Restoring hope and building prosperity in PNG

COMMENTARY - TIIKIIEM SHIIEMB

UNDOUBTEDLY nations have to live through troubled times. But when nature unleashes its deadly wrath people become traumatized, helpless and eventually vanish. Even then, when fellow man imposes tales of despair repeatedly on fellow man, the scars of impact are felt for generations.

It is really amazing to note the condescending nature of things in life, where some people who live in glass houses keep throwing stones to those poor souls who populate those parts of the world called the third and the fourth world. Robbers and beggars in these improvised worlds hardly have their sleep. Their biological clocks have long been put off; some of them do sleepwalking in shadows of distant bright lights hoping to find some rests in makeshift tents of plastic bag.

Doomsday prophets who trot the globe keep bashing poor third world people and their governments that people live lives of misery and are dying from hunger and non attendance to prevailing bad health conditions. By the time they and their small cohorts who are usually resident in the host country agree to sponsor some hurriedly arranged seminars and such like events, local elites flock in droves to feast on these sad stories; call them academic papers also have the ability to cook up statistics. At intervals enthusiastic locals would nod in agreement; only adding to the already generalized notion of guilt. The more one hears of repeated sad stories, the more the assumed reality is created and maintained in the consciousness. Newspapers, television and radio play key supporting role in entertaining, repeating and affirming sad stories being told to them. Others, the less conscious populace simply follow the trends in believing what others have been telling them- poor and helpless.  

After belaboring to convince the locals about how bad their people's conditions are, they then dwell and how governments might be seen to be turning attention away from attending to their citizen's fate. Everyone in the conference room claps, sips their tea and leaves, perhaps with a heavy heart. What a bad day for poor souls.
There has never been a lack of drama in our country. The pages of the daily newspapers are always filled with sad stories; escape from lawful lock ups, plane crash, cholera, land slide, witchcraft, dead from lack of medicine etc. Places like Papua New Guinea and Sudan must be such bad places, condemned by the creator, banished by others. So everyone can continue to read these sad stories, retold in different language, guises and contexts. What a life to live to persevere for the poor souls?

There is a growing number of young Papua New Guineans who are rejecting connotations of bad vibes, and venturing into the world of just finding what else is beyond the known They are reading and witnessing the revelation in such exciting sources as Dr Ben Carson's book Think Carson's book; the Audacity of Hope by President Barak Obama.

There is also, an interesting documentary being circulated called the Secret. Read and view the above sources of enlightenment and attend the Personal Viability and Game of Money courses available now in the country, these are your truly home grown programme and see what a different person you can become! A truly knowledgeable person, combined with good character and unquestionable high level of competence are essential curriculum vitae for leaders in PNG.