On the 5th of January 2017, a small team of young university students delivered stationery to secondary, high school and primary school students in the Andapang Tribe in the Jiwaka Province out of the book allowances of one of their member.
During the presentation, Hercules Jim, the leader of the team and final year Political Science student of UPNG made an early celebration for his graduation throwing a party with traditional mumu.
“It was my second time to deliver stationery in collaboration with my colleagues from my tribe, and this time I delivered 80 dictionaries,” Jim said.
“Those dictionaries were from my book allowances from the TESAS.”
EMTV Online was told that Hercules and his team had organised a volleyball competition for his tribe in January 2016 where a total of twenty teams competed for ten days. The competition ended with a barbecue, presentation of school materials and dedication prayer of students.
Jim says it was the first of its kind for a student to organise such event in his electorate, and province, and because it was towards 2017 election period, he faced a lot of criticisms from politicians.
Jim, whose village is located close to Banz Town which is the economic centre of Jiwaka Province claims his tribe to be known for underage pregnancies, and young men being badly influenced by home-brewed alcohol and marijuana consumption.
“We have a small marketplace called Sigirap Market, and this name says it all”.
Jim who is also the Highlands Students Representative at UPNG claims he and few lucky ones from his Village have made it through to the tertiary institutions.
“Now my biggest concern has been education and if we have an educated population, the living standards will rise.” reiterated Jim.
“When people are educated and have the information they need, then they will be in a better position to make better choices for themselves and their communities,”
Whilst presenting the dictionaries to students, Jim stressed that everyone has the potential to be better people; they just need the right motivation and environment to explore their potential.
“I believe you do not need a million kina, or be a member of parliament nor hold a high position to make an influence, touch lives, and make the difference.”
Mr. Jim says the future of this nation depends on the young people, therefore the government, churches, NGOs and individuals wanting to build this nation should invest in young people.
“The change that we want, the answer that we seek and solution to our problem today are trapped inside our young people. If we lose this generation, we lose this nation.”
He continued to say young people in villages and suburbs are destroyed by pornography, drug, alcohol and other social issues that affect young people today.
Whilst thanking all the boys who helped in putting the event together, Jim says many children with great potential come from broken families with no moral and financial support. They need someone to believe in their dream, someone to remind them that they are born with a purpose, and this world needs what is instilled in them.
“An individual to give a hand and pull them up when they are down, somebody to challenge them with their success; I want to be that someone. I want to be the agent of change. Do you?”
Present during the event were students, parents, community and church leaders from Andapang tribe plus leaders from various surrounding tribes in North Waghi District.
