gang was cool,” he recalled recently. “I didn’t have to work hard. So I thought to myself why not?”
