Everyday, our people need money, need things that can be purchased with money.
So in search for money our young people leave their villages in our 7 districts to go to Goroka. They leave behind their land, the comforts of their house, free water from their rivers, free firewood from their forests and trees, free kaukau and kumu from their gardens, and leaving behind their families to end up in Goroka Town looking for a job to earn money.
Unsuccessful and without a job, they may end up settingup a table market or doing things like Coke Dartboard at the main bus stop just to earn a few bucks for the day. For the others, overtime with nothing in their pockets and as frustration grows, they get into illegal activities.This is a growing TREND OF LIFE in EHP today.
Our Political Leadership Needs to address this very BAD TREND where our Young People Looking for Job Opportunities (MONEY) and leaving their secure village environment to go outside into a difficult environment.
In our rural villages we have :
- the land
- free housing
- free water 24 hours a day
- free kaukau/kumu from the gardens
- free firewood from our forests
- our relatives/family members
- lots of freedom
- a community of people
- lots of time 8-12 hours a day
What is the point of going into town, living with friends or families in their already overcrowded house or settlement blocks, giving them burden of feeding you, where the environment is very hard...
ANYWAY...the point I want to make is the story of little 13 years old, Brian Aviro from Anengu Village Ward 1 Upper Asaro in Daulo District. He is in Grade 5 in West Goroka Primary School.
In 2021, he was one of the participant at a Community Reforestation and Nursery Management Training conducted jointly by PNGFA through ACIAR funding and my NGO (Partners With Melanesians Inc) hosted by Daulo Commodities Cooperative Society Limited (DCCSL).
After the training, Brian Aviro started planting trees on his own land with the blessings of his father Jerry Aviro.
Young Brian infact planted 3 YOMBA TREES to honour:
* Hon. Wera Mori MP Minister for Environment and Climate Change
** Hon. Powes Parkop LLB LLM MP Governor of NCD.
*** and myself.
The 3 Yomba trees are growing very well...last saw in November 2021.
So, at 13 years Brian having planted 2000 trees is a remarkable step forward at his age and time in school. It is based on the vision, dreams and aspiration put into him by his parents and the people around him and he has a bright future ahead of him.
In actual fact he has created his own future wealth by his actions in planting trees and by attending the training that was conducted by our team of foresters.
Brian is infact a self made upcoming millionaire by investing his time and energy in propagating seedlings in his small nursery, caring for the young seedlings and planting them out based on the technical design he learnt from the training.
Iam personally proud of him and his achievements so far, at least some of the motivational talks I gave the class about the future and about life in society and self wealth creation using trees on your own land has triggered him to jump and move.
With 2000 trees already planted, his self wealth value grows daily and annually as his trees grow. By 25-30 years from now....his trees will be worth K18.5 million.
This is about doing all the hard work now (investing) and waiting for the next 24-29 years doing other things only to harvest your timber and earn in Millions !!!.
The other trainees from the 2021 Training....are also into seedling production. Today as we're talking on Facebook, Iam actually buying their seedings and will be distributing them to Community groups already identified in Daulo, Chuave, SSY and Ungai-Bena district for planting on their land.
In EHP, this is the first step towards an aggressive campaign to battle the 52% landmass covered by grassland of EHP.
So, in Conclusion...if our young people can only stay back in the villages and for political leadership to setup a platform and provides for them to create their own wealth starting now and into the future....that way, we will stop many of the social problems faced today.
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP MUST HAVE A VISION TO DREAM OF THE UNTHINKABLE AND BE CREATIVE.
Kenn Mondiai
Muddy Boots Forester
........................................................
Many Stories Written about Brian already by Post Courier and the National and on DCCSL Facebook Page and shared on many Public Facebook Forums.
This is from my own perspective.
Photo Credits : JA@DCCSL
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