Let’s unite, address Jimi’s struggles together

ONE would agree with me that Jimi, in Jiwaka, is one of the most disadvantaged districts in the country.
But what does being disadvantaged mean to you?
For me, it means my district lacks basic services and infrastructure such as good roads, health centres, schools, markets, telecommunication services and other services that enables development.
We have more youths than older people.
We need empowerment to support our youths.
From my small survey for my academic research in 2018, I feel that we, the Jimi people, have a high chance of being neglected because of our remoteness, tough topography, no access to media, lack of basic infrastructure and Government services.
As I witnessed, people tend to blame the elected leaders and forget that they chose them in the first place.
Travelling for two weeks and covering five wards and three primary schools (Kon Kana, Ambullua and Migne Pol) , I discovered that poverty and gender inequality plays a major role in people’s suffering.
They have the potential to be productive but they need empowerment and awareness.
The problem with Jimi intellectuals is that we do not share
ideas and findings for our own benefit.
We are stuck in our comfort zones and hoping for someone else to help our people somehow.
We forget that we are the ones who should have a say in Jimi’s development agenda.
Jimi contributes human resource to this nation.
We are not necessarily limited by our rugged mountains and terrains.
We are cultivating cash crops (peanut and coffee), testing new crops (cocoa and vanilla) and we are trying to capture national goals and visions.
We are contributing to our economy with the little financial literacy we have.
However, we are losing time by dreaming someone will do.
But when we try to make it happen, there is no support and empowerment and we end up trailing behind.
Why are we losing when we have leaders who can influence change?
I believe we should use different modes of communication to conduct awareness and restore pride, confidence and the spirit of working together to achieve development.
I encourage others to write about the struggles our district face and share ideas about how we can address them together.

John Ezekiel, Via Email