Recently retired Team Leader – Ramu Transmission Lines (Coastal) Mr Peter Joseph is a proud recipient of the benefits reaped from being a member of the PNG Power Savings and Loans Society.
He now owns 3 houses, one of them is a double storey house, built over a piece of land he bought in Lae, Morobe province, two outboard motors, a fishing net he uses back in his home province in Milne Bay, all of these assets he now owns, were from his Savings with the Society.
Mr Joseph hails from Milne Bay province and has spent most of his working life with PNG Power, based with the Ramu Transmission Lines in Lae.
Back in 1980, when he joined PNG Power as an Apprentice, and being single too, Mr Joseph remembers how he enjoys his beers during his free times, meeting up with friends and spends all that he earns from his fortnightly salary. Binge drinking was one that stood out, as he recalls.
“I would go out anytime I have money and drink with friends or just spend on whatever I want. That was who I was then. Now that I no longer go out drinking and that, and having all these that I now own, houses, boats and most importantly my own piece of land, I felt that I made a right choice then,” Mr Joseph recalls.
Mr Joseph joined the PNG Power Savings and Loans Society a year into his Apprentice training in Port Moresby.
He started off with a 40 kina deposit into his Savings Account. In 1984 when he graduated with his Trades Certificate in Lines (Transmission), he was posted to Ramu were he started off his fulltime career. Seeing some increase in his salaries and having those extra funds, he increased his savings amount to K100. From there, he left it grew with interests, from time to time, adjusting his savings amount.
“In 1985, I realised I had a good amount of savings in the Society. On one of my planned trips back home to Milne Bay for my recreational leave, I decided to use some of my funds in the Society and my first purchase was fishing net,” Mr Joseph said.
“Coming back from that holiday enjoying the use of my net to catch fish, I saw a need for an outboard motor, and that was when I turned to my savings again and bought a boat and a Mariner 40hp motor using my funds from the savings. That was in 1989. Following that, in maybe 2000, I again used funds from my savings and bought my first Four-bedroom house materials and shipped them from Lae to Alotau and built my first house, at my wife’s village.”
During those times Mr Joseph said that he continued to increase his contributions into his Savings at the Society when he started to realise that, those savings are paying off.
His savings at the PNG Power Savings and Loans Society overtime grew as he increased his contributions. Not long in 2015, Mr Joseph bought his first (60 x 40) piece of land at Igam in Lae. He then bought house materials and built two houses on that land. One of the houses he built was a two-storey house.
“That two-storey house is my base where my wife and I will live in while the other house is for my children to use. It became my project after seeing the benefits I have reaped so far using my funds saved with the Society that I planned to find this piece of land and build my houses in. And not only did I bought that land and build those two houses, I also bought another new Boat and Motor which I now use in Lae. Mr Joseph said.
Mr Joseph not only did benefit from the Society by purchasing his land, building houses and his boats and motors, he also used funds he saved to pay for his children’s school fees. His daughter is now studying her final year in the Philippines. He is also sponsoring school fees for two relatives, one at the University of Goroka and the other at Gaulim Teachers College.
“Looking at all these that I have achieved by being a member of the PNG Power Savings and Loans Society, I felt I have been fortunate as a recipient of the benefits one can get by joining such a great Society. I believed from the first day when I joined, this was the right decision and for sure, it paid off. I would like to encourage those young and energetic employees of PNG Power, to start this culture of saving with the PNG Power Savings and Loans Society.
On the 4th of February this year 2019, sadly Mr Peter Joseph retired from PNG Power, having worked with the company for the last 38 years.
When asked what’s life going to be like after PNG Power? His response was with a smile of accomplishment… “I am satisfied now that I look back, I can go to my land, my home and enjoy a quiet and relaxing life with my wife and kids, maybe go fishing and continue enjoying chewing my favourite betelnut.”