Kingsley Philip a youngster from Ipiayu village in Rural Kaintiba, in Gulf province was determined to go to school despite challenges.
“Any large town is a long way from my village. It might be difficult for students to pay for their education even after graduating from high school or college. To pay for our school fees, we rely on the generosity of churches and non-profit organizations.”
“I therefore applied to Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech) and asked about scholarships after learning that TotalEnergies was financing students. I was aware that I would have to fend for myself and not rely on my parents or the church to pay for my tuition.”
Kingsley was born and raised in the village and has only ever left to go to school – first in Morobe province to complete his High School and Secondary schooling and now as a student at POM Tech studying Mechanical, Fitting, Machining (MFM).
“My village is in the bush, surrounded by forest so it’s difficult or takes time to get anywhere.”
“Often times, we’ve had people die while making their way down to town during storms, or when the weather gets really bad.”
“Parents often face difficulties transporting their garden food to the market to sell, for their children’s school fees.”
“In the past, during heavy rains, parents have lost their lives while crossing through the bush with their garden food to sell, from the falling trees.”
One of two boys in a family of eight, he attended Kaintiba Primary School, then completed his secondary schooling at Menyamya Secondary School, with dreams of one day being a primary school teacher for his community.
“There aren’t a lot of teachers in my community, and I noticed that not a lot of teachers want to travel to these remote areas to teach, which is why I wanted to be able to fill that gap especially for primary school students.”
“I applied and was accepted to a teacher’s college at Rabaul but on my way there, I was robbed of my school fees and leaver’s certificate at Eriku town, Lae.”
“The thieves stole around K6,000 raised by my parents and the church for my schooling.”
He had no choice but to return back to Kaintiba.
After saving up enough for the PMV from Kerema town to Port Moresby, he walked for three days from his village adamant on getting his leaver’s certificate re-printed at the Department of Education.
“When I got my new certificate, I returned to the village and applied for a space at POM Tech in 2023, after hearing that TotalEnergies were sponsoring children from Gulf.”
“It took me three days and three nights, to walk down to Kerema town from my village and then I caught the PMV and went to POM Tech.”
“I was told, enrolment was complete but the boys from Gulf re-directed me to the TotalEnergies office downtown, so I walked there from POM Tech.”
He met with TotalEnergies Workforce Development Coordinator Peter Konaka and explained his story and how he came to be there.
“I empathized with him after listening to his story and saw how determined he was to secure post-secondary education despite the odds presented.”
“I negotiated with the school to accept him in place of a student who had left earlier,” he said Mr. Konaka.
Young Philip sincerely appreciated this opportunity given to him.
“I feel like this opportunity has been completely life changing for me. I am glad to have joined this scholarship program because I know that if I had stayed back in the village, I would not have this chance.”
“I wouldn’t be in school or have learnt the trade skills I am learning now, so I want to say thank you to TotalEnergies for putting me through school and for the opportunity you have given me. I am extremely grateful and want to say thank you.”
Along with the rest of his batch, he will be graduating next March, hopeful to apply his skills, on one of the resource projects, still with dreams of teaching back in his village.
TotalEnergies EP PNG Limited (TotalEnergies), as Operator of the Papua LNG project have to date, sponsored a total of 271 students at Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech), 60 of whom have been female, through the Papua LNG TVET Scholarship Program and Kingsley is part of the current cohort of National Certificate (NC)3 scholarship recipients.
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