Flora farewells PNG

ON August 17, 1979, a young Pilipino woman arrived in Pa¬pua New Guinea on a trusty old aeroplane and was bewildered at the first sight of bare-chested locals walk¬ing around with only laplaps and no footwear.
Now after 33 years, Flora Gutierrez will depart our shores with many won¬derful memories of a place and times that will remain forever etched in her heart.
‘Flora’ as she is popularly and af¬fectionately known by her many col¬leagues and students has always had teaching in her blood.
Back in her native Manila, she al¬ways harboured the desire to travel to a far away land to share her knowl¬edge and skills. That opportunity came when she got bored after some years at the Dunwoody Industrial Institute in the United States.
After returning home, she went to the Philippines Government’s Overseas Employment Development Bureau and filled in an application for opportuni¬ties to teach overseas. She waited and after some years thought they might have dumped her application in the bin until she got a call after about five years to say she was going to a country in the South Pacific called Papua New Guinea.
Arriving at the old Lae Airport in the heart of the town, she was immediately captivated by the green scenery as she took up her first posting at the then Lae Technical College where she would teach for 17 years.
Flora recalls that only a few PNG na¬tionals were teaching there at the time but those formative years of her life¬long sojourn in PNG were also the best, especially given her love for cooking. Fruits and vegetables were plentiful, fresh fish were 20 or 30 toea for one and enough for one serving. Anderson Foodland was the only supermarket that time – long grain rice was 25 toea for a kilo and the favourite tinned fish was 30 toea for a big can and they did not sell lamb flaps, chicken wings, of¬fal’s, fish head and others that contrib¬ute to unhealthy diets.
"Lae was very peaceful. We would walk at night to the movies while breathing in the fresh air and nobody would bother you. The local people were friendly and willing to help and learn from expatriates which is some¬thing you don’t see these days," she re¬called.
"I have trained hundreds and thou¬sands of Papua New Guineans in the tourism and hospitality trades. I see them now wherever I go around the country and they always say the "train¬ing you have given to us is beyond compare. You are the best."
I first met Flora in 2005 when my employer PNG Tourism Promotion Au¬thority through a formal understanding with the Department of Education’s Technical & Vocational Education Training (TVET) programme assigned her to conduct training programmes for local people in the provinces.
On many of these trips, someone would pop out from among the crowd and greet Flora with a big smile. After each particular encounter, she would turn to us and say "that was my ex-stu¬dent", many of whom are now engaged in the tourism and hospitality industry in PNG. Even the many simple Papua New Guineans from village commu¬nities whom we engaged and trained through the TPA funded workshops would always leave with a big smile and lots of appreciation. That was how infectious Flora was to those she came across.
"The hospitality industry is hungry for knowledge. To date I am still doing training not only to students, teachers but to the industry too. I love what I do in education and training and I am hap¬py that I played a very important role in the development of tourism and hospi¬tality in Papua New Guinea," she said.
"I will always remember my stu¬dents, friends and the beauty of this country. My appreciation goes to National Department of Education, TVET, TPA, NTC, NATTB, UPNG, DWU and others. Unfortunately I will go without completing a curriculum that should have benefited the hospital¬ity and tourism industry and that is the development of the National Diploma in Tourism (Operations). That should have been the highlight of my career in PNG. It is sad but there is a saying that if one door closes another door opens."
Coming from the old school, Flora is also sad that the level of commit¬ment and dedication by educators, par¬ticularly teachers in PNG has dropped significantly over the years. She says it is particularly sad when she sees stu¬dents waiting and wondering outside the classrooms aimlessly because the teacher had not turned up.
"I was brought up in an old school environment and I feel very bad when I see students left unattended and teach¬ers doing their own things," she la¬mented.
Flora said while she is still commit¬ted to teaching in PNG, she has reached the PNG public service retirement age and as such her contract has not been renewed so it’s time to pack her bags and head home. She has three adult children two of whom live in the Unit¬ed States so she will be spending time between the Philippines and the United States in her retirement.
She thanked everyone that she has ever met, particularly her students for all the beautiful memories of her life in PNG. One particular student by the name of Jonathan who owns a fast-food outlet told Flora recently that he had named his daughter after her so "Flora would always remain in PNG". Jonath¬an told Flora "she was born very sick and we thought she would not make it but we named her Flora after you and she survived."
Flora says these sort of personal en¬counters with normal ordinary Papua New Guineans are so special and will remain with her forever.
"I was a young woman when I came to PNG. You (PNG) are part of my life now, you will never be forgotten," she told me with sadness in her voice.
Flora – for those of us at the TPA who worked with you on the many
workshops across our beautiful country – we say,
"Thank you for being part of us and we wish you all the very best for the future".