LIFESTYLE

Festival targets maximum voter participation

YOUNG people are the most diverse in a population. Together they have the power to elect the next generation of leaders who will represent their shared vision for a bright future.
The PNG Electoral Commission has taken steps through raising awareness to ensure there is maximum participation of eligible youth, women and persons with disabilities in the 2022 National Election.
“In the NGE2022, there will be a gender split in both the voter roll and the polling booths. This is the first since Independence,” said Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai.
“All persons with special needs and are eligible to vote can join women to cast their ballots during General Election 2022’s polling,” he added.
In recent times, the youth including disabled persons in Goroka and Port Moresby had the opportunity to participate in a Youth Voter Festival.
The highlight of the Youth Voter Festival in Goroka and Port Moresby was the set-up of the polling simulation by the PNG Electoral Commission.
Festival participants joined the queue to ‘vote’ and asked questions to PNG Electoral Commission staff who were on hand to assist the youths in the mock polling exercise.
The polling simulation ensured that the youth become familiarized with polling places procedures and how to vote.
“Generally, we young people are reluctant to vote when we turn 18 and are eligible to vote. I see this in my village and town communities in Maprik, East Sepik Province. We have to reverse this trend of thinking and understand why it is very important for young people to get together and have a voice to elect the leaders who can best represent us in government and make decisions for a better future for us and the next generations. Our full participation as young people represents true democracy because we join the rest of the population to vote,” said Isborn Baspen, a third year Physics major student at the University of Goroka.
“It is events like the Youth Voter Festival that raises this awareness among young people and it is exciting to see many young people talk about it on social media,” Baspen added.

The Youth Voter Festival is an initiative by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia.
The first Youth Voter Festival was held at the University of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province on the 2nd of June 2022.
Rolling green hills behind the university campus and an array of colourful blooms in the flower gardens meticulously kept, provided a beautiful backdrop as more than 150 youths from Eastern Highlands Province convened and joined in an array of fun activities at the Youth Voter Festival.
“Young people represent a majority of the population in Papua New Guinea and they have the opportunity to be active participants in shaping the future of their community and country by voting,” said IFES Country Director Paul Rowland.
“IFES is happy to work with the PNG Electoral Commission and other support partners to make sure that everyone has the chance to vote in the National Election. The Youth Voter Festival is a fun-packed event that is open to young eligible voters to attend and learn more on how they can become informed voters,” Mr Rowland added.
Participants at the festival were from youth groups in Goroka and students from the University of Goroka, Goroka Business College, Faniufa Primary School, high school students from Goroka International School, Goroka Grammar School and Goroka Secondary School.
In Port Moresby, the Youth Voter Festival was held at Nature Park on Friday 24th June 2022.
“The youth are at the beginning of their adult lives striving for their dreams. Many will cast their votes for the first time exercising their rights as citizens. Today we celebrate them as voters,” said IFES Deputy Country Manager Robert Irish.
Over 100 youths including persons with disabilities attended the one-day event.
At the festival, an array of fun activities included quiz competitions, raffles, scavenger hunt and performances by popular PNG artists Mereani Masani and DJ Dirty Fingers was held.
Samuel Rei, a young man with a disability, sang a duet with popular artist Mereani Masani and kept the crown entertained.
Shianne Kusunan recently graduated in Sustainable Development at the University of Papua New Guinea this year.
“The Youth Voter Festival is a creative way for youths to learn about participating in the National Election by engaging them in fun activities while learning why it is so important for us to vote,” she said.

• Story and pictures supplied by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems

God does mend broken souls

The story of retired pastor Luke Abil

By JONATHAN KOH
MANY successful people always have a story behind their success.
They have been through struggles and hardships, and some have faced near-death experiences before achieving their dreams. Some live their dreams while others become what they are today maybe because it was God’s plan.
Retired pastor Luke Abil has been a minister of the Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) for 30 years before he decided leave full-time ministry. His mission work has taken him places that he thought he would never visit.
The man from Jiwaka said his first job as a pastor after graduating from Bible school in 1990, was in his own village.
He attended Bible school for three years to graduate as a ministry of the gospel.
“I actually attended the school in 1988 and graduated as a pastor in 1990. It took me three years complete the course. My first pastor posting was in my own village in Jiwaka at our local EBC church,” Abil said.
Ps Abil said he travelled to Madang, Lae, Kainantu and Rabaul to carry out God’s word and preach the good news to people. His preaching has changed mindsets and turned people from their old ways into realising the power of the almighty and becoming close to him.
He said a few people have presented him with gifts and money as a token of appreciation and thanked him for the work that he has done to change their lives.
“I actually say no to them. I told them that I am only doing God’s work. Instead of giving me things, present them to the church and say thank you to God. He has changed you and not me. I am his worker and am only carrying out his work.”
He urges Christians to attend churches to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and not because of the status of those churches.
“Jesus has sacrificed himself on the cross for us, and so we owe him our lives.”
The pastor said we have only one God and so we must serve Him instead of following the churches.
“People who have turned to Christ, God changed them”, Abil said.
“As the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1:7, people who have turned their selves to Christ, God changed them and made them new. I have observed that most of them become happy and content with life after leaving their old habits and receiving Jesus Christ,” the retired pastor said.
Abil said the other supporting message as well can be found in the bible verse 1 John 1:7 where it said the blood of Jesus Christ that has been spilt has washed away all our sins and we are cleansed and free.
The retired pastor, Abil, said in Romans 1:16 – 17 the good news of Jesus Christ talked about his strength in reclaiming lost souls.
He said another Bible verse to live by is John 14:6 which says there is no other way to the kingdom of the Lord but only through Jesus Christ.
Abil said these are some of the messages that have rescued him from the debt of his sins and made him what he is today.
He said, before knowing Christ, he was a thief, a gambler, a womanizer. And he had no earthly riches except for the one set of clothes.
He said his clothes were torn and were like dirty rags.
“I had only one pair of trousers and one shirt. I wore them until they were torn and worn out on my body and it was like I was wearing women’s dresses,” Abil said.
He said his life was useless and meaningless back then.
“I took out rubbish and left over food from dumps to eat,” he said.
Abil said before coming to know Jesus Christ in 1983, he was a lost soul.
Now in his late 60s, the retired pastor is a chaplain and teacher at the Lighthouse Christian Academy at Gerehu Stage 1 in Port Moresby.
He teaches and looks after children as young as five and six years old.
His wife with four children, and 10 grandchildren are in the village. He is here because the school and church need him.

• Jonathan Koh is a freelance writer.