PIMAGA GIRL DEFY CULTURAL NORM

 

Lena Guri, comes from Daga 1 village of Pimaga, Lake Kutubu area of Southern Highlands province. On March 31, 2022, she was part of the 21 pioneer students of Pimaga TVET institute to have graduated with an electrical trade certificate. Her achievement was first for her family, her clan and one of those few girls to have made it in technical field.

‘’It was not easy. I had a lot of opposition from my extended family not to continue studies. However, despite all that pressing issues and challenges I manage to complete my trade course. My parents are proud of this achievement. This is not the end of my journey, I’d like to pursue further studies and find employment outside of my province, but for now, I will help my community by making use of my skills’’, said Miss Guri.


                                              Lena Guri receiving her certificate

When she found out at the end of 2015 that she wasn’t on the continuing list to do grade 11 at Kutubu Secondary school the following year, her dream of becoming a nurse or a teacher was shattered. She felt that this was the end of her formal educational journey.

Like any other rural girl dropping out of school there aren’t any other option but to get married and live the life of their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, or aunts repeating the cycle. That was how Lena saw her life unfold. For three years since completing year ten, she was already repeating the cycle.

‘’With our place being very remote, bad road conditions and minimal government services, there wasn’t anything else to do apart from helping my mother in the garden, wash sago and look after my siblings. I wanted to become a nurse or teacher, but what can I do? I was a drop out. A failure. There wasn’t any opportunities. Mendi or Hagen were the only two towns accessible by road but how can I leave my family obligations and go besides it wasn’t safe for girls to travel alone. I gave up and started living the life of others and not mine.’’

‘’Our culture cannot allow us women or girls to advance further even if we did; we are bound to certain rules. I was hopeless, defeated and lost sight of everything’’, Lena said while wiping tears from her face.’’

Winston Savalin is another young man who completed year 12 in 2015 at Magarima Secondary school. A mix parentage of Sandaun and Hela and lived in Pimaga for 25years as his parents are government officers working at the Pimaga Station.

‘’I grew up here and have never been anywhere else except this place. It is true that, there isn’t any tertiary institution in Kutubu. This is the first of its kind and I am blessed to have been a pioneer of this institute. Learning a trade course is equally important just like any other courses offered. I learnt a lot during my four years of study. I am confident that I can wire a house from domestic to commercial and industrial settings. This is quite an achievement not for me alone but for all us here that have graduated.’’

‘’People have branded us as being from the ‘back page’ area. However, our community collaboration and partnership have proven them wrong. I am proud to say that from being losers, we are slowly heading towards the winning end,’’ said Mr. Savalin.


                                                       Winston Savalin

The youth population is set to be around 12 to 15 thousand in the Kutubu area and there aren’t any opportunities for young people to express themselves or be given platforms to create opportunities for themselves. Pimaga TVET was the only institution set up to provide that pathway.

‘’With lack of basic services, infrastructure and support from our national leaders, most or all of them resorted back to village life," said Steven Farabo, Kutubu LLG Youth Council Chairman and Chairman of Pimaga TVET institute.

‘’number of dropouts keep increasing every year so did social issues. With the assistance from community-based NGO like CDI foundation and Advancing PNG Women Leaders Network (APNGWLN) and with support from developers, ExxonMobil and Santos (Oil Search) we held our first Youth forum here in Pimaga station in 2016," said Mr Farabo.

‘’The forum was to gauge views of youths from Kutubu and set a pathway to address their issues and include them in the development process. Lena and her peers were part of the forum. Little did they know that this forum would set the pathway and open doors for them’’, added Chairman Farabo.

A retiree and a training development expert with more than 35 years’ experience, Warubi Masahimu who hails from that area was taken aback by the youth’s feedback during the forum. The issues raised was overwhelming that he made a promise to himself to do something.

‘’I worked in the Oil and Gas company and spent most of my time away from my community. I was troubled by what the youths were saying. The issues raised were concerning and disappointing at the same time. It troubled me so much that I had to do something for these kids. If other kids are advancing in their education and reaching greater heights, why aren’t kids from my area getting there? I had to start somewhere’’, Warubi Masahimu, Manager Pimaga TVET.

                        Mr Masahimu and Lean talking about switches and mothers board during class

True to his words, he journeyed on and started the PIMAGA TVET Institute using funds from his retirement to progress the development of the institute. The ECPNG church provided land for the school to be built on. The communities came onboard and with the support of ward councilors and village elders, they took it upon themselves and built the school.

Other Community Based organizations such as the Kutubu LLG Council of Women and Kutubu LLG Council of Youth, national NGO’s such as CDI Foundation, Advancing PNG Women Leaders Network, Oil Search Foundation and major developers Santos (Oil Search) and ExxonMobil came onboard. This took a whole lot of collaboration to the next level.

In 2019, Pimaga TVET Institute opened its doors to the youths offering trade courses in Electrical, Mechanical and Carpentry Trades. 113 students enrolled and among them was Lena Guri with five other girls. She and her friend took up electrical while the other four girls took up carpentry and mechanical trades. That same year, Southern Highlands Provincial Education Board recognized the efforts of the community and its partners and registered the institution.

                                        Graduating class of 2022 - Electrical Trade

A fully-fledged registered government institution with six trade instructors provided relevant practical skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding relating to the skills need in various sectors of the formal and informal economic and social life of a Papua New Guinean.

‘’With my background in electrical and being involved in a lot of graduate development programs with the organizations I worked for, I thought it would be good to utilize my skills to train the next generation of skilled Papua New Guineans. I am honored to have qualified teachers who specializes in Carpentry and Mechanical trades to be part of my team. Their expertise is making a difference in the lives of these youths from Kutubu.

‘’With my contact base and years of experience managing different skills development programs, I’d like to see this institute flourish. I want my teachers to further their studies. I also want to see kids from Mubi Valley, Pimaga, Lake Side, Bosavi and surrounding areas to be skilled and innovative and not to wait for handouts. We are a resilient group of people and with all these community initiatives, we are slowly getting there’’.

‘’I cannot believe I have come this far. I can do domestic wirings, install power sockets, switches, and few other things, I never thought I would do this. I have taken upon myself to wire our family home. My father is so proud of me; he did not like the idea of me studying. He had his reasons, and I cannot blame him for that, but he cried openly when he saw me trying out my graduation gown’’, an emotional Lena added while breathing heavily. ‘’I just hope that more girls in my village should be encouraged to do this type of courses. For me graduating with a trade certificate has definitely sparked that interest among young girls here in Pimaga’’, Lena added.

The Pimaga community have set the pace and have been resilient in developing their community with focus on training and developing young people to be an influence and not to rely on handouts.

‘’We have supportive community and currently have great teachers. I have big dreams for this school. I would like to see proper infrastructure set up in the coming years. Our pressing need right now with COVID-19 Pandemic is proper WASH (water, sanitation and health) facilities and power supply.  I want to produce quality and skilled students but most importantly, great leaders. And finally, if God willing and I’m still alive, I’d like to see this school become paperless and move into using cloud-based platforms to educate the young minds’’, said Warubi Masahimu.

The school currently enroll students from Pimaga, Mubi Valley and the surrounding villages. However, plans are underway to get students from Lake Side, Bosavi, Poroma or Homa Paua once dormitories are built.




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