Giving up is not in Dukwe’s dictionary

By LULU MARK
GIVING up easily is just not in student Dukwe Tom’s dictionary.
When the 24-year-old was offered a job to clean the toilet daily at the school he attends in Port Moresby for K75 a fortnight, he was thankful because it would help him rent a home.
He had left his parents who are subsistence farmers at Dahamo village in the remote Olsobip Local Level Government of North Fly district, Western. It takes one about a week of walking to access government services at Tabubil or Kiunga. It is literally cut off from the outside world it seems.
Dukwe had no one to turn while attending the Don Bosco Technical Institute Taurama campus as a first-year Instrumentation Technology student.
“I left my parents and village in the bush for the first time just because I want to go to school. The quest for education put me on a plane and brought me to Port Moresby for the first time in 2017.”
He had completed Grades One to Six at the Dahamo Community School. When he turned 15 in 2012, he left his village to do Grade Seven and Eight at the Rumginai Primary School. He continued to Grade Nine and 10 at the Kiunga Secondary School. He was then selected to attend the Sogeri National High School.
He was able to go back home at the end of the year then because the airline tickets were met by the Education Department. Most of his school fees were paid by the North Fly MP.
When he was accepted this year into Don Bosco under the Higher Education Contribution Assistance Scheme (HECAS), he flew back to Port Moresby with the K300 his parents gave him to pay the outstanding fee at Sogeri so that his Grade 12 certificate could be released.
But when he went to Don Bosco, he was told he still had to pay the school fee which was not covered by the HECAS. He was not allowed to start classes. His world turned upside down.
“I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I was literally lost.”
He slept in the security guard house at the school gate and ate mangoes to survive.
He had three options: tell his parents to pay the fees, withdraw from the course and look for the school fees, or come back next year.
“These options were too much for me. But it was the thought of home that kept me going.”
He remembered what his father used to tell him in the garden back in the village: “Complete all the work in the garden before you go home. Whatever work you have to do today, you must finish it before you leave for home. If you see a problem, fix it. Don’t give up.”
On the fourth week of school, the North Fly MP paid K3000 of theK5665 fee. Dukwe promised the school to pay the rest later.
Because he could not afford boarding and lodging at the school, some school mates secretly sneaked him into the dormitory to bunk with them. But that was stopped because it was against the school rules.
Dukwe then asked the school to give him a job so that he could rent a home outside school.
“For K75 a fortnight, they gave me the keys to the male day students toilet”.
Two boys from Kimbe renting a house opposite the school allowed him to share the K250 rent with them.
The school also offered him another job on Saturdays for K30 a fortnight.

“I am a Seventh Day Adventist Christian but I don’t have a choice. I need the money and I had to work on Sabbath and not go to church.”
After paying his share of the rent, he was left with only K21 for his food for two weeks.
But three weeks ago, Dukwe chanced upon the Wamsa family from South Fly living at the Air Niugini Compound at Six-Mile. After hearing his story, they told him to come and stay with them.
Pauline Wamsa told Dukwe that their father, a teacher, once taught in Kiunga and knew the place well. They knew how remote Dukwe’s village was and could understand his situation.
“His story is really sad and so we told him to go get his things and come to the house.”
Dukwe’s story which was also posted on a Facebook page recently attracted public interest. People offered to help him. A gentleman from Bougainville even paid his outstanding fee of K1203.70 at Don Bosco.
Dukwe is thankful to everyone who have come forward to help him.
And his advice to others facing a similar situation is to never give up when obstacles are blocking your path.
“Have faith in God and yourself and face the challenge. Don’t just say everything is going to be alright and just sit down. Do something about it.”
Dukwe has two more years to go and is already planning ahead.
“After my studies, I will work for three years, come back to get my degree and go into engineering.”
His experience in life so far has made him stronger and more determined to be successful.
“In the future, whatever I earn, I will try to help people like me.”