January 29, 2024 – Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
For Bartholomew Omae, a 27-year-old supplies, logistics and junior projects manager working at the remote Kapuna Hospital in Gulf Province, it’s all about service and giving back to the community.
“That keeps me content at the end of the day. I’ve come to love what I do now, which is weird because I never saw myself doing something like this” he says.
“I remember thinking how strange it was when I first met the (former) supplies & logistics Manager and Project Managers because of their workloads and now I’m doing the same thing” he says breaking out into a laugh.
The eldest of five siblings, Bartholomew is from Baimuru within Gulf, and was born and raised in Kapuna after his parents initially moved there to study and eventually settled there.
“I think I’ve only ever left for schooling purposes, which is why I strongly believe in the notion of giving back to community” he says.
The first local to get employed at Kapuna Hospital full-time, in a managerial role, he has pioneered a lot of firsts in his life and reflected on the challenges of the education system in his home province.
In his younger schooling years, he was part of the first batch of the Kapuna Life School and later was part of the first batch of students from Gulf to be sponsored by TotalEnergies EP PNG Ltd (TotalEnergies) to attend Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech) in National Certificate trade courses.
At the time, they couldn’t make Kapuna Life School an official school since there were only five children but thanks to Barbara Calvert, we received uniforms and school materials which were shipped from New Zealand” he said.
“As a result of my primary education and being educated with a New Zealand curriculum, I’m more familiar with New Zealand culture and geography but my basic knowledge of Papua New Guinea’s geography is lacking” he added.
Importance of an education
Following a brief stint at Kikori Secondary and then Port Moresby Grammar School for high school, he moved across to Goroka Grammar in Eastern Highlands, to complete his grades 11 and 12 in 2015.
“It was a good boarding school, I was able to complete my grades 11 and 12 with a few of my good friends from Kapuna and then I got accepted into Pacific Adventist University (PAU), as an Australia Awards Scholarship recipient” he says of his time in Goroka.
He unfortunately had to withdraw 2 years into his Nursing degree at PAU, due to a combination of wrong choices influenced by bad company.
“After I pulled out from Nursing, I basically went into this negative place in my head where I believed I had failed, and I felt there was no hope. My family also gave up on me because they told me I had taken for granted what I had been given” he shares.
“When I was back at home, figuring out what to do, I happened to be in Kerema at the time the TotalEnergies’ Community Liaison Officers were conducting awareness and that’s how I heard about the scholarships being offered by TotalEnergies” he adds.
He was accepted into the Machining and Fitting course in 2019 at POM Tech, as part of the selected scholarship recipients and vowed to make the most of the opportunity.
“I really wasn’t into technical trades because I personally had this heart of service, so I couldn’t connect being a machinist with that of being in a life of service, but I thought I should just give it a try since it was a really good opportunity for me” he shared.
“I really wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, some day and really help people, I just had this heart to help and serve others” he added.
While at POM Tech, he involved himself with student groups like the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF), which led him down a better path and instilled within him strong leadership qualities and in 2020, he became the TSCF president for the school.
“I started taking up leadership roles, within that space, it really helped me in my spiritual walk, and I found good friends and started hanging out with them” he stated.
Graduating in 2021 with a National Certificate 3 in Maintenance Fitting and Machining, he stayed on at POM Tech as the TSCF coordinator, before the team at Kapuna asked him to return home with a job offer.
“When I went back to Kapuna, I thought I would just go and hang around in the workshop, but since I already had experience working in the office, I was recommended to work in the office” he says.
He credits his time volunteering as a youth at the hospital, helping the former Projects Manager, Mr Colin Calvert and all other mentors, for helping him to build his experience and obtain different training certificates, to eventually become the Supplier and Logistics Manager.
“I think that the most rewarding part of working at Kapuna is witnessing people’s lives change by the little projects we do and giving service to people. If we build a classroom, I love to see the parents happy that their kids are going to school” he proudly shares.
“One thing that I always remind myself is, say we build this classroom for this child, when they go to school and if they are happy there, then the parents will decide to stay and work in Kapuna, giving service back to the villagers and surrounding communities” he added.
He explained that the Project team at Kapuna, supports the hospital with building and general maintenance, Community Service outreach, hygiene, and sanitation projects along with managing the finances and supporting other teams with proposals.
“The Project entity is there to serve all other entities and that’s what we feel is very rewarding to us as a team, myself especially because I feel that I am able to serve people who will then go on to serve others as well” he says.
Bartholomew observes that there are a lot of opportunities for young people from Gulf but what’s limiting them, and the province is that most villages do not have proper schools nor are there proper communications systems (networks).
“The people of Gulf province need to understand their place in their community but also to understand the level at which the province is at in terms of looking at it from a broader perspective” he said.
“For example, you could receive a scholarship to attend a tertiary institution like I did, but if your attitude is not right or your heart is not really in it, then you’re just wasting your time. You won’t be giving back to the community, the province – you’re basically living for yourself” he added.
“The best thing that happened to me while working is finding my wife. I think being together really helps us a lot in our jobs because we’re both busy together so we both understand how demanding our jobs can become” he said
“Dreams have changed since we got married – it’s now a collective dream. If it’s something to do with managing or helping other people, then we’re both up for it” he says speaking for himself and wife Phoebe.
“My best advice would be to live for others every day. Living for others means you must know what you are and know what you can contribute – know your potential and goals and live towards them but also love yourself whilst you’re doing this” he states.