A Mother for all
By: Noella Wavu
May 10, 2001 - Feature Writing
I was sitting in my room in Port Moresby last January packing my clothes into a suitcase. The night seemed really short; as I checked my watch it was 4 o'clock in the morning. I closed my eyes and went to sleep but couldn't stop thinking about my flight to Madang. I boarded the twelve o'clock flight and after an hour I landed at Madang airport. Sitting inside the plane I thought to myself, who will pick me up? Will there be anyone that I could ask to drop me at Divine Word University? I felt really lost and lonely. Walking out of the plane I could see people crowding in front of the arrival lounge. Some of them were enthusiastic to see their loved ones.
I picked up my luggage and walked out of the arrival lounge. I was alone. There was no sign of anyone who knew me at the airport. It was like landing on a foreign land. Then I saw a blue bus with the name 'DWU' written on the side. I walked over to the guy sitting in the driver's seat. He told me that he came to pick up the students. I felt relief. I put my luggage inside. Fifteen minutes later we were in Divine Word University. There I felt like a sixteen year old who just left her parents for the first time. The Sister in-charge greeted me and gave me a key to a room. After unpacking my stuff, I set outside the steps of the Newest Dorm in a lonely afternoon, gazing into the colourful display of the sunset, my mind shifted miles and miles across the ocean to my home sweet home in Bougainville. No one knew I was in Madang.
One week has past and I was lying in my room when I heard a voice calling "Noella visitor", this two words echoed in my ears several times then I finally answered, whispering out a serious of questions; Who was it? Who would come to visit me here in Madang? I don't know anybody here.
I was told that there was a lady waiting outside the gate. I slowly walked down wondering who that visitor was. Out of the ladies' fence, I could see someone smiling at me from a distance. Her magic smile brought sense of joy in my heart and on that moment I knew that there was someone out there who knew me.Mrs Helen Paul and her family frequently visited me. She loved me like her own daughter. I called her Mums Helen and even every young people I met addressed her as "Mums Helen" too. Helen is well known to every young people in Madang town. She dedicates most of her time bringing up young people close to God and to take part in the church activities.
I met Mrs Paul at Port Moresby Inservice College in 1997. The college was full of young girls and she helped them a lot with their problems, giving advise and encouragement. I really admired her ways and as a young person, I treasured what she did for me. I always saw her wearing a brown necklace around her neck with a big brown cross-hooked onto it. This made me wonder why she had to wear such a big cross. I thought to myself, "she must be a catechist or a nun." But I was wrong.
Helen and her husband Timothy Paul are parents of the Antioch 'Youth to Youth Ministry Group' based in Madang Archdiocese. They have been parenting the youths for almost twelve years since they got married. She said looking after young people is not an easy task to do. It is very difficult and challenging. It needs patience and time.
"Many times I felt like giving up so I can spent more time with my own family. But with the problem with unemployment, many youths are roaming the streets searching for help and I find it very hard to turn away from them. If I turn away from them, I am turning away from God. They are God's people and they can change and become good people if we spare our time to them," she said.
She said prayer is very important in her life. If she does not pray things won't be possible for her. She won't find happiness in their lives.
Helen and Timothy have touched the hearts of many young people of Madang with their loving and caring hearts. She said many youths faced difficulties in their lives. They look for true happiness. We as parents of Antioch try to provide them with activities that would help them explore the true meaning of their lives. We take them to retreats and for renewal workshops when we see the need. We also have prayer meeting days, which we always have every Wednesday nights and we also go out for weekend activities. In these activities, we invite the youths to observe, present talks and discuss about how they had experienced Jesus in their lives.
Helen recalls one occasion she experienced in her life.
"Everyday my husband and I would drive to town. We always see one dirty looking man at the market. He always causes trouble in town and makes lots of noise in the night. He is a drunkard, a drug addict and troublemaker. We knew that he needed help. One afternoon we went to town again and he was there at the market. My husband called him over and we gave him smoke and some betel nuts. We chat with him for a while and we left him. Whenever we go to town we'll buy smoke and betel nut for him. Then we asked him one day to join us for our prayer meeting. He was interested so he came. After observing, he told me that he was interested to join the group. So I recruited him and from then on he changed his behaviours and became very close to God through prayers and spiritual activities that we provided for them. Now he strums the guitar for our music ministry group."
This is how my husband and I recruit youths to join our Antioch group. Our youths also help other youths to give them spiritual talks. Many of them open their heart to Jesus and a few of them turn away.Antioch Movement is a parish-based ministry of Youth to Youth. It is for young people between the ages of 14-21 who can read and write. It is a spiritual programme, which begins with a Weekend Experience and renewal workshops. While it offers Youth an opportunity to listen, discuss and better understand what it means to be a Catholic today in Papua New Guinea, it is also proving itself to be a great help in leadership formation at parish level. The Antioch programme was first developed in America in 1960 at High Schools and Universities. Then it was adopted for parish level. The Antioch Youth Movement was then brought to Australia from New York in 1981 and came to St. Pauls Mt Hagen in 1985.
Helen was the first to joined the movement when she was a young girl working at St. Paul's Parish in Mt. Hagen. She was influenced by her parents who had strong faith in God.
My parents were very strong Catholics. We lived in a very remote village in Chimbu. There were no shops that we could buy food and clothes from. The priests and nun seldom visit our village. We didn't have Bibles or rosary beats to pray with. My parents, especially my mother taught us how to pray the rosary every night. She told us about Mary the Mother of God. She got bush ropes and tight small knots to make it look like rosary beats and we used them to pray.
When we grew up and we moved to Mt. Hagen where I went to school. When I finished school I worked as a teacher. I joined the youth group in Mt. Hagen and taught Religious Instruction (RI) to the schools especially St Pauls. I helped out with church activities and women's group in the Archdiocese of Mt Hagen and also taught Sunday school children at the parish.
With all these experiences, Archbishop Michael Meyer asked her to join the Antioch Movement Group in 1986. She accepted it and carried out activities in the movement. They recruited some other youths to join and the number increased.
It was very difficult at first because people were suspecting that we joined the group to make boyfriends or girlfriends and this really discouraged me. But our Antioch parents at that time always encouraged us to stand firm and continue on with our ministry. It's what people from the outside think but I found it as a journey to be more close to God.
Then in 1987, I met my husband Timothy. He was working in Hagen with ELCOM.Timothy Paul was a member of the "Makasol Movement Group" of the M'Bunai people of Manus Province. When he met Helen in Mt Hagen she invited him for a weekend gathering.
Helen said she gave him conditions that if he really loved her he have to be a Catholic and join the Antioch Movement group. He accepted my conditions and he joined the group. After observing the meeting he was interested so I recruited him.
They got married and became parents of Antioch. Timothy never really liked the idea of becoming parents of Antioch Youths because he was too young to be called daddy. But eventually he got use idea and accepted the responsibilities of looking after the youths. Timothy said he feels good when people call him daddy because it reminds him of the responsibilities he has to carry in looking after a big family of young people.
"This is also a big challenge to my life in looking after my family. If I can look after a big family then I can look after my small family. My family belongs to that one big family. Parents trusted me to look after their sons and daughters," he said
Timothy is the ELCOM Inspector in Madang.
Although he is really busy with his work he still put time to help the youths.