Succes is in being gritty

By SYLVESTER WEMURU
ANDREW Ume Moki likes to share his story with all school leavers and others who sit back and think that there is no hope in life.
He says God has blessed him so he wants to share his story with everyone who may be in the same boat he was once in.
After completing grade10 at Rosary High School in Chimbu in 1992, Andrew was not accepted for grade 11.
In a family of eight he was the fourth with four other brothers and three sisters.
Andrew believes education does not stop. He had to find some way to achieve his dream to be an accountant.
Today, he has achieved that dream.
On several occasions, he used to sit at Ganigle near the main Highlands Highway and count the vehicles travelling up and down.
“I was really wondering what made these people own and drive flashy cars while I sat on the roadside watching them. Then I came up with questions like, do they have red blood and I have green blood? Did God create them special?”
With these questions he realised that all humans were created equally and God loved us all but because of our laziness we are made to believe that God is unfair. He also realised that the only hope left for him was education.
Then in 1994, he asked his big brother John Nuku who was the provincial member for Kup that time to enroll him in any school to continue his education.
With the strong ambition that he had for education, his brothers assisted him to Madang Technical College towards the end of 1993.
He recalls that it was early February 1994 that he jumped on a PMV and I travelled to Madang with his father Joe Kui Tumun.
“I got registered and was shown a dormitory and a bed to sleep on. After a tiring trip down to Madang, I quietly slept on the bed but that was the most comfortable bed I ever slept on in my life. I was snoring under the electric fan till day break.
“The next morning I registered with the carpentry department. I was given two sets of overalls and a pair of safety boots.
Andrew enjoyed everything that the school offered but his priority was to focus on his studies both academic and practical because carpentry was a trade course.
“I can recall a funny thing we did while in school and that is, one hot day we were on the roof of a building putting up the roofing iron when we saw some young school of nursing girls marching to town. To get their attention we had to punch nails in like beating the drums in a music concert.
“It so happened that one Southern Highlands girl caught my eyes. I fell in love instantly from the roof top. A few days later we became friends and it was really a good feeling for me to have a girlfriend who was a student at the nursing school after being in the village and being ignored by school girls from my neighboring tribes.”
Andrew said life was good with the girlfriend at the first months and while the year was coming to the end the girl started to lose interest in him and one thing she told him was that she did not like dirty technical men but wanted to marry a doctor or an accountant.

First job
In 1995 he went to Lae looking for job and ended up being a cargo carrier with Associated Distributors Niugini in their warehouse.
That was his first job and his pay for hard physical work he did under the hot sun and was paid K4.40 daily.
Andrew said he had no family so the K4.40 he earned he used K1 for bus fare and K3 was his daily spending money for survival. He said he also liked that job because he took it as part of training. Therefore, money was not a real issue for him because he was eating the most expensive food in the warehouse every day.
“That job kept me busy all of 1995 and I went back to the village during Christmas. Christmas was always a good time back in Kup where all the school students and educated elites of Kup used to come back to spend their holidays. That holiday, I met up with my cousin brother James Bire who is currently the Deputy Commissioner of Customs with the Internal Revenue Commission ((IRC).
“At that time he told me and my cousin brother Kapua Bire about matriculation courses offered at UPNG. We were excited, sold our pigs and went with him to Port Moresbt after his school holiday. From there, I did my matriculation studies in 1996. Life was really hard there but I had some kind-hearted Kups like, James Bire, Gabriel Kini, Louie Kumba, Joe Par Pakne, late Pais Kambu, Brian Boma, Steven Kale, Robert Taie, James Taie, John Muka, Peter Waine, Awi Arnold and Joeseph Sil who wholeheartedly assisted me in one way or the other to complete my matriculation studies in 1997.
After completing matriculation studies, I went back to the village and later came to Lae to enquire at Unitech for a space.”
The 1998 academic year had already started and students were into the second week of lectures while I kept on enquiring for at the school. For four consecutive days I had to stand at the Unitech Department of Business Studies office early in the morning before the department head went in and continued to stand there until he closed his office and came out.
“The department head got tired of seeing me standing there for the past four days and on the fifth day he gave me an opportunity to speak to him. I knew that, that was my opportunity to say anything to be given a chance to study so I said my heart out.
“The head of department that time was Gomie Gipe. He heard me quietly and agreed to give me a chance but strongly warned me not to muck around. I thanked God for the opportunity and walked over to the admin building with a note from the head of department, collected my registration form, but then I realised that I had no money for registration.
“After that I thought I must see the Vice Chancellor so I walked straight into his office. But then the secretary couldn’t let me through and while standing there the VC came out. I called him asking; Sir, can I have a chat at your office for less than five minutes?

Registered to study
“He looked at me and said, ‘Son no problem, please come in’.
I was sitting with the VC of University of Technology in his office and that was the guy who had the power to let me study or not, so I said everything I had in my heart to him within less than five minutes as promised.
“He was convinced with what I told him and instructed the registrar to get me registered and attend classes and later settle my outstanding fees.”
Moki started class at Unitech in 1998 after being registered that day but still had problems with accommodation because he was registered as a day student. Andrew was offered a space by one of his brothers who was also a student. The feeling of being a university student was great and before long the first semester ended.
He said he still needed the money to settle his outstanding fees, so he had to go back home, and did some illegal things to find money to pay for his school fee.
With all the struggles he got his Diploma in Accounting in 2000. With diploma on my hand, he looked everywhere in Lae for job opportunities and ended up with Nestle PNG Limited as a casual staff.
“I was employed as a casual filing clerk and the company used to pay me K185 cheque every fortnight. While filling all the invoices, payment vouches, financial reports etc, I used to go through the documents and saw how work was done and got myself familiarised. I did not think about anything such as good pay, the office was airconditioned and working environment was good.
“I used to make sure that I was the first person standing at the office door every morning and last person to leave the office.”
Andrew was not expecting this but within one year he was promoted three times. From casual employee to company management accountant, then to fixed asset cccount and finally to the position of supervisor Supply Chain department.

Marriage and prison
While working for Nestle, he met a young girl from Chimbu who was also a grade 12 dropout, and married her.
But then he realised that she had potential to go further her education so he supported her and she went to University of Technology in 2001 and four years later she graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture Science.
“I have been on the job for six years with Nestle PNG and lost my job after my wife got me in jail for going around with another woman. I spent three months at Buimo jail. My body was turned into a ripe banana!
“Then with the help of big brothers like David Pakne, Hubert Pegu and Joe Kewa, I sneaked through the judiciary system and got my freedom in 2007.
“After coming out from prison in 2007, I applied for the position of Inventory Manager Northern region advertised by Goodman Fielder Ltd. Four candidates where shortlisted, among them three with degree qualifications and I was the only one with diploma. I got the job. But then the nervous thing with the job was that I was a manager with diploma who had other staff with degree.”
That didn’t stop Andrew when he got promoted to be the national inventory control manager Asia-Pacific Goodman Fielder International after two years of working there.
He then applied to do his third year at Unitech and got accepted in 2012. He did his third and fourth years while still working for Goodman Fielder. He was on government scholarship as well as company scholarship with full pay.
In 2012, his wife was also accepted to do her Master’s Degree at University of Technology as well, so they both studied there in year 2012 and 2013. After completing his studies in 2013, he was terminated from his job. But that did not bother him because he was going to graduate in March 2014.
After being out of job for a month, he found a new job.

Accounting degree
“I went and graduated, got my degree in Accounting not just as another student but as a company executive in March 2014 with my wife also graduating with her Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science.
He is currently the administration manager, Finance at PNG Forest Products in Lae.
“Thank you to God who has blessed us and brought us this far. Thank you to all the people who have helped us back then and I believe God does bless people who help other people,” Moki says.
“To all school leavers and people with no hope in life, I believe you will be motivated after reading this article.”