UoG still reeling from 2022 quake

UNIVERSITY of Goroka (UOG) vice-chancellor Teng Waninga says the institution is still operating under a state of emergency following the 2022 earthquake.
“We are still living in a state of emergency and (facing) all the challenges but we want to make things normal,” Waninga said.
“We don’t want to cry, we don’t want to talk, we want other people to see that we are working. We want actions to speak louder than words.”
He said the top management team came at a time when the institution was challenged by a lot of natural disaster.
“We were appointed at the time when Covid-19 was at its peak and we lost seven staff along the way, but we never gave up,” Waninga said.
“We ended the academic year in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and then the earthquake happened in 2022. We never gave up, we built a resilience to survive on the hilltop.
“When you live on the hilltop, you are exposed to so many things, such as wind, sunshine, good and bad things, but we survived. We showed resilience in our attitude.”
The vice-chancellor commended the student body for enduring through the challenging period following the quake.
“Our students are transported five times a day from the communities to school since 2022, and I believe we are training the most resilient teachers because they have lived through all the conditions, through all the suffering and pain together,” he said.