MEDIA RELEASE
25 January 2008
For immediate release
Scholarship enables woman to continue father’s legacy
Morobe woman Martha Fengenu will fulfil her dream of following in her late father’s footsteps, building provincial churches, with an Australian Government scholarship to study carpentry in Fiji.
The twenty five year old Lae cabinet maker, along with 31 other Papua New Guinean scholarship recipients, will travel to various Pacific nations to study at an Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC) site.
“My employer Fletcher Morobe is happy and supportive of me and I am so very proud to be a recipient of this scholarship. It means I can continue to learn in an area I am enthusiastic about - carpentry,” said Ms Fengenu.
Ms Fengenu’s passion for carpentry stemmed from accompanying her father to work on construction sites.
“He passed away in 2001 when we were in the middle of building a church for our province. I was among those who helped finish it, but I would love to learn the trade more professionally so I can carry on his work,” said Ms Fengenu.
The APTC, funded by the Australian Government, opened facilities in Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa as well as Papua New Guinea late last year. The College provides world-class technical and vocational education and training in areas including tourism and hospitality, automotive, manufacturing and electrical trades – skills identified as in critical demand across the Pacific.
“These students now have the opportunity to gain internationally recognised qualifications in their chosen field,” said the head of AusAID in PNG Margaret Thomas in congratulating the first ever scholarship recipients.
“They have a great opportunity through the scholarship system to make a real and lasting contribution to the development of PNG using the skills and knowledge gained in their studies.”
The College’s PNG-based courses cover manufacturing, automotive, construction and electrical training in partnership with the Sustainable Development Fund and Ok Tedi Mining Ltd in Tabubil and the Port Moresby Technical College, Hastings Deering and Ela Motors in Port Moresby.
For information on the APTC contact in country co-ordinator Hiris Birney at the Australia-Pacific Technical College, PO Box 1043, Port Moresby, NCD or visit the website at www.aptc.edu.au
Media Inquiries: Jacqueline Smart, AusAID Public Affairs, Ph: 325 9333 ext 216