Everyday People: Desmond Gabriel Malus

Hello everyone, my name is Desmond Gabriel Malus, I am from Madang and Morobe, and I am the last of four children.

As a kid I was brought up in Bulolo District in Morobe Province, a township of historical background that was once an important gold dredging centre in the former Territory of New Guinea, with mines like Harmony Gold Mine, Wafi Gold Mine and PNG Forest Products.

In the home of Gold and Pine, life for me was challenging but I managed to complete my elementary and grade school despite the tribal fights and land owner disputes that occurred there on a regular.

The fights disrupted school life so much that schools were forced to shut down for indefinite periods. Completing year 8 was a truly challenging time for me.

In 2010, during the national exams an ethnic clash broke out between Sepik settlers and those of Bulolo origin, and though this was a terrible time, I managed to get through and earn a spot in high school.

Growing up, my parents taught my siblings and I how to sustain ourselves with learning to tend a garden and doing market table sales because living in a mining town, the cost of goods were high and nothing is free. Therefore doing the hard yards helps one to become self-reliant.

My parents are everything to me. I lost my father in 2016, and my mother still holds on strong and for over 15 years she has been a dedicated nurse at the Bulolo District Hospital to this day.

I now live in Port Moresby with hopes of continuing my secondary year of school, free and far from the ethnic clashes that troubled my pathway for a good education.

Despite my troubles, I discovered a passion in modelling when I was only 15 and this was a path introduced to me by a friend. Since signing up to volunteer for the Stella Runway, it has changed my life completely.

Modelling has boosted my confidence in life and has presented many avenues and opportunities that contribute to having a secure income whilst creating an independent person in me.

Since then, I have been a part of runways, photoshoots and now the face of PEPSI, and through all experiences that I have learnt in this industry, I hope to one day own a fashion agency of my own and set up in Lae, training youths on fashion health lifestyle.

I want to give back to my home province and people as I have witnessed a lot of negative activities, and with how well the fashion world has treated me, even these lost youths deserve a shot at a good and healthy life.

I have plans to set up my first ever fashion show hopefully mid next year and already things are under way, only to wait out the pressures and impacts of COVID and stage my dream show.

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Pepsi PNG (@pepsipng)

Author: 
Carol Kidu