Claudia pays tribute to her late parents

By SYLVESTER WEMURU
CLAUDIA Wules thinks of her late mum Vincencia Vanivara as she awaits her final journey home to East New Britain to for her funeral, thanking her for everything she had done for her.
“I want to thank my mum who is in the morgue waiting for her body to be flown to her village in East New Britain next week.
“Mum, I want to thank you for raising me up as a strong woman who will now take on from where you and dad left. I am her sitting down with a broken heart thinking about how I will repay you for all you did to me as a child to where I am now. I just accept that you are gone.”
Claudia’s teacher-mum died last month in Madang, following the passing away of her dad last year.
Claudia, 30, the eldest of five children, graduated last year from the Madang Teachers College. The moment she would never forget was when her mum, who had stopped her from pursuing a career in nursing but to follow her as a teacher, sat there at the graduation ceremony admiring her.

“ I thank my late mum and dad for everything they had done for me. I am now strong and can carry on from where they left. With the help of my brother, we can manage the family.”

“I did not make into any tertiary institution after completing Grade 12 in 2011 so I upgraded my marks and wanted to become a nurse. I was accepted at the Goroka School of Nursing but my mother told me not to go. She wanted me to be a teacher like her. I was accepted at Madang Teachers College and I did my first year in 2017.”
She regards her mum as her role model.
“I like the way that Tolai lady do things while teaching in remote schools in Madang province. She spends most of her life in the remote areas and that was how we were brought up with villagers.”
Now with both parents gone, Claudia knows she has the responsibility of bringing up her siblings.
“I thank my late mum and dad for everything they had done for me. I am now strong and can carry on from where they left. With the help of my brother, we can manage the family.”
She knows her parents had invested in her education and that it is time to repay the favour by taking care of her siblings.
He dad died on Aug 25 last year. Claudia had to come home from college to look after the family, with her mum being sick too.
“We all managed our time and we make sure that were close to our dad and mum when they were sick. We tried all our best thinking that daddy will survive but he left us.
“I comforted my two youngest siblings in Grade 10 to focus on their studies and pass their exams. We all passed our exams. I graduated at the end of last year thinking that mum would be okay. But she was also very sick so I decided to stay home and look after her.
“Wearing the graduation gown was what my mother was wishing for. And yes, she witnessed that during my graduation. She was sick but she managed to come and see me in that gown.”
Claudia knows she has been through a lot but is ready to take over from where her parents left off.
“Mum and dad, on behalf of your children, we thank you both for what you had invested on us. RIP till we meet again.”