In old rugby boots

EDUCATION

By PAUL MINGA
THE years have rolled away swiftly following that first day Wake Goi walked into the Nazarene Nursing College clearly the odd one out, in old rugby boots.
On April 30 this year, he walked in as a VIP guest to witness the college’s 38th annual graduation.
Wake Goi, the Jimi MP and Minister for Community Development, Youth and Religion came from the outback Gopo village in Jimi, Jiwaka. As a high school student he refused to easily end his formal education after his Grade 10 examination results could not earn him a place in in any higher learning institution in 1984. He didn’t give up hope easily because of the remoteness of his village.
As is commonly the case, success comes to the determined and strong-willed person who doesn’t give up hope easily.
The world would have shut Wake out of all success and fortune if he hadn’t taken the initiative to upgrade his poor school marks in a struggle to pursue further studies.
After the completion of Grade 10 through the College Of Distance Education, Wake made three choices in his school leavers form; Goroka Teachers College (now UOG) as first choice, Madang Teachers College as second and Kudjip Nursing College as his third preference.
Unfortunately he was overlooked in his first two choices but a little hope was hanging in the balance on his third choice; he was considered as a reserve student.

Wake Goi remembers the day he walked in to register as a student on the reserve list for the Nazarene Nursing College at Kudjip in Jiwaka. Years later, he walks in as a VIP guest at a college graduation.

Wake could still recall those anxious moments after more than two decades now. The 1986 school year had started already and the students selected for first year at the Kudjip Nazarene Nursing College had already registered.
While waiting for an answer he was hanging out at Kapalku village with a relative. Kapalku was for him a transit point and convenient location to be as near to Mt Hagen town so he could have easy access to correspondence study materials which would have been impossible if he had he stayed in his distant and far-flung Gopo village.
Orientation week had already started for all schools around the country and Wake knew that he wasn’t selected for any of the three institutions of his choice. But when divine intervention comes into play, no human can interfere or obstruct it.
And it was divine intervention for Waken that year. A Sepik student who was offered a place at Kudjip did not show up at the college for about a week and it was almost certain he would not register for the year.
That created a space for the college administration to look at their reserve list. They selected Wake who stood a better chance than others on the list as he was a local boy and was reachable.
A notice was placed on Kudjip Nazerene Hospital and college notice board for anyone who knew Wake to advise him to report to the college. A local girl namely Susan from Kapalku Village who was already a graduate nurse working at the hospital sighted the notice informed Wake.
Wake was whisked into the college in an emergency after the breaking of good news by Susan to Wake’s relatives in Kapalku. It was such a rush that Wake says he did not have time to pack his personal belongings including spare clothes.
A pair of rugby boots, a dirty singlet and a black track suit were all he had when he was brought into the college late in the night after the news of the offer to study reached him. That same night, Wake rushed into the college administration office where he came face to face with a white lady namely Sister Eve who was principal of the college.
Wake recounts the interview with Sister Eve that night. She had to ask if he was really Wake Goi. The principal couldn’t believe him and asked him for further information to verify the truth about him. As the interview progressed Sister Eve’s face changed and she gave a strong stare – looking at Wake from his feet up to the tip of his head. Wake said, “When Sister Eve gave that strong stare maybe taking me as a rascal, my heart was pounding wildly and trying to break out of my chest!”
But Wake’s nerves turned into something more assuring a few minutes later in the interview. When Sister Eve was satisfied with everything she handed over a room key to Wake. He was to take sharing with another student. An overjoyed and excited Wake gladly moved into his allocated room that night with the college issue mattress.
In his rush that day he didn’t bring along a sheet or blanket to keep himself warm from the chilling Highlands cold nights. But in his situation, he needed to get enrolled within the time allowed and sort his other basic needs later. So Wake spent his first night at Kudjip without a blanket or a sheet.
The next day he got up from his bed and was very pleased with himself that at last he was a college student. It was like light at the end of a tunnel for a boy who would otherwise be hunting in his Munmul forest and the cave of Kumeneto.
But that the first day at college was also embarrassing for Wake as he was distinctively odd among the other students who were in their school uniform. He recalls that on that morning he walked into the college dining hall with his dirty rugby boots, tracksuit and singlet.
As he walked into the dining hall that morning for breakfast he was a center of attraction as all eyes were fixed on him. The Jimi boy in his odd attire roused the curiosity of students. That day remains as one of the most memorable in his student days.
During the two Christmas holidays during his time in college he decided to stay back to work so he could earn something to support his father with a fraction of school fees. So he used the 1986 and 1987 breaks cleaning the Kudjip hospital patients’ toilet, making soil for planting kaukau, weeding and cleaning the hospital and college gardens and in doing other jobs in and around the hospital and college grounds.
Since his mum passed away when Wake was in community school, he knew the hardships his father faced in trying to earn something for his cause in a difficult place so Wake decided to be self-reliant so he can reduce his father’s burdens.
As the saying goes, not all people are born the same way. Though Wake was a local student, he didn’t feel excited to go home to spend his two Christmas holidays of his three year nursing certificate studies.
That sacrifice paid off.
Where Wake walked in at first in rags to study nursing as a wait-list student in February 1986 and spent two of his Christmas holidays tilling the land, cleaning the toilets, planting and cleaning the gardens he never dreamed that he would one day walk into that same place and institution as a state minister.
Wake entered as a shy and timid village boy those many years ago but on April 3, 2020 he walked in as a VIP for the 38th graduation day of Kudjip Nazaren Nursing College to a rousing welcome.
But this came about as a result of his determination and perseverance which had shaped and molded over time to be what he is today. Thumbs up to Gopo boy who believed in the phrase never say die.

• Paul Minga is a freelance writer.