Onguglo has a heart for Chimbu

By VINCENT KUMURA
EVERY time I come into Kundiawa from Bundi, there is an iconic building on the left corner of the turn just before Iwai Market that catches my attention.
In 2016, one of my former classmates from St Francis Bundi Primary School died at the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Kundiawa General Hospital. In search of a coffin for his body, my friend Isaac Appa, a local from the Kamanuglu tribe of Kundiawa told me to check out Etnambo Builders. Little did I know that I would set foot into the very building that often caught my attention.
The owner is a soft-spoken, clean-shaven happy face middle-aged man with a radiating heart-warming smile. He cordially welcomed me into his shop and over-delivered my quest for a coffin. What a good man, I thought and as seasons passed, I came to know him better.
“Grai” is a popular household name around Kundiawa. The youths of Iwai, the gateway to Gembogl call him “Daddy Grai”. Riding his eye-catching white Suzuki 350XR distance motorbike or driving his white Isuzu dump truck carrying sands is a mundane scene to regulars flecking the bustling streets of Kundiawa. His commitment and high work ethic coupled with his pleasant approachable personality command respect, but to those who knew him well and have grown up with him, respect is an understatement.
Grai Onguglo is no ordinary local man. He is a man with a very big heart for Chimbu.
Onguglo is the owner of Etnambo Builders, a local joinery and upholstery business at Iwai, Kundiawa. He hails from the Kamanuglu tribe of Kundiawa. He started his upholstery business in 2006 and expanded into joinery in 2008.
The upholstery saws vinyl covers for mattresses, pillows, chairs, cushions and couches. The joinery builds coffins and furniture such as bed frames, tables (study and dinning), lounge sets, cushion chairs, kitchen cabinets, office sets (computer desks, chairs and filing cabinets), benches and more.
Between 2016 and 2018, about 400 vinyl mattresses including pillows were supplied to the Kundiawa hospital.
“This hospital is our pride. PNG comes here for medical care and therefore, we take pride in supporting our hospital in providing quality care,” said Onguglo. His business had also donated some free vinyl mattresses including rest-arms for patients to the hospital. In addition, they fabricated small pillows and vinyl cushions for the children’s ward using the off-cut mattresses. Nothing here is wasted,” remarked Onguglo.
“We have also donated vinyl cover mattresses that we built from the off-cuts to many district health centres and aid posts of Chimbu such as Gembogl, Kerowagi, Sinasina-Yongomugl and Karamui.”
Over the years, his business had also donated free coffins to some senior public servants who died serving the province. When asked why, he gingerly commented, “It doesn’t matter where in PNG or Chimbu they come from. As long as they are here in Kundiawa serving Chimbu, it is our way of acknowledging their long-term service to our province. At Etnambo, we pride our relationship with the communities we serve.
“We also donate free blankets, pillows and mattresses to our elderly ones in our tribe while they are still alive. And when they die, we help with coffins too. We won’t be here without them,” he continued with such unreserved contentment and grace.
In 2016, Onguglo made a casual visit to the maternity ward of the hospital. He noticed that many women coming in for their regular antenatal checks sat on the concrete floor while awaiting their turn for examination. He dashed out of the hospital, hired a vehicle for K20 back to Etnambo Builders and donated two benches to the ward unannounced.
Some of his furniture work is currently found inside the office of the principal education advisor and the provincial administrator.
Onguglo currently possesses two Lucas mills. Every time a building contract arises or when he needs timber for his shop, he would hand pick any vagrant youth on the streets of Kundiawa from the Yandugla or Kamanuglu tribes including others from anywhere in Chimbu to assist in cutting trees and milling timber. On top of paying them, he provides them a life skills training.
Less important as it may seem , instilling a sense of value into our vagrant youths and teaching them a life changing practical skill to improve their livelihood is a key way of reducing poverty and ultimately curb violence in PNG, which Onguglo is doing within his capacity in suburban Kundiawa where he dwells.
Since 2008, over 200 carpentry students from various technical schools within Chimbu (Maina, Chuave, Kundiawa Tech) and from as far as Tari in Hela have done their practical assessment requirements to advance their skills through Etnambo Builders under his direct supervision.
What is quite rewarding for these students is that, “I would make it a point to be physically present at their graduations and give each student K600 or K1000 to buy for himself the key tools (saw, hammer, tape measure and square) required for a novice to begin his career in carpentry,” said Onguglo.
Onguglo is the Kamanuglu of Kundiawa with an upholstery and joinery business. With this niche business comes the respect he gets from his community especially the youths who would resound “Daddy Grai” everywhere. Onguglo continues to actively involve in community services. He helped erect a safe water fountain for his populated village.
Furthermore, he mobilised 36 local youths to build a 60-meter concrete footpath to his new lodge, installed five street solar lights and four power posts with plans for nine more to provide electricity to help improve the livelihood of his rapidly evolving suburban community.
As the warmth of the morning sun caught my skin, I sat quietly on one of his well-polished couches whispering to myself “how could he strive to be a successful businessman and yet be so engaged in the well-being of his suburban community?” Noticing my perplexed face, he reached out and gently brushed aside my half-filled cup of warm tea. He then touched my hand, looked me in the yes and spoke sensitively, “Son, we will not bring the money and wealth to heaven. If you do good, heaven’s door will be open to you when you get there.”
For a moment, I sat digesting these words coming from someone I least expected would utter such. Perhaps, he knows God deeper than I thought.
It is a stark reality that as our cities and towns right around PNG continue to evolve, the local landowners are pressed with major culture shifts affecting the fundamental fabrics that knit them together as communities. Such is evident at Iwai, Kundiawa.
For more than a decade, the lures of urban lifestyle swiftly impacted the locals. Drugs, home brewed alcohol (steam or paia wara), nuisance and disrespect have quickly become the norm especially among the youths.
Nevertheless, Onguglo with his bigger brothers and community leaders, the late Siune Kua, Kawagle Au, Mathew Siune (former member for Kundiawa-Gembogl), Teine Shongun and few others, have been and continue to mirror the face of adaptable leadership, peace, unity and progress amongst their rapidly shifting suburban community.
Onguglo is a man of uncompromising principle and character only to be complemented with a steel determination. His daily routine starts by waking up at 3am and returning home at 6pm. Besides building a business from scratch, not a day goes by that he does nothing.
Idealness is foreign to his DNA.
“Learn from the Chinese! Some of them can’t even speak a word of pidgin when they first entered our country, but boy they sure work like hell every day and they succeed at it,” he exclaimed with mild annoyance in his tone.
When queried what initially inspired him to start Etnambo Builders, he remarked graciously, “I hate buying things made from foreign countries. Why can’t we built them here ourselves? God has given us wisdom since we were born, therefore, we must use this wisdom to do useful things”.
Etnambo Builders currently has 14 employees. Cathy Grai, his faithful wife of 19 years continues to support him through thick and thin.
“When we first started, I had to sell pigs and mini goods to help him with basic administrative costs just to push things forward. The journey was wearisome, I admit,” Mrs Grai said with an unregretful smile shaded with teary eyes.
In the years ahead, he aspires to expand his business, diversify and produce more quality household and office items. He has also entered into the lodging business. His new spacious 40-room Etnambo Guest Haus at Iwai is still under construction.
So much delving into a man’s world over a brief morning conversation. As I stood on the balcony of his new guest house at Iwai relishing the fresh morning view of Kundiawa , I wonder how an illiterate self-taught individual with only a second grade education from the streets of Kundiawa would rise up into becoming a successful local businessman.
The household name around Kundiawa is not just an ordinary person. He is a silent hero, a role model who defies the odds and continues to make a meaningful contribution to his community and province.
Grai Onguglo is indeed an honourable man with a big heart for Chimbu.

• Vincent Kumura is the director of Kumura Foundation Inc., a community-based organisation in rural Bundi, Madang that strives to help the marginalised population through rural healthcare, education, eco-tourism and community services. He is the 2016 Digicel PNG Foundation Men of Honour Community Ingenuity awardee.