Nurse Melissa dedicates success to parents

By LORRAINE JIMAL
MELISSA Lako decided to become a nurse after noticing the need to improve health care services in her Kandep village, Enga.
“There are medical facilities in the community but they lack manpower and equipment. I wanted to provide a better service to the people.”
Her father, who works for a non-government organisation in Enga, is from Kandep. Her mother, a housewife, is from Pogera.
Melissa, 27, the eldest in her family of five sisters and four brothers, wants to set a good example to her siblings by ensuring that she completes her education and assist her parents in looking after the family.
“I sometimes wanted to give up but seeing that my dad is the only one who provides (everything) to sustain the big family, I continue to study hard.”
In pursuit of her dream career, she left home and came to Port Moresby looking for better education opportunities.
She started her education at the Carr Memorial Primary School before attending Tokarara Secondary. But she travelled back to Mt Hagen for Form 12 at the Hagen Park Secondary School.
Unfortunately, she did not pass that grade.
So she upgraded her marks at the University of PNG Open Campus in 2015 and was accepted by the Pacific Adventist University for further studies.
Again bad luck befell her when she could not afford the expensive university fees.
She got a break when offered a place at the Asia Pacific Institute of Applied Social Economics and Technical Studies to study nursing. She committed herself to her studies and after five years, finally graduated with the certificate to become a nurse.
“I was very excited because I had been waiting for this day. Nothing came easy for me. But I deserve to be recognised as a nurse. Now I can provide services to my countrymen and women.”
She is qualified to work in public and private hospitals in PNG and other countries.
She is working part time with a private clinic and plans to apply for a nursing position in a government hospital.
She plans to work for a few years to gain experience in the city hospitals before returning to Enga to serve her people there.
Her advice to young people is to never give up when faced with challenges.
“Never give up and continue working hard as there are many opportunities out there. Also put God first and know your priorities.
“Though I didn’t get into any university, I made use of my second-chance education to achieve my dream.
“If you set yourself to do something, if you have a goal in life, you can achieve it by (working hard) and doing something useful.
“You can do jobs and save money to pay for your fees. All it needs is commitment.”
Melissa wants to repay her parents who had invested so much in her education. She thanks her parents who had worked hard to support her until she completed her education.
“Thanks to Mum and Dad for their sacrifice and support which helped achieve my dream. They did their best to help me continue my education.”