The story of Jack and his strive to better himself and his community

By JAMIE HARO
NO. This is not a story of Jack and the Titanic.
Rather, a story about a Jack, from a far-flung community lodged between Northern and Morobe, who came out to look for opportunities to contribute meaningfully to his village.
While there are a lot of stories like this and paint painful journeys of wading through leech-filled swamplands and shark and crocodile-infested waters to reach basic services, it has become a norm that such conversations lag off into monotonous nods of agreement. But for Jack’s sake, while thinking of the Titanic version, let’s hear his story for a sense of closure.
Jack Jingasi, of Nindewari village, is a Binandere speaker hailing from the Tamata local level government of Sohe in Northern.
The 28-year-old and his fellow youths travelled to Port Moresby to attend a weeklong sports programme in the hope that it would help them run their local competition at home. The Oceania Sports Education Programme (Osep) is an interactive and competency-based course that was developed for grassroots sports communities in the Pacific.
The programme emphasises the use of readily available resources in respective communities to play sport and there are levels of progressions available for those who seek to know more. While challenges in Pacific communities vary from place to place, these impediments only add to the quality of athletes from the Oceania region who are some of the toughest and resilient and just need an opportunity to showcase their skills.
The context around Osep enables organisations such as the PNG Sports Foundation to run strategic interventions with local communities. Now this is where local prominent figure Dogimai Morris Tovebae comes in.
Tovebae is the general secretary of the ruling Pangu Pati and using the basic structure of the Pangu Pati Youth Wing, he has been able to seek assistance for his community.
In partnership with the Sohe DDA and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Southern Command, a guns surrender programme was held in the festive season which saw 300 to 400 guns surrendered to the provincial police commander Northern. This was done to combat lawlessness in the community. Following on from that, a partnership with the PNG Cocoa Board has been initiated to disburse 20,000 seedlings to each of the 17 wards in Tamata.
For Jack and his crew, they are beneficiaries of the sports intervention strategy set out in the Government’s National Sport Policy 2020-2050 and guided by the Go Rural to Go Global Strategy.
They will be required to implement what they have learnt and their educators will assess their competency.
Based on their recommendations, they will be awarded certificates recognised in the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. It may seem that Jack has a huge task awaiting him.
But with a little wind in his sails, provided by qualified and certified trainers, Jack and his band of brothers and sisters can go back home assured that help is just a call away if they need it.