Feature Story of Abel from East New Britain Province in PNG

Abel Rudolf is a third year student majoring in PNG Studies and International Relations at Divine Word University, Papua New Guinea (PNG). His story is one of true resilience. From being a poor performing student to excelling in school, from living in impoverished conditions to making it in life through determination and self belief. Abel’s story is moving.

Abel comes from the East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea. He is the eldest in his family and spent his early childhood years living with his grandparents at Watom Island. He shares his story and a poem. Both are based on his life, observations and experiences. The poem is about youths of his country and how the influence of alcohol, drugs and crime has trapped them from failing to see a brighter future in store for them.

Poem

PNG Latter-Day Youths

Gathering like vultures,

Feasting on measly grub.

Squawking everywhere like crows,

Looking for attention.

Staring like geckos,

Waiting to catch an opportunity.

Attacking innocents,

Like lions attacking a deer.

Inhaling toxicities,

Disregarding their health.

Continue skipping lessons,

As if, parents grow ‘money trees’.

Leaving their parents behind,

Forgetting who raised them.

Blatantly diving into peer pressure,

Ignoring stern warnings.

Overruling their parent’s commands,

Fighting for their own demands.

They become regretful when parents pass on,

Apologizing to a soulless body.

Abel interprets the poem stanza by stanza. It has themes of peer pressure, alcohol abuse, increase crime rates and the lack of discipline from authority figures in the lives of youths generally.

Abel writes,
“The first stanza describes the way young people sit together, share cigarettes, marijuana, and drink alcohol. They shout about just to attract attention and show off. Sometimes they wait on the roadside and at town for an opportunity to rob people.

The second stanza describes how these youths flock together involving themselves in unhealthy practices as aforementioned and how they pay no heed to the consequences of their actions.

The third describes how when youths go further into these habits and yield to peer pressure they forego wisdom and discipline from their parents.

The fourth stanza carries on the theme of stanza three but mainly focuses on their attitudes towards their parents. These youths are too fully vested in their self-interests that they dismiss wisdom and direction from their elders”.

Below is Abel’s second piece. In this piece he shares more about his life, his dreams and visions, his childhood, family and educational journey.

MY DREAM - After completing my studies, I will contribute meaningfully to the development of my country Papua New Guinea. To help the oppressed and move the country to the next-level especially in areas of leadership where there needs to be more transparency and accountability. I plan to make PNG safe and great. I see my dream encompassing the Pacific region as well.

MY VISION - To build a nation where all are treated equally despite race, ethnicity, religion and family backgrounds. To build a nation where there are zero barriers to physical, mental, infrastructural and spiritual development. I see my vision encompassing the Pacific region as well.

Abel shares parts of his childhood and family background with insights into some harsh conditions of life in his country PNG.

CHILDHOOD & FAMILY BACKGROUND

Abel recounts growing up in the Rabaul Electorate with his grandparents at Taranata Ward where he describes life as one that was “cool” and blissful. Living near the ocean he spent much of his time there. Collecting sweet oranges and mangoes, sitting on the big smooth colds stones, eating fruits and casting the seeds into the open sea. As a child living away from his parents was difficult and he would often cry and hide away from people because he did not want them to see his emotions. When boats arrived from the mainland Abel was eager to check who the passengers were with hopes it was his parents or if someone had brought a gift for him. Although he missed a lot of his time as a child with his parents, he is still grateful for his parents and grandparents. This grew a resilient spirit in him at a young age.

FAMILY

Life on the island ended for Abel when he first started going to school. He returned to mainland Rabaul where he was untied with his parents. Being the eldest in the family he had a lot of responsibilities on his plate especially the duty of taking care of his younger siblings. He had to watch his siblings while his mother went into town to sell doughnuts to make a living while his father went to work as a carpenter. Life was hard for his family as Abel describes. The company his father worked for would not pay him at times and his mother returned from the market with leftover doughnuts making a loss. Nevertheless, his parents were still determined to make it in life. His family lived in poor conditions and there was a time where they all slept in one room in a small house with all their belongings laying in the corners of the little room. When it rained the room would flood and it would destroy their possessions. Many times his parents would not sleep but would stay awake until daybreak to unsure the children were in safe conditions to sleep in. Abel shares how his level of responsibility as the eldest took a turn when he was entrusted with more household chores such as cooking and preparing dinner. From the years 2005 to 2014 this was his role in the family. As his siblings grew older his roles changed as well. Today his family has a new house where there is room for everyone and their possessions have a separate space to be stored as well. A major progress that Abel is proud of.

EDUCATION

Abel educational journeys started in Ratung Elementary School where he spent the 3 first years of school. In his point of view he thought he was a bright student at that time. He knew many did not believe in him. Many thought he was “dumb” but his parents encouraged him and assisted him academically correcting his mistakes as he progressed. He found reading and writing challenging. If he made a mistake his mother would pinch his cheeks so hard, and that was how he learned.

Progressing into Primary school he felt that he was not excelling and the level of competition with other students was more intense. He was a poor performing student but never gave up and was determined to become better. His parents encouraged him each step of the way. Abel names some kind-hearted students like Thomas Marum who died in 2017 and Api Maha who helped him with assessments. As other students kept to themselves, he believes that helping others to carry the educational burden is beneficial for everyone in the end.

In the year 2016, Abel was in the category of top performing students in his high school which showed in the grade ten (10) national examinations through to year eleven. Though it was still challenging as Abel shares how he still struggled to understand much of what was being taught in class. With the help of his best friend Thomas Marum he made it through. He shares a dream he had about his late best friend,

“One night after the passing of Late Thomas, I saw a dream that I captained a ship, which was my classroom and moved it towards the classroom that Late Thomas was using. Late Thomas was a “Mathematics A” student while I was a “Mathematics B” student. That dream was the dream I called “The Dream of Greatness.” Something miraculously happened to my overall performances in all subjects. Other students started questioning my performances with doubts.”

Abel excelled academically from being a poor performing student to being one of the top students in his classes. Abel shares an instance where he got a perfect grade in a Math test (a subject he struggled in), which left his fellow classmates in disbelief. He got through it because of his belief in God. He his believes that his faith changed his life’s direction. He was not greedy with the knowledge he attained; he was generous and shared with other students. He felt inspired to do that because of how his late friend Thomas helped him. His said his secret was relying on God to make it through.

Pacific Australia Youth Association (PAYA) thanks Abel for sharing his poem and life story.