If there’s one person in Papua New Guinea who signed a Statutory Declaration Form to convince a University counsel to continue education, it’s Joshua John.
John hails from a village called Tukupangi located at the foot of Papua New Guinea’s second tallest peak, Mt Giluwe. People around that area were dedicated members of the PNG Bible church and John grew up in a home that is dedicated to the church and its Christian principles.
John first entered Divine Word University in 2018 and like many other students of his age who left home to start a new and independent life away from home in a boarding school, John began exploring new activities outside of his christian principles and maybe he overdid it.
No one dared to stop him from carrying food out from the school mess and feed the nearby settlers whom he called his friends. During weekends, you will hardly recognise him in one blink because he would be dead drunk and covered in mud from the nearby Wagol settlement and half walking, half stumbling, he would make his way to the school campus.
Because of his extreme conduct and behaviour, John got suspended in the second semester.
The next year 2019, John returned to continue his second semester but got suspended again for his unchanged bad behaviour .
His family gave up on him and since there were other children his parents had to attend to, they refused to help him back to Divine Word University.
Still in 2019 there was a PNGDF recruitment and somehow John found his way into Goldie Army Barracks. John could imagine himself wearing a PNGDF uniform and standing with a rifle somewhere protecting the border line of his beloved country.
But that imagination faded when he got kicked out of the barracks among 160 recruits for not meeting certain recruitment requirements.
At that point, John’s spirit broke down, the need to just drop on the ground and pray to God embraced him, and he did.
John knew God still loves him. He was once a little boy who loved tagging along his parents to church and God will still hear him. That was the faith he had.
“The Holy Spirit inspired me that moment and the thought to sign a Statutory Declaration Form to swear that I would be a good boy in school creeped into my mind,” John said.
When asked how he knew that thought was from God, he replied, “I prayed with all my heart a prayer that I never prayed and that thought came stronger and with affirmation.”
John found himself in front of the DWU campus days later. In his hand was a yellow envelope containing a Statutory Declaration form properly outlining the facts that he was now a changed person and would refrain from doing the activities that got him suspended twice.
Most members of the University counsel did not believe him. But God was in control through the Statutory Declaration Form.
John was finally accepted to continue his studies.
When he was in his final year, his best friend Londe Mose introduced him to the Ramu NiCo Graduate Development Scheme (GDS) program. In mid September 2023, both boys applied for the program.
John graduated with a Degree in Health Management in March 2024 and started job hunting. He received 2 offers but the one that stood out was the Ramu NiCo offer to undergo the GDS program.
He was delighted. Weeks and months flew by fast and June came.
John had spent many years in Madang growing up and going to school in town but never set foot inside Ramu NiCo Headquarter where many people in Madang call the Glass House.
He and his friend Londe were both selected for the Chinese giant mining company’s GDS program along with 18 other graduates from Unitech in Lae Morobe province.
They were the lucky Diwais as Divine Word University students would obviously brand.
Both John and Londe signed their contracts for a two year rotational training program and were excited to experience a new real working life in a mining company but the Rai winds swept John away to work in the Ramu NiCo’s Basamuk refinery in Raicoast district and the Bismark Range called Londe towards the South West of Madang town to work in the Kurumbukari mine site.
Ramu NiCo separated a friendship they built for four years but John is still comforted by the thought that the same employer is making sure they are fed, accommodated and kept safe apart from training them.
John is an interesting person to meet. He is a fast learner and blended in with his Chinese colleagues well. Even his Chinese team mates could speak English and communication is not a problem during work, but he is very interested in the Chinese comprehensive culture and learns the Chinese language himself in his spare time, now he could already pronounce some Chinese words fluently and it makes him better understanding of the Chinese workmates and expand his eyes to the international word.
He thanked Ramu NiCo for giving him the opportunity to work and learn new things.
According to John, Ramu NiCo is an interesting company to work in. It has a high standard of working ethics and a strict routine practice that all employees follow.
Ramu NiCo is rated the Chinese number one and biggest investment in the South Pacific that not only focus on making profits but give back to the project impact area communities including Madang province and Papua New Guinea.
“I am a proud Papua New Guinean to have benefitted in the Company’s GDS program,” John said.
“And if there’s a chance for me to fly a Ramu NiCo flag on Mt Giluwe, I would joyously fly it to tell PNG and the world what this great company did for me,” he added proudly.
Caption: Joshua John taking a break from work to pose for a photo with two Divine Word University female students Narisha Asoh and Cheryl Kavagu who were on a three months industrial training with Ramu NiCo Corporate Office at Basamuk, Raicoast.
