Gulf man finds second chance in Moresby

You take your chances where you find them – and for Fred Raepa, 28, that opportunity lies with the Port Moresby Urban Youth Employment Project (UYEP).
Originally from Gulf, Raepa went as far as grade 8 and stopped. He stayed home – until this second chance in the capital city came along.
“I heard of this programme and I decided to join it,” he said.
“We are happy that this is a second opportunity that we got in life.
“We have learnt some new things.”
Raepa is part of Intake 22, under the youth jobs corps component of the project.
They do 35 days of outdoor physical work as part of building skills and teamwork, developing the right attitude, commitment and other soft skills to prepare them for employment.
Raepa said the project is a mind-opener that trains youths to be responsible. UYEP’s deputy project manager, Dr Mathias Liu, said that more than 16,000 youths have had basic life-skills training since the project’s inception in 2012.