The first graduates of Mougulu Secondary School enjoyed a behind the scenes tour at MAF's Mt Hagen base.
Story Mandy Glass
The first ever graduates of Mougulu Secondary School stopped off in Mt Hagen for a tour of the Mission Aviation Fellowship base during a big adventure from their remote village and on to their country’s capital Port Moresby.
School principal Ian Lloyd said it was an adventure the youngsters “can sit their grandchildren down and say, you should have seen what I did.”
Otty Sasy, one of the students and a young entrepreneur, is enthusiastic about this opportunity to travel to the country’s capital.
“I am really excited about my trip [to Port Moresby]. I’ve been to Kiunga, Tari, Hagen, Mendi, Tari, Kiunga, Ialibu, Pangia, I used to travel around with PMV [public transport]. This is my first time in my life [to go to Port Moresby] for the educational trip,” Otty said.
“The growth of the economic and the city, as well as the how the people move around the city and the buildings and the schools and the institutions in the city are quite different from our place. I’m excited to see all the big buildings, roads, parliament house… the ocean and that types of… it’s my first time [to see the ocean].”
Our school has about 16 different areas that we get kids from. The school is quite remote, but it's also a good environment to be in. So here they are now as Grade 12 students about to graduate... They can sit their grandchildren down and say, you should have seen what I did.
Mougulu, located northwest of Mt Bosavi, is only accessible by air so the students journey started with a flight to Mt Hagen and continued to Port Moresby.
During their layover at Mt Hagen, MAF invited them to join the daily team gathering followed by a tour of its main base.
Many students have seen a MAF aircraft land on the grassy airstrip at Mougulu, as MAF flights bring regular deliveries to their school, but they were thrilled to see the operation that makes it all happen.
Matt Painter, MAFI’s Asia Pacific Regional Communications Manager and previously a pilot with MAF Papua New Guinea serving the Western Province out of Rumginae, did a tour of our headquarters and Hagen base with the Mougulu students, highlighting that they can use their gifts and passions to serve God, whether they like working with their hands, like numbers or like cleaning etc.
Mr Lloyd told the MAF team about the school’s long history of partnership with MAF, remembering his first flight into Mougulu in the mid-1980s when visiting his wife’s childhood home.
“It was a bit of a wild adventure for me. Everyone out there was still wearing their traditional gear and their grass skirts,” he said.
“So, for me, it was, like, a big surprise, because I was a city boy. MAF was involved with us then, taking me out. The first flight from Moresby I was pretty excited, because I'd never been in a small plane.”
Building on the foundations laid by Tom and Salome Hoey, the pioneer missionaries for Mougulu area and the Biami people, the secondary school of around 300 students is the latest achievement, established in 2020. This year will see the first grade 12 students completing their secondary education.
“Mission work, especially from the beginning, relied very heavily on MAF for everything,” Ian explained.
“Out there in Mougulu, not having roads, not having a river that we could actually canoe up, it makes it quite difficult to get stuff. So, the chances of walking stuff in, it's six days. That makes it impossible to bring stuff. So really, the only thing that we can do is to get flights in from MAF.
“So, for us, it's a big blessing and it's a great thing to have it, especially when you consider medical work, supplies, bringing in teachers, taking teachers out, stuff like that, it's a vital part of what we do out there. So, I want to thank all you people for that.”
Highlighting the remoteness of Mougulu and its students, the visit to Mt Hagen, MAF and to Port Moresby will be opening their eyes to new opportunities.
“Our school has about 16 different areas that we get kids from. The school is quite remote, but it's also a good environment to be in,” Mr Lloyd said.
“So here they are now as Grade 12 students about to graduate. And then we've taken them from the bush, some of them, have been to Goroka, Tari, Kiunga, but we're taking them on an adventure now that's something for them to talk about for the rest of their lives, really. They can sit their grandchildren down and say, you should have seen what I did.”
