Grandmother supports family through farming

 GRANDMUM Lesley Aoteto now makes a living from vegetable farming, something she did not believe was possible.

While gardening is second nature to most women in rural areas, this grandmother from Manki village in Bulolo district, Morobe, never thought it would generate enough to cover the cost of living and more importantly, pay for her children’s and 13 grandchildren’s education. 

For the past few years, she had been supplying cabbages and broccoli to the National Catering Services (NCS) at the Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV) Hidden Valley mine. 

Her interest grew when she was asked by Hidden Valley’s community affairs team to attend a family life-improvement training course facilitated by the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in partnership with the University of Queensland and Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining.

“I came back from the training and started my garden,” she said. 

“With just K50, I bought my seeds, nursed and planted them. I didn’t know how successful it was going to be until I started earning between K500 to K800 from just selling my vegetables to NCS.”

She put her success to hard work and perseverance. And she thanked Hidden Valley for arranging her small business with the NCS.

“I encourage other women and men out there to work the land as they can experience a similar success,” she said.

Lesley was part of a team from MMJV that recently attended a community affairs workshop hosted by the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in Madang where she shared her success story.