When you talk to this woman, you sense that she knows something that you do not know. There is some inner energy or some source of strength that radiates through her whole being. She goes about her work with boundless vigor, enthusiasm and passion and you cannot help but want to find out where this is coming from. As you spend more time with her you realize that this source of energy radiates from her strong Christian faith that is deep rooted and continues to be nurtured since her childhood.
As a public servant serving in the corridors of Waigani in Port Moresby, this woman stood, gazing through the glass of her cubicle, gaping at a familiar sight in an inappropriate place. The paranomic view before her was the serrated tidy food garden plots gracing the arid hillsides of Port Moresby. She saw men and women eking a living from this unfriendly landscape. What caught at her heartstring was that most of these people hail from the Eastern Highlands Province. She was stirred. Down in the pit of her heart some profound emotion was aroused.
This welled up into a dream, a dream that could not go away. She dreamt for Eastern Highlanders, for her people. She dreamt that they should go back home and live in peace, harmony and comfort. They should not waste their life away in a place like Port Moresby. This dream compelled her to move.
And so she moved leaving a well-paid job promising a career path and moved to Goroka to answer the call of her dream. She continued to work with the Probation and Parole Service (now Community Based Corrections) as the Training Coordinator for the country.
The call of her dream became more audible “to be the change you want to see in others” (M Gandhi) and make an impact on lives of women, children and men who are suffering, single mothers, orphans, abused and violated mothers, uneducated mothers and girls who are being abused”. However, the point of putting this dream into a reality was only mirage at that time.
In April 1997 ICRAF (Individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum) instigated the pathway to the realization of the dream. This was in the form of an awareness workshop on human rights. It led to the formation of a committee comprised of concerned women. It eventually resulted in the incorporation of the association in June 2000 called Eastern Highlands Family Voice. She resigned from her government job and took a plunge into the unknown. She became the first Coordinator and Executive Director of the organization.
The dream began to materialize and for the next 11 years she was impacting on the lives of women in many ways. As a result the organization has grown to where it is today.
The rest is history as they say. The dream lives on.
Meet Ms Naomi Yupae, an easy going but yet an outspoken woman who was the energy and vision behind the birth and growth of the Eastern Highlands Family Voice. Ms Yupae hails from a village called Samogo in the Unggai-Bena district of Eastern Highlands Province and holds a degree in social work at the University of Papua New Guinea. She is currently y completing her last semester of doing her Masters in International Community Development at Victoria University, Melbourne under an AusAID Scholarship (Leadership Award).
We dedicate this first edition of The Voice to Ms Naomi Yupae.