PHIL FITZPATRICK
IN 2011 we first encountered the irrepressible exuberance of Jimmy Drekore. He had inundated us with poetry towards the end of the Crocodile Prize competition and he came down from Kundiawa for the awards with his good friend Francis Nii to claim his first prize.
We knew nothing about Jim’s work with the Simbu Children Foundation and how he would devote his annual leave from his job as an analytical chemist at Lihir gold mine to help the orphans and sick children of Simbu.
That he eventually gave up Lihir to work full-time for the foundation was a measure of his commitment and selflessness and it would lead to him being honoured as Digicel Man of Honour in 2015 and as the 2016 recipient of the US-based World of Children Award in Health.
On top of all that, Jim is president of the Simbu Writer’s Association which successfully organised the 2015 Crocodile Prize awards ceremony and writers’ workshop in Kundiawa, the first time the event had been held outside Port Moresby.
Jim’s winning poem in 2011 was appropriately about the travails of children in rural Papua New Guinea seeking an education.
Walking Barefoot to be Educated
JIMMY DREKORE
Quick little steps
Closing little gaps
We walked together
Walking bare footed
To be educated
School was far away
We were on our way
Walking bare footed
To be educated
We shared breakfast
We walked really fast
Walking bare footed
To be educated
Once we came late
Strolling through the gate
We were at the door
Eyes on the floor
We stayed together
He looked at us
With a strong voice he told us
We would be punished together
We came bare footed
To be educated
Another time scissors in his hands
We had no chance
Airstrip cut on our heads
We felt really bad
We stood together
We came bare footed
To be educated
One cold morning
It was pouring
We came late again
We couldn’t bargain
Metre ruler in his hands
We had no chance
He hit him on the head
He hit me on the head
Our tears fell together
We came bare footed
To be educated