I want to make others happy

By BENJAMIN KOITAKA
German songwriter and singer Nina Hagen once said, “Do some selfless service for people who are in need. Consider the whole picture, not just our little selves.”
I believe this suits the vision of a young Papua New Guinean who lives life for the service of others.
Lazarus Towa usually says “Don’t be so selfish to live your entire life for yourself. Help others, heal others. Live for the benefit of others. And contribute your role in making this world beautiful for living.
Many would be nodding in agreement who sought and found the true help from this heaven-sent sent Chimbu man.
Towa, known to some as Bata LT, has won several awards including the recent Digicel Foundation Young Men of Honour Award in recognition for his humanitarian services to young job seekers in PNG.
Towa, the self-moderator of the Facebook group Current Job Vacancies Repost with LT which has raked up more than 90,000 followers whom he had helped by reposting the job vacancies advertised in the newspapers as well as from websites.
He created such a platform to help individuals who are in dire need to prosper in life and with a mission to “leave no man behind.”
Last month he received the Digicel Foundation Young Men of Honour in Port Moresby.
Towa’s Men of Honour award adds to two others he won previously; the 2018 Commonwealth Youth Award in United Kingdom and the Youth Champions for Sustainable Development Goals 2017 by the United Nations in PNG.
Towa, from Kerowagi in Chimbu, would see these honours as privileges for he is only one among millions of young people who dream of achieving something in life.
He says he lives with one main aim and that is to make people around him happy and live life to the fullest.
“Happy in the sense that someone on the house is employed and provide for the household. My long term goal in life is to have a house of my own in Port Moresby so that l can set up an office space or a humanitarian development resource center, which job seekers within NCD, Central and Gulf will come and do free-of-charge consultations regarding the services l offer.”
He says the center can be a transit home for people from other provinces and apply for vacancies in Port Moresby and have no relatives in the city. Once employed they can come live at the resource center until they can afford a place of their own.
Towa’s humanitarian services includes free-of-charge editing of CVs for new graduates with work experience, writing job application letters and providing job interview tips to the candidates.
Testimonies abound of those who Towa had assisted. One of his Facebook followers, Andy Paraka, said “I have found a lot of help after joining his group. He is such as humble and selfless guy. He helped me find a good job after two years of unemployment.”
Towa says while it is certainly a good thing for the Government to continue funding sports and other activities in country and overseas, it should also fund activities that would help a mother put food on the table daily, a father to provide quality health care and education for his children or get a young man off the streets and empower him to express his views freely in society.
“PNG is so beautiful and we have many beautiful places, animals, birds, rivers, Islands, languages, you name it. Likewise we have some very generous people out there in our communities who have gone far beyond their limited capacity to help make our country more beautiful. Those people deserve nothing but our moral support and prayers and more so from a human perspective, they need the support from government to help them reach out to where government can’t reach,” Towa says.
“It will be four years now for my community service through the Facebook page and so far over 400 citizens gained employment,” he said. The 400-plus are only reported cases but I’m looking forward to assist more within my capacity.
“I humbly thank all those organisations who directly advertised their vacancies on my page and also those that employed job seekers who received my help. Without your support life would be different,” Towa said.
“God made you to be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Keep your eyes open,” he concluded.