Finding fulfilment in helping students sharpen their carpentry skills, a former scholar of the trade herself, Jacinta Heki has high hopes of becoming an instructor one day.
Part of the first batch of students from Gulf province to be sponsored by TotalEnergies EP PNG (TEP PNG) for trades upskilling courses at Port Moresby Technical College (POM Tech), Jacinta now works as a Maintenance Carpenter at POM Tech.
After graduating with a National Certificate 3 in Carpentry in April 2022, Jacinta was encouraged to apply for her current position by her classmates and after successfully securing the position, began working in May 2022.
“When I started with the first batch; there were 33 Carpentry and 38 Maintenance Fitter Machines (MFM) students. For carpentry, there were only six females,” she states.
“I was very happy when I heard that my name was in the (accepted) group. It was not my dream, but somehow, I ended up here and I consider myself lucky to be one of the accepted students,” she says proudly.
She claims that although she would receive negative comments from her male classmates for spending more time with boys, she never let this affect her.
She states that it made her more determined to prove that she had just as much right to be there as they did.
Born in Ihu, West Kerema, Gulf province, the single working mother of two is the breadwinner for her little family and elderly mother.
Although she was not able to accomplish her original dream of becoming a nurse, she is grateful for where she is now, with a job and employable skills.
“Every day I wake up at 5 in the morning. I think of my children, so I know I have to wake up. I have breakfast with my two kids, then leave them with their grandmother and head to work,” she explains.
Completing her grade 8 at the Catholic Mission school in Ihu, grades 9 & 10 at Ihu High school and 11 & 12 at Kikori Secondary, she initially heard about the sponsorship opportunities from a TEP PNG community liaison officer.
As operator of the Papua LNG project, TEP PNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with POM Tech in 2019, to build the capacity of people from the Project area.
“I remember visiting family in Kerema (back in 2019) and seeing a crowd of people gathered around one of the TEP PNG community liaison officers who was talking about the sponsored program with POM Tech,” she said.
After having applied, it is now her hope to get accepted into the apprenticeship program at POM Tech so that she can become a carpentry instructor.
“I enjoy teaching and helping students. I was actually inspired by one of my tutors who followed the same path. She was a student and then applied to become an apprentice and is now teaching carpentry,” Jacinta explained.
An advocate for education, she shares that if given the chance, she would do all she can to raise awareness on the benefits of an education.
“I advise (girls in my village) them not to rush or get married so quickly. [I tell them] You must school hard, complete your primary and go up to higher education and then you get through to where I am now,” she states.
“People will see you wandering aimlessly in the village, not doing anything, only carrying children. So you must go out, leave your village. Go stay somewhere you can be free from your family or problems happening in the village,” she added.
As a mother of two younger children, she stresses that advice is what she will also be sharing with her kids when they get older.
Proud of her Gulf heritage and family, Jacinta revealed that her grandfather was one of the few carpenters in their village and so is proud to be carrying on the family legacy.
Captiom: Jacinta Heki in the Carpentry workshop at POM Tech.
Kalang News / PNG Online School
Also read