Alumni Feature - Maliwai Sasingian
Written by Maliwai Sasingian, introduction by The Voice Inc.
Posted on 20 March 2019
This week we feature our alumni Maliwai Sasingian - "The Industrious Leader". One of the many vibrant leaders/ambassadors of TVI who is currently heading the operations and management of TVI. Maliwai’s journey with TVI began from the time of its inception when it was just a concept note on paper and a couple of discussions with family and friends to it now being steered as mechanism of hope and an eco system that flourishes with everyday individuals like you and me. Mali’s story is one of promise, discipline and true servanthood leadership. We hope you are as inspired as we are.
“The Voice is a place of creativity; it is a place of power, of wholeness and of freedom. And when you give yourself the permission, to walk a path of purpose that is truly yours and maybe one that has never been walked before, you unleash gifting and light that fills a void in this world. And this is what I believe The Voice is.” Maliwai Sasingian, Operations Director.
We had just returned to Port Moresby (POM) from Tokyo, Japan where we spent 4 years. My siblings and I were all in school at that time except for Brian, my last born brother, who was just a toddler. I did my grades 7 – 10 at an amazing catholic mission school called Seisen International School. It was one of the highlights of my young life since the school had instilled in me valuable work ethics that I would bring with me along my life’s long journey.
At Seisen, I was playing basketball, soccer and volleyball - I was involved in a lot of extra curricular activities. In one year, we went on a skiing trip. I remember surprising my ski instructor then, when I smashed the first ski class. Who knew we had it in us i.e. skiing. Go figure. The year we returned home was the year it all happened. We made it just in time for me to sit the national grade 10 exams in POM so my family enrolled me at Gerehu Secondary School.
I was young, eager and energetic to explore the world so I found a job as soon as the National grade 10 exams were over. I worked at a shop at Gordons after the exams for about 6 weeks without a day off and earned K70 per fortnight. The work conditions weren’t as colorful as they came but I absolutely loved it! I was thrilled I was earning money and able to save some money and contribute to family expenses.
The work life gave a sense of independence, a sense of responsibility and overall fulfilment. However that was the least exciting of what happened to me during the year. The most important event was finding faith in God personally and becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Although the feeling of that time is still fresh, the details are vague but all I remember is walking into a Church in POM and seeing people there who had something I wanted. It didn't take much thought, I made a pact to myself and to GOD and never looked back and the journey thus far has been unregrettable. I have come to my own revelation of GOD and have walked in faith since which has been my guiding force and I credit where I am today because of it. I also acknowledge and am so grateful to my parents who invested and gave me the freedoms to choose the best way for me.
I went on to attend Port Moresby National High School (POMNATHS), another amazing school. I was determined to finish high school and surprised myself and my family by taking out the dux award. This also came with two scholarships to go to Uni in at Australia National University in Canberra and New Zealand, and I chose to go New Zealand.
After Uni I joined PwC as a graduate in 2003 and worked in both the PwC Lae office along with POM office. One day, my sister Serena (co-founder), who was in Law School at UPNG came over to my office for a lunch date. She was beaming with excitement. She held a piece of paper which was a 1 page concept note of what is now TVI. She was so excited that they were doing this new thing. She wanted to share this with me. At that time I was very involved in church in particular youth ministry. I could see the potential this had to make a difference. It didn't take much thought again, Serena had just brought me along on this journey. I stood beside her as a proud big sister in full support. Its just what you do for your family. You believe in each other and give your undivided love and support. Plus it was hard not to notice the passion by the students (at that time at University) and believe in what they were doing. I believed they could make a difference in the activities and events they were organising and wanted to assist in any little way I could.
I did everything I could to support that included my resources like vehicles, money and most importantly time. I went to work with PwC in PNG for 9 years and established a career specialized in taxation. I owe a lot of my work ethic and training to PwC as well. I went on to work in Brisbane for Clough as a Project Tax Manager – I worked with Clough for 6 years and was able to attain my Masters in International Taxation from the University of Sydney. It was an amazing experience and was truly grateful for the opportunity. My employment in Brisbane also helped by allowing me to organize 2 corporate dinners to raise funds for our TVI programs at the Universities.
The corporate dinners were really fun, we hosted them at the Brisbane Exhibition & Convention Centre, it was a great opportunity for our students to host such an event plus great fund raising for TVI.
After returning from Brisbane, I joined PwC but left soon after to pursue my journey with TVI as the Operations Director. The most significant change that I have seen so far has been the transition into our new way of working which now extends out of the Universities to the Coalitions & Campaigns, Social Enterprise and Alumni. It’s been really exciting which has also had its challenges however I’m really happy to see TVI have more reach and see more people join and sign up to the Clean Generation. Another exciting area has been our move into our new office space which we are calling the DREAM Hub – this is in honor of personal development program called the DREAM which has had such a big impact on those who have been part of that training.
I think that we Papua New Guineans are such a beautiful people - we are kind and very giving. We are all about family. Its so community orientated. We are people of the land, we are gardeners, we need to value those traditions that have sustained us for thousands and thousands of years and use it to cultivate ourselves into the leaders we were meant to be and the potential we have to be active agents of change in our own unique way.
I can’t wait to see as many people get involved and join the movement. We will not be able to create the change we want to see if only a few people are involved, it’s collective action, joining hands, sharing knowledge and working together. If we are able to do this, I have great hope for the future and am excited to play a small role in that.