Goal Achieved Grade Six Dropout to University Graduate In Papua New Guinea

Simon Tande Kange

Dedicated to my parents

Thank you so much for everything.

My dear mama, Lumbinu Molo, and my papa, Kange Tope Kiopa.

Foreword  

I am very pleased to provide the Foreword to this inspiring book, Goal Achieved, which describes a rare choice many parents and school-leavers make.

The towns and cities of Papua New Guinea have an increasing volume of school-leavers, and our streets, public motor vehicle bus stops, and shopping centres are experiencing social disorder at an uncontainable rate, which in fact, is of paramount concern to our community.

The book demonstrates that dropping out is not losing the war, or limiting parents’ and students’ choices. Parents and school-leavers now have wider choices available, giving parents full responsibility in educating their beloved children. The book provides a practical step-by-step guide for individual students to excel academically, instead of seeing themselves as failures.

The government has established various learning institutions throughout Papua New Guinea. Some of these institutions are Colleges of Distance Education, Vocational Skills Training Schools, Adult Matriculation Studies, and other government approved privately-run schools to facilitate schoolleavers’ educational needs.

I recognize this book as being an important part of developing our children to become good citizens in this country. I congratulate the Author for his achievement and for taking the time to write this book for the benefit of our children. I recommend it to parents; this is the best gift for your children.

Dr Gairo Onagi

VC, UoG

Papua New Guinea

About this Book

This book is not about rich or famous people’s life stories. It is about a village boy in Papua New Guinea who fought through tough times to achieve his dream. And I was that kid. It’s not the work of a well-known professional writer, or even an English speaker. English is not my first language, or my second, or even my third. I had no early dream of writing a book. What compelled me to put this together was hearing that some others felt inspired by the achievement of this ‘boy from the bush’ making it through University. If I could do it, others could too. My experience, my story – so they told me – sent a shining light into the hearts of primary and high school dropouts, and of Community Health Workers (CHWs). So here it is, put into the printed word.

In the medical field, CHWs are perceived as not highly educated, and thus no further job promotions and training opportunities are awarded. That is a real pity. Many healthcare jurisdictions do not send CHWs to registered nursing training with pay; or else institutions simply do not have the policies in place to encourage them to undertake further studies. Mr Thomas Tie and Ms Judith Dupi, both Community Health Workers from Mount Hagen Hospital, pursued that path and successfully graduated as registered nurses, with diplomas, at Divine Word University in Madang. The CHWs working at Mount Hagen Hospital are now enrolled with the Mount Hagen University of PNG – Open Campus.

Primary and high school-leavers are now an increasing presence in our cities and towns. Social disorder is a growing concern in main centres, so this is everyone’s problem. Parents tend to view dropouts as failures, and so they do not help their young adult offspring to acquire Vocational Skills Training or enrol in College of Distance Education Studies. It is my hope that the achievement described in the book you are holding will ignite parents’ hearts and minds to help their kids.

So, to all of you who read this book...

You too can achieve your dream goals, if you, put your energies around the dream goal, with the right attitude.

Mr Simon Tande Kange 

Acknowledgments 

With great pleasure I acknowledge all those who have made positive contributions. You are too many to name, but please know that you have my most sincere gratitude.

I pay special tribute to my mother for her endless and positive encouragement for me to climb the higher education ladder, and daily to watch over my soul in her prayers. Mum! I find no better words to express my deepest appreciation than to say from the heart, ‘Thank you, Mama’.

My gratitude to Mr Ken Zilong LLB (UPNG) for his contribution in regard to Pindiu culture and experience. Special thanks to Mr Will Smyth Menary for editing the original manuscript. He has BA (Hons) (Newcastle, NSW); MA, Cert Ed (Glasgow); TESOL Level IV; AE (Accredited Editor, Institute of Professional Editors) and is a Freelance Editor.

Thanks from my heart to Ms Catherine Nolan (Freelance Editor) for detailed editing. She holds BA (Hons) (University of Melbourne) and a Master of Business Information Technology (RMIT), and her husband Dr Jonathan Ritchie, who, despite his fixed schedule on Sir Ebia Olewale’s biography, has provided much-needed assistance in editing. He works as a Senior Research Fellow Biographer at Deakin University, Australia. He holds BA (Hons) (Victoria University) and a PhD from the University of Melbourne.

I am also grateful to Ms Anne Cullinan for the final proof reading and editing. She holds MA from University of Cambridge; Accredited Editor IPEd. Finally, I would like to thank Mr Phil Urilly for layout and design including the book cover, and Mr Stanley Mark for Artwork on Ialibu/Pangia Map. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Mr Simon Tande Kange

Contents

Foreword  

About this Book   

Acknowledgments   

Chapter one: Traditional village culture until 1975

Prelude

Independence Day 16 September 1975: A Child’s Recollection  

Chapter Two: My Primary Education Saga, 1978–83  

Tindua  

Celebration of School Parties  

Tiripini and a Fall from Grace  

Chapter Three: Struggling to Survive, 1984–86  

Winning a Parent’s Heart  

Journey to Hagen  

Rebiamul – a Stepping Stone  

First Money  

Chapter Four: Fragmented Journey, 1987–89  

The Wild Travel  

Painim Wok: The Search for a Job in 1987  

Briefly at Home  

Unfortunate Training in Finschhafen  

Chapter Five: Awaiting for God’s Grace, 1990–91  

Back in the Village  

Building a House  

Bush Office Boy and Conductor  

Chapter Six: Aiming for the Goal, 1992–99  

On the Road to Success, and Baiyer Violence  

Remote Kokowa and Ruti  

Adult Matriculation Studies, 1997  

Meeting Osila, ‘Half of My Life’     

Chapter Seven: A Real Achievement, 2000–03  

Goal Reached  

Appendix 1: Basic Facts on HIV and AIDS  

What is HIV?  

What is AIDS?  

Does HIV or AIDS have a cure?  

What is the mode of HIV transmission in PNG?  

How can we protect ourselves from contracting HIV infection?  

What puts you at risk?  

What are the symptoms of HIV?  

Can HIV transmit through casual contact with an infected person?

What to do if you think you’re at risk?  

Is HIV testing done in private?  

What is the benefit of VCT?  

Appendix 2: Pindiu Culture and Experience   

Glossary: Pronunciation of–Pidgin, Wiru, and Kewabi Native Dialect Words/Names    

About The Author  

Chapter One

Traditional Village Culture Until 1975

Prelude

In Papua New Guinea (Papua Niugini) traditional cultures, which were and still are diverse, each newborn to a family, clan, and tribe was a cause for pride, strength, wealth and honour. There was always great eagerness to welcome a new member to a family. A new child was of paramount important. Parents, all the relatives – the whole community – awaited each birth with enthusiasm.

For one such impending event in Tindua Two village, more than forty years ago, everyone wanted to bring gifts, sing songs and join in the party. Mothers who bore a baby boy received high praise. Why? A girl married and went to her husband’s home, maybe far away, but boys remained in the village, gave care in their elders’ old age, defended the territory in war, inherited the land and carried forward the clan name to the next generation.

This mother’s physical signs of being at her time were obvious. Arrival hour was in the air. Tindua Two communities were still asleep. Labour had begun, said the mother. She had assistance from the village birth attendants (VBAs), because the Pangia provincial government health facility was a long way off. Besides, it had no qualified midwife and only a poor delivery facility, and poor transport infrastructure.

The woman’s labour got stronger in the early hours of Sunday morning. Under the guiding hands of two VBAs, as the mother later said, God blessed my womb with a baby boy. This was in 1970. The VBAs were Kaleponu and Monkondi. Despite having no trained medical knowledge to practise midwifery in the village, they had a wealth of practical handson experience after attending many deliveries.

Well! I was that baby, born into this generation. The woman was Lumbinu, my mother. She named me Tande, to commemorate the day of my birth, a Sunday.

As for my name, when I was ten years of age in 1980, children from Kange families attended the Lutheran Church baptism class, where we learned about God, and the creation of Heaven and Earth. The church’s oral competency test at that time re-confirmed a child’s baptism. My baptismal name became Sunday. Then in 1986, I changed it to Simon Tande Kange; and for general official use it is Simon Kange.

In Kombeai village, my grandfather Kiopa was a chief leader. He was a subsistence farmer, sometimes called these days a self-sufficiency farmer, meaning that he and his sons worked their land to produce everything the family needed.

Grandfather Kiopa had two wives, and they lived with their four sons and one daughter. These were Mandali, Tira, Yarabo (the daughter), Kange and Yawa. The four brothers made their home at Kombeai, which is located south-west of Pangia government station. Mandali, Tira and Yawa each married two wives, and Kange was the exception with three wives, generally considered a mark of high status. In PNG traditional society the European idea of monogamy held no sway.

Kombeai was one of the villages making up Yaro society. Other villages were Lende, Tindua Two (Kange became a chief leader of Tindua Two and Lende villages while Mandali and Tira ruled Yaro.Today (2012) in Yaro society, the elder son of Tira – Omola is the Chief of Yaro), Paria, Wagenyapu, Tokopini, Yambowai, and Korau. The Yaro numbered approximately six thousand people.

Kange, full name Tope Kange Kiopa, was quite tall with a long beard. His social influence extended to Epari society in the west, Poleo in the south, and Yaro and Kalane to the south-east. He lived with his three wives, three girls, and four boys at Tindua Two. Kange’s first wife was Kaleponu, wife number two was Monkondi, and third Lumbinu. My mother was Lumbinu, the third wife.

Kaleponu’s two children were Neri and Tankinu. Neri died before I was born. Tankinu married a man called Rupa and they lived at Tindua One. She had six children: Norman, (PNG Defence Force – soldier) Benjamin (a secondary school teacher), Josephine (a primary school teacher), and Precise, who also attended Ialibu Secondary School. Two younger ones were still in primary school at the time of writing this book.

Mokondi had three boys and one girl. Their names were Warea, James Diaya, Taita, and Mone, the girl. Warea married two wives, Piame and Nomie. Piame, however, died in 1995 in an outbreak of malaria, typhoid fever, and pneumonia in the village. Piame was survived by her four children, Karl, Pale, Esther and O’Neill.

James married Wendo, and their seven children included Wine, Julie, Paul, Joanne, Willie, Judith and Abraham. Taita’s five children were David, Max, Penny, Nathan, and

Nandowa, while Mokondi’s daughter Mone had one child. We became quite a large family.

Lumbinu, Dad’s wife number three, before she married him had been married to a man from Kundu, which is located about 30 kilometres from Pangia station. She had a daughter (my half-sister Kakame). She was killed by Poloko men during tribal conflict. Her other children, from the marriage to my father, are my sister Konpenu and me.

Konpenu married Kipoi, and they lived near Tindua Two. Their six children, my nieces and nephews are: Kupa, Mary, Simon (named after me), Kange (named after his grandfather Kange), Dustan and Mike. My wife’s name is Osila Mokot and she comes from Ambunti District in East Sepik Province. Our four children are named Konpenu, Luanoska, Samuel, and EngeneKillie.

Ninety percent of the population of Pangia speak the Wiru language. Pangia is divided into three regions; east, south and west. The inhabitants speak two languages (PNG has an estimated 800) called Wiru and Kewabi. The community of Tindua Two is divided between Wiru and Kewabi speakers. As a result, people there mostly understand both languages, but the more commonly spoken one is Wiru.

The Wiru dialect has no connection with its geographical neighbours like Ialibu, Kewabi, and Hagen; or Simbu and the speech of Gulf people. It is safe to state that Wiru dialect is traditional language of Pangia people. As far as I know, no other languages in Papua Niugini are directly linked with Wiru dialect.

Ethnologists might hold various views, but linguistic science backs the notion that Wiru dialect is a language isolate.

I do know that we have no neighbours who speak a language anything like ours; nobody else shares ‘one talk’ with us. We either learn each other’s language, or we communicate in Tok Pisin (Pidgin, an official language in PNG). Increasingly, of course, educated people can use standard English as well.

Our neighbours, on the other hand, have close connections with others. For example; Ialibuans use a Hagen dialect and Kewabians can usually understand Mendians. The Wiru are a tribe with no speech-link to other tribes. We are the only Wiru speakers.

Our Father named us children in both the Wiru and Kewabi dialects, and the names have significant connotations. One day I asked father why he had named us in this way. The names represent those days’ events, he said.

What do these names mean? I asked.

Son, it is not hard to understand. As you say each name, you can see its meaning. Okay. So sit down and I’ll recall those days and tell you about the names.

He began with his children’s dates of birth. He could recall the whole family history in great detail. The story of Kange’s family was a bit like a fairy tale, and he told me that not one of his other children had ever asked this question. For me it was an amazing walk back through history.

While I was still in the mind of Almighty God, my parents settled in their first home at Kombeai, which is six kilometres from Tindua Two. But father’s two brothers were angry with him and rejected him. Why? It was because of an untrue story that he had been unfaithful, put about by Mandali’s wife who had been with many men, he said. When his brothers heard the allegation and rejected him, my father and his wives were left without family support. Our names reflect those days, and his innocence. Kange protected his dignity through honest living, but the false accusation had tainted the brotherly love that once existed.

As a result, the events at Kombeai broke up the family, and Tira and Mandali migrated to Yaro. We moved to Tindua Two, and that became our new home.

What was the point of staying on in Kombeai? Your Uncle Yawa followed me, my father Kange continued, since he too was well aware that the accusation had been concocted by a troublemaking wife of Mandali.

Dad worked hard to farm the land, acquire wealth, and bring up a family of his own. He spread his social wings within the wider community and set the course of his life, for which the first objective was to marry, and subsequently to possess wealth. He married three wives. Eventually, my dad became chief man in the Tindua Two and Lende communities; and he went on to have influence well beyond that.

He started with the marriage to Kaleponu, who in turn helped set up the marriage to Mokondi. The two women became a source of power, working tirelessly to accumulate sufficient wealth. Kange let them know of his desire for a third wife.

Did the two wives agree? Oh, yes! They gave the idea the green light, the go-ahead.

Tribal warfare had forced Lumbinu to return to her home village Walapape. Kange asked for friendship, and she accepted. This was like an unofficial engagement, subject to conditions. Kange’s task now was to gather together the bride price. No easy matter! Her father was a chief in Epari society, and marrying a chief’s daughter was expensive, Kange told me. For that reason, only a leader’s sons should marry them. At that time in the highlands of PNG, money was not widely in circulation. Traditional bride prices were paid in kina shells, pigs, stone salt, stone axe   and garden produce.

The friendship went from strength to strength; and his first two wives were fully supportive. A third wife was a matter of great prestige. Dad went on with his true tale of how, as a Westerner might