Everyday people PNG

That was the biggest achievement of my life.

On a daily basis, I greet/meet customers and attend to customer queries to ensure my supervisor addresses their complaints.

I also do daily reconciliations at the end of the day.

Life is filled with challenges, that we know and hear time and time again. For me, I did not know how to speak English well nor did I have the qualification to be a front office administrator, so I taught myself English, especially how to respond to foreigners when they come to our office.

I grew up on the island of Djaul in New Ireland Province. Life in the village was simple yet challenging.

When I was in Grade 4, my Religious Instructions teacher was my dad. He taught us how to make coconut oil.

We had to scrape 30 dry coconuts on Wednesday and fermented it for two nights then cooked it on Friday during our RI session.

That was one lesson I've never forgotten.

Inspired by the famous Gulf phrase of ‘Yu yet kam na lukim’, one would have to spend merely a minute with Gemma to understand why the Park looks so presentable daily as it is in her nature to ensure everything is set and ready for guests.

Gemma is no new face to the Tourism & Hospitality Industry. Since 1992 when she started her first job with the Granville Hotel in Port Moresby as a Housekeeping staff, she had never strayed from the field, which to date sees her clocking in 29 years of service in Housekeeping within the Tourism & Hospitality Industry.

I first attended the Divine Word University in 2011, 12 and 13, studying Business Management. 

In 2012 our HECAS ticket didn’t come early so we travelled by ship to Lae, that was on Rabaul Queen, from Rabaul to Kimbe then to Lae. It was on Thursday 2^nd February when on our way to Lae we sunk, and I lost everything.

Every day we tend to our flowers, plant flowers and also respond to requests for hiring. So we arrange flowers for decorations as well. There are pot plants for hire which we arrange for clients. We also do decorations for funerals, weddings, or graduations.

When there are small ceremonies around the town they used to call us so we arrange decorations for them. That’s how we earn our income.

This is our everyday life. So far I have 180 people registered under our organization. There are others who are interested but have not yet registered.

I started my studies in year one as one of the 45 intakes but at the end of my first year, year 2 and 3 many of my classmates flunked the course and I was fortunate to make it to year 4 to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts and Media and Communication.

I am now doing my internship with Post-Courier in Goroka and this is my fourth month. After graduation, I want to lodge a formal application to continue with Post-Courier. 

The course was very good as it put to use when dealing with everyday people. When relating to my work, we are dealing with adults so what I learnt I put it to good use at my place of work, especially to teach at rehabilitation workshops about gender so there is no discrimination at the work place.

Gender inequality at the workplace is vital in the government circle. Men need to respect women and vice-versa, so you work together. I hope that when I return to my work place my superiors will give me the opportunity to do some changes in the department.

She has been in Port Moresby since October 2020. It is her first time to be in the city and it is different from Popondetta, which is a small town with less people and activities.

Botha is privileged to be part of a Prayer team who hold prayer sessions inside the Morauta Haus, held weekly.  

He education was interrupted in primary school level due to sickness. This made her to skip a grade twice and she didn’t make it to Grade 9, after completing Grade 8.  

He lives in Port Moresby with his sister and her family at Taurama. I came to Port Moresby in 2016 and stayed here till 2019, then I decided to return to the village.

I went back to continue my school but there were disputes between my parents and I could not continue my education, so headed to Lae in 2020 and returned to the big city.

Now I am here in Taurama helping at the local church.

She has been in the evaluations sector for the last 20 plus years and during this time she faced difficulties to get to where she is today.

There was a time in her life that her career derailed causing herself and her son to seek lodging from her brother whilst sleeping on the lounge room floor.

Through her contacts in the banking sector, Janet was able to rise from the fall that cost her and her son the comforts and necessities to sustain them. After a year and with the little she had left, she resorted to freelancing and began to build back her reputable skillset.