Sheillah beats kidney disease to get law degree

By MICHAEL PHILIP
NOT even the threat of a kidney disease when she was in secondary school could stop Sheillah Owade from fulfilling her father’s wish to become a lawyer.
And when she graduated with a Bachelor in Law degree recently at the University of PNG, she was glad that she had made her father and family happy.
“I didn’t plan to study law. When I got accepted into law school, it was very hard because I didn’t prepare for it. I wanted to study journalism but it was my dad’s wish to be a lawyer.
“I did listen to him. When I got into law school, it was a challenge. I am the first lawyer in my family. I didn’t have any support or law background to help me. So I was doing it all on my own – researches, briefing cases all that.”
Sheillah, 24, whose parents are from Oro and Jiwaka, worked hard at university to make her family, especially her dad, happy.
“Law school doesn’t really give you that step by step (guide). You just do it yourself. The first year was really tough. I had to revise law cases myself. I had to search things up on my own. I had no support. Lecturers don’t really have time (for us) so you have to find your own way. Huge challenge.
“But by the second year, I was slowly improving. And I had improved a lot and I came out so strong.”
She started her primary school education at the Waigani Christian Academy in 2006.
“We moved around a lot. My mom is a nurse and dad is a security officer at Parliament House.”
The family moved to Australia when her mother had to go there for studies.
“We stayed there for three years for mom to complete her master’s in public health degree. We came back in 2009. I did primary school at Bavaroko for a year. We moved to ATS so I had to enroll at St Peter at Erima. In 2013 we moved to Gerehu and I enrolled at Kar Memorial for grades six to eight.”

“ I didn’t plan to study law. When I got accepted into law school, it was very hard because I didn’t prepare for it. I wanted to study journalism but it was my dad’s wish to be a lawyer.

She attended Gordon Secondary School in 2018 for Grade 9. And it was there when she suffered the kidney disease.
“Grade 10 was worst and I will always remember those moments as the worst ever in my life.”
She received treatment for the kidney disease and slowly recovered.
“I managed to pass my Grade 10 exam and made it into Grade 11 and then to Grade 12 in 2019. I got accepted into UPNG to study Political Science in 2020.”
Now with a law degree, she is confident that finding a job in the private sector, especially where humanitarian work is involved, will not be a problem.
Before graduating, Sheillah had already been heavily involved in non-government organisations doing humanitarian work.
“I want to be in the NGO sector, because I have been doing a lot of humanitarian work.”
She recently organised donations for Oro flood victims.
“I collected some donations from UPNG and then got the help of NGOs such as the Kokoda Track Foundation, St. John Ambulance. I want to do a lot of humanitarian work.”
She plans to be more involved in humanitarian aid work with the United Nations.
With a promising future in front of her, Sheillah describes her achievement as an emotional success.
She had managed to overcome the kidney ailment which threatened her education at one point, and is pleased with how she has managed to drive herself forward.
She is excited and happy to have come this far and thanks her family members especially her parents, close friends, brothers and sisters for their support in the past four years of study.
“I am not looking at going into private practice as yet. I love volunteering work at the moment.”