Elders want jobs for better future

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday 15th May 2013

 BUTIBAM village elders in Lae are looking at ways to find jobs and provide a better future for their people.

Community elders held a meeting at the village yesterday after concerns were raised that they had not seen any progress and development since the 1960s.

Butibam is the main village in Lae where the traditional landowners of the city live.

Spokesman Ali Isaac said the village population was almost reaching 10,000 and there was less land to expand the village. 

Many families are forced to live together under one roof and relying on each other to make ends meet.

Isaac said despite being the landowners of city, unemployment in the village was a major concern.

He said companies and business entities communally established had assisted them over the years but village elders were now considering other alternatives. 

“We are now looking to working with the government and other stakeholders in business in Lae so that our people are not left behind,” Isaac said.   

“Unemployment and poverty are becoming a reality and if we don’t join the big players to better the lives of our people, then we might not get other chances.”

He said “all we want is better services and opportunities for our children and women”.

The elders said business arrangements currently in place with their brother Ahi villagers would continue.

“What we now envisage is for our children and their children to have better educational qualifications and be better skilled so they can sustain themselves in the next 10 to 20 years and one way of doing that is to start looking at opportunities now,” he said.