Atume keen to repay her parents’ sacrifice

By ZARA KANU LEBO
WHEN Atume Jim’s father was forced to sell his taxi to pay for the K2,000 balance of her training institute fees to allow her to sit for the final exam, she vowed to pay him back for that huge sacrifice some day.
“From what little savings they had, my parents paid for the first semester. But when the final semester came for me to sit the final examination, they tried their very best to get my fees paid. They were short by K2,000. My mother told my dad to sell his only taxi. At first, he was a bit reluctant as it was the family’s only source of income. Three days before the exam, he agreed, sacrificing the whole family so that I could sit for my exam.”
That was in 2017. Now a prison officer since 2019, Atume, married to fellow officer Jerome Sole, kept her promise to her parents, especially dad Jim Mukoti.
“In 2022, I surprised my father and handed him the keys to his new vehicle. His facial expression was something else. Telling you is not enough. You have to be there to witness the joy on his face. Without a word, he hugged me with tears running down his face. My mother told him that it was not a mistake to sell his car to pay for my school fees. I thank her for the trust she had in me.”
Atume, 27, from Nupuru Village in Lufa, Eastern Highlands, is the third eldest in a family of four – three girls and a boy. She is married to Jerome who she met at Bomana in 2018 while there on a job training.
“My life was very simple growing up. My mother Julie Kamiro was a meri blouse seller. My father was a taxi driver.”
She attended Tokarara Secondary from 2013 to 2016.

“ I never stopped telling myself that I will make them both proud one day.”

“Both my parents never went to school. They put in all the effort to make sure I was educated and make it into university. But after Grade 12 in 2016, I could not make it into a tertiary institution. They kept on asking me why, but I had no answer. Even my relatives, friends and families talked negatively to my parents about me causing them more hurt.”
Atume was sad to see her parents feeling let down.
“I never stopped telling myself that I will make them both proud one day.”
In 2017, after her dad was forced to sell his taxi, Atume graduated from the International Training Institute with a Diploma in Management certificate.
She tried to prove everyone including her relatives wrong by paying back the sacrifice of her parents.
In 2019, she had applied for jobs and was accepted by the CS.
“My parents were really happy that I got a job. After graduating, I was posted to the Bundaira Correctional Institution in Kainantu where I served for two years. In 2021, I was transferred to POM where I served with the Training College in Bomana for one year before joining the CS Headquarters where I am today.”
Atume thanks God for His plans for her.
“If I had made it to a university after Grade 12, my parents wouldn’t have had the money to pay my fees, and I would still be in search of a job today. Only the good Lord knows the future, and here am I today.”
And Atume is not done yet. Apart from focusing on her prison warden’s job, Atume is now pursuing a Bachelor in Management degree programme at the Divine Word University Open Campus in Port Moresby. She is working hard on her study modules to graduate in 2026. After that, she will see what comes next.
“I will go as far as a Phd to make my parents even prouder of me.”
So relevant to her what someone once said: “Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”