Youths find hope with The National

MANY unemployed youths from settlements around Madang town have been given the opportunity to make little money by selling newspapers on the street.
Many of them are uneducated and they have missed their opportunity to be at school and they cannot find better paid jobs but companies like The National has given them the opportunity to earn money by selling newspapers on the streets and in front of big officers and supermarkets.
These young newspaper boys, as referred to on the streets, come from the settlements but they are not like their peers who are into marijuana and other illegal activities.
They come every morning to do their little paid job not in the sense of getting a good pay but that they are free from peer influence and other youth issues.
The National newspaper distributing urgent in Madang, Raphael Mark, when interviewed, said he identified good, humble and very disadvantaged youths to sell newspapers on the streets.
He said although it was not a high paid job, the boys enjoyed selling the papers and they were always honest and came back with the day’s taking.
He said he also encouraged them to use their little money wisely and make some profit by buying couple of cigarettes to sell them together with the newspapers so they could learn how to make little business and budget it.
“I don’t just tell them to sell newspapers but I teach them to be honest in bringing the money back and also in budgeting the money wisely,” he said.
Some of the boys, who were interviewed by The National, said  they liked their job as they had no formal qualification to look for a proper job but with the little money they got, they buy food for themselves and their families.
The young boys, who did not want to be named, said they would soon lose their jobs as they will be evicted by the Government from their settlements, adding that they did not know what the future would be when they go back home because they have spent all their life in the settlements in towns.
They said they were paid according to the number of newspapers they sold, so they tried every means possible to sell the papers.
“Many of us do not like to follow other friends with their illegal activities and we pass our time selling newspapers on the streets and many big people know us and we like that,” another youth said.