Leonard Fong Roka
In the inside of the cover of Bougainvillean, Moses Summa’s
notebook were this lines: The more
difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and
the higher in inspiration his life will be—Horace Bushnell. Thus, I sat him
and asked a little more about him.
 |
| Mr. Moses Summa |
On the 3 March, the Divine Word University (DWU) held its 31st
graduation ceremony for over 1000 students from around PNG and a few from the
Solomon Islands. And from the northern Solomons trouble torn island of
Bougainville, sweating in joy was Moses Summa.
The fellow Bougainvillean, afterwards, marched into my room
where I accommodated him alongside others with joy burning as magnesium.
Moses comes from Boku village in the Baitsi area of Baba
Constituency in the Bana District in South Bougainville. He was born in his
village in 1968 and he is married with one child.
He did his primary education at the Catholic church run Boku
community school from 1976 to 1981; then he went on to high school at Buin
where he was schooling from 1982 to 1985. At high school, however, he failed
his exams and ended at the village; but moved on to the Panguna mine where,
success in site testing, had him secure a job with the gone Bougainville Copper
Limited (BCL) as driver of 170ton Euclid R-170 haul trucks and other plants
till May 1989 when the landowners forcefully shut the mine.
Through the chaos of the conflict in the early 1990s he was
at home till 1993 when the PNG troops landed in the area. With resultant calm
in his area of Bougainville, Moses left home and went to Buka, then onto Port
Moresby with an ambition to further his education.
But in Port Moresby, his attempt for education failed so
returned home. But with his will to further his academic levels he returned
back to Port Moresby in 1995 and got into the Institute of Public
Administration (PNGIPA) where he sponsored himself and graduated in 1996.
During the peak of the Sandline Crisis in 1997 he secured a
job at the Buka Hospital then on Sohano Island as the hospital’s revenue
officer. Then in 2009 he applied for a Degree in Management through the Faculty
of Flexible Learning (FFL) of DWU which he achieves finally on the 3 of March.
Handing me his degree certificate he said, ‘I am happy that
I achieve a milestone in my life. This paper is a motivation for me to
contribute more to our island and its development and nationhood.
‘Being a failure in high school did not matter to me but it
was a stepping stone to carry on with a positive mindset’.
He said Bougainville needs more positive thinking and
educated Bougainvilleans if we are to realize the reasons of our long history
of political and economic struggle and suffering. ‘We need a high investment in
education and beside, we need a education system that should create
Bougainvilleans that are Bougainvilleans by heart and not these puppets that
run away from our island’s suffering looking for peace and high wages in PNG’.
Moses is often frustrated by the ABG’s and church’s lack of
creativity in education development and graduate’s reasons for not returning
home. ‘We created the ABG in 2005 but so far, it had not invested in
educational infrastructure development on our island. If it has no money, give
the job to the churches but the churches are also sleeping despite our loud
talk for referendum. I am so far sick listening to people talking of the
Catholic church’s giving a piece of land to DWU at Mabiri; when will they
establish that? Bougainvilleans need to be educated in a Bougainvillean
environment.
‘And since we sell them into PNG, they become puppets who
run after money thus forgetting the fact their island needs them. They graduate
and stay in PNG to gain work experience. Bullshit! That’s lies; a
Bougainvillean that comes to PNG must return and create work experience or
create his job in Bougainville. If we want Bougainville to remain ours, let’s
suffer and create development from the little capabilities have’.
Moses Summa is now still with the Buka General Hospital.
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