Walking three days and three nights in the bushy jungles of Gulf Province, in pursuit of an education, Kingsley Philip from Ipiayu village in Rural Kaintiba, was determined to go to school.

“My village is quite a distance away from any major town. Even those students who pass out from high school or college, find it hard to get school fees to pursue further studies. We rely on the good will of the churches and charities to contribute towards our school fees,” he says.

“So, when I heard that TotalEnergies were sponsoring students, I applied to Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech) and enquired about scholarships. I knew that I couldn’t ask my parents or the church for tuition support, I had to be the one to find my own way,” he adds.

Born and raised in the village, he has only ever left to go to school. First in Morobe province to complete his High School and Secondary schooling and now as a student at POM Tech studying Mechanical, Fitting, Machining (MFM).

“My village is in the bush, surrounded by forest so it’s difficult or takes time to get anywhere. Often times, we’ve had people die while making their way down to town during storms, or when the weather gets really bad,” he shares.

“Parents often face difficulties transporting their garden food to the market to sell, for their children’s school fees. In the past, during heavy rains, parents have lost their lives while crossing through the bush with their garden food to sell, from the falling trees,” he adds.

One of two boys in a family of eight, he attended Kaintiba Primary School, then completed his secondary schooling at Menyamya Secondary School, with dreams of one day being a primary school teacher for his community.

“There aren’t a lot of teachers in my community and I noticed that not a lot of teachers want to travel to these remote areas to teach, which is why I wanted to be able to fill that gap especially for primary school students,” he said.

“I applied and was accepted to a teacher’s college at Rabaul but on my way there, I was robbed of my school fees and leaver’s certificate at Eriku town, Lae. The thieves stole around K6,000 raised by my parents and the church for my schooling,” he explains.

He had no choice but to return back to Kaintiba. After saving up enough for the PMV from Kerema town to Port Moresby, he walked for three days from his village adamant on getting his leaver’s certificate re-printed at the Department of Education.

“When I got my new certificate, I returned to the village and applied for a space at POM Tech in 2023, after hearing that TotalEnergies were sponsoring children from Gulf,” he says.

“It took me three days and three nights, to walk down to Kerema town from my village and then I caught the PMV and went to POM Tech. I was told, enrolment was complete but the boys from Gulf re-directed me to the TotalEnergies office downtown, so I walked there from POM Tech,” he added.

He met with TotalEnergies Workforce Development Coordinator Peter Konaka and explained his story and how he came to be there.

“I empathised with him after listening to his story and saw how determined he was to secure post-secondary education despite the odds presented. I negotiated with the school to accept him in place of a student who had left earlier,” says Peter.   

“I feel like this opportunity has been completely life changing for me. I am glad to have joined this scholarship program because I know that if I had stayed back in the village, I would not have this chance,” says Kingsley.

“I wouldn’t be in school or have learnt the trade skills I am learning now, so I want to say thank you to TotalEnergies for putting me through school and for opportunity you have given me. I am extremely grateful and want to say thank you,” he added with a smile.

TotalEnergies Workforce Development Coordinator Peter Konaka and Kingsley Philip

Walking three days and three nights in the bushy jungles of Gulf Province, in pursuit of an education, Kingsley Philip from Ipiayu village in Rural Kaintiba, was determined to go to school.

“My village is quite a distance away from any major town. Even those students who pass out from high school or college, find it hard to get school fees to pursue further studies. We rely on the good will of the churches and charities to contribute towards our school fees,” he says.

“So, when I heard that TotalEnergies were sponsoring students, I applied to Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech) and enquired about scholarships. I knew that I couldn’t ask my parents or the church for tuition support, I had to be the one to find my own way,” he adds.

Born and raised in the village, he has only ever left to go to school. First in Morobe province to complete his High School and Secondary schooling and now as a student at POM Tech studying Mechanical, Fitting, Machining (MFM).

“My village is in the bush, surrounded by forest so it’s difficult or takes time to get anywhere. Often times, we’ve had people die while making their way down to town during storms, or when the weather gets really bad,” he shares.

“Parents often face difficulties transporting their garden food to the market to sell, for their children’s school fees. In the past, during heavy rains, parents have lost their lives while crossing through the bush with their garden food to sell, from the falling trees,” he adds.

One of two boys in a family of eight, he attended Kaintiba Primary School, then completed his secondary schooling at Menyamya Secondary School, with dreams of one day being a primary school teacher for his community.

“There aren’t a lot of teachers in my community and I noticed that not a lot of teachers want to travel to these remote areas to teach, which is why I wanted to be able to fill that gap especially for primary school students,” he said.

“I applied and was accepted to a teacher’s college at Rabaul but on my way there, I was robbed of my school fees and leaver’s certificate at Eriku town, Lae. The thieves stole around K6,000 raised by my parents and the church for my schooling,” he explains.

He had no choice but to return back to Kaintiba. After saving up enough for the PMV from Kerema town to Port Moresby, he walked for three days from his village adamant on getting his leaver’s certificate re-printed at the Department of Education.

“When I got my new certificate, I returned to the village and applied for a space at POM Tech in 2023, after hearing that TotalEnergies were sponsoring children from Gulf,” he says.

“It took me three days and three nights, to walk down to Kerema town from my village and then I caught the PMV and went to POM Tech. I was told, enrolment was complete but the boys from Gulf re-directed me to the TotalEnergies office downtown, so I walked there from POM Tech,” he added.

He met with TotalEnergies Workforce Development Coordinator Peter Konaka and explained his story and how he came to be there.

“I empathised with him after listening to his story and saw how determined he was to secure post-secondary education despite the odds presented. I negotiated with the school to accept him in place of a student who had left earlier,” says Peter.   

“I feel like this opportunity has been completely life changing for me. I am glad to have joined this scholarship program because I know that if I had stayed back in the village, I would not have this chance,” says Kingsley.

“I wouldn’t be in school or have learnt the trade skills I am learning now, so I want to say thank you to TotalEnergies for putting me through school and for opportunity you have given me. I am extremely grateful and want to say thank you,” he added with a smile.

Along with the rest of his batch, he will be graduating next March, hopeful to apply his skills, on one of the resource projects, still with dreams of teaching back in his village.   

TotalEnergies EP PNG Limited (TotalEnergies), as Operator of the Papua LNG project have to date, sponsored a total of 271 students at Port Moresby Technical School (POM Tech), 60 of whom have been female, through the Papua LNG TVET Scholarship Program and Kingsley is part of the current cohort of National Certificate (NC)3 scholarship recipients.