The timely initiative by the Project Yumi Inc.’s Project Wok Program has done more than boost a young person’s chance of getting a job, in a time where Youth unemployment is an issue that is on the rise in PNG. The program has also raised young considerate mentors from being naïve and hopeful participants to the program, that care enough to want to help the next person in such a need.
One such participant is grade 12 Sharon Rose Wabiria from Badiagwa Secondary, who recently completed a two-day training under the Project Wok Program.
Bustling with energy, Sharon-Rose enthusiastically expressed that such training on how to write a CV is usually introduced in the classrooms briefly, but the two-day training covered that aspect in what she simply put as “short and sharp”.
“This is important as some don’t get the job they want because of poor written CVs,” she said.
With this, she concluded that many should know what she now knows and admitted that she is willing to teach others what she could from this experience.
She is not alone on that as most of the volunteer mentors for the program were actually pilot graduates of Project Wok 2022 who see the responsibility of assisting in the program as a way to pay forward what they had the opportunity to be a part of.
One such volunteer mentor is Dikana Kema, who expressed that the best way to appreciate what one’s been taught is to share it.
“If you achieve something in life, share it with others rather than keeping it to yourself”, Kema said.
Sharing the same sentiment is Lila Gei, who said that she chose to become a mentor voluntarily so as to share what she described as her blessings of which she gained from this program herself.
The Project Wok Coordinator, Dawn Robinson expressed that the volunteer mentors like Kema and Gei had been very instrumental to the progress of the program.
“Volunteer Mentors from Corporate Sponsor, Credit Corporation, and the Young Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry guided the students through the practical and experiential-learning activities, while Volunteer Facilitators from Project Yumi Inc and Credit Corporation taught the Project Wok program content,” Robinson stated.
Project Yumi Inc, is an Australian and Papua New Guinea (PNG) registered not for profit organization. Project Wok is Project Yumi Inc’s contribution overcoming the youth unemployment challenge in PNG.
The program aims to expand in its initiative to further assist youths as time goes by with each program carried out.
There is no doubt, that more volunteer mentors will be gained in this course.