Kimberly makes parents, family proud

By LORRAINE JIMAL
WHEN her two older siblings failed to make it past Grade 12, Kimberley Naime vowed to be the first to make her family proud.
Dad is a semi-trailer truck driver. Mum operates an informal market. From their meagre income, they supported Kimberly through school until she graduated from an institute this year with a Diploma in Marketing Management.
“Hearing my name announced during the graduation was just amazing. I am proud because I know my parents were also proud too. Mum was in tears.”
Kimberly, 24, is from Manumanu village in the Hiri district of Central.
She is the third eldest in a family of five – three boys and two girls. She is the first in the family to graduate from a tertiary institution.
She started her education at the Manumanu Primary School before going to the St Therese Primary School and later to the Marianville Secondary School.
She enrolled at the institute in 2020, and thanks the management for the opportunity to study there, and the K500 award she received during the graduation.
She was motivated to study hard and make her family proud after her two older siblings had dropped out after Grade 10.
“My older siblings dropped out of Grade10. It inspired me to work hard to help my family.”
She took up the marketing management course after her father advised her that marketing was in high demand today because most activities are business-oriented and affect the daily lives of people.
“I took up that course because in my family, while I was growing up, we do sales and marketing every day to survive. So I wanted to run the market in a more professional manner.
“Life was challenging for the family at home, but everyone played their roles to keep us moving forward.”
Her K500 award came as a surprise but she knew it was a just reward for her hard work, commitment and determination to succeed.
At school, she chose to involve herself in leadership roles, and assisting students in her class who needed help. It helped her personal development too, making her a better matured person.
She is looking for any job opening and is ready to face any challenges she will face in her career.
Kimberly dedicates her diploma to her family and hopes that her success would set a good example for her younger brother who is in Grade 12, and the youngest sibling who is still in primary school.
The fruits of determination and hard work are ever so sweet. Kimberly knows that now. She wants that, with her siblings, they can make their parents – dad the truck driver and mum the informal vendor – proud and happy, and repay them for their hard work to keep the family going.
“I want to stay humble too, to change the life of my family.”

“ Hearing my name announced during the graduation was just amazing. I am proud because I know my parents were also proud too. Mum was in tears.”