Mother, son graduate after overcoming odds

By MARTHA DERUAGE
A mother and son are among 12 students who graduated with personal viability certificates at the Human Development Institute in Port Moresby recently.
Nancy Humphrey, 44, and son Jeremiah, 20, from East Sepik, travelled from East Sepik to attend the course.
Humphrey wanted to improve her business skills to run their family business – a retail shop and real estate – in Wewak.
She only went as far as primary school and didn’t realise the importance of such skills.
Attending the course had completely changed Humphrey’s mindset.
Her husband Bill had suggested that she attend the course.
She decided to bring along Jeremiah, who completed grade 12 in Lae last year.
“I wanted my son to come with me,” Humphrey said.
“So we could attend the same class together and if I find it difficult to understand some words, he would be able to help me.”
Jeremiah said the challenging part was when his mother and himself did their practical training.
They had to raise K170 within seven days using K10.
“Since my mom and I lived at my uncle’s house at Gerehu, we decided to combine our capital and work together as a team,” Jeremiah said.
“We sold betel nut using the K20 that we combined.
“On the fifth day, we made K109.90 but we needed to make K170 each.”
The Humphreys decided to sell hot dogs to reach the targeted amount of K340 on the seventh day.
Over the next two days, they sold hotdogs on the street and made K353, which they were able to split.
They each received K176.50 to beat the target by K6.50.
The Humphreys said they had learned a lot like having the right mentality, acting positively, and managing time and money.
Humphrey is proud that she can now do her own calculations and write her own financial reports.