MEMBERS PROFILE
Vanimo Lasallian Family Area Coordinator - Charles Waeda Charles Waeda is the Principal of St La Salle Wonder Kids, an Early Childhood centre in Vanimo in Papua New Guinea. He is a father of 6 children and has worked ten years in Education. Charles brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his role. Tell me about your call to ministry. How do you live out the Lasallian Values? My call to the ministry is very raw but timely when the late Br. Ignatius Kennedy asked me to join the Lasallian Family in Papua New Guinea in 1999. Back then, it was teachers and students only from Holy Trinity Teacher’s College. I was asked to help with the Lasallian activities in Vanimo. From then and there until now, I am still living the Lasallian value after twenty-one years.
What is your current role in the Lasallian Family? Explain? I am the Principal of St La Salle Wonder Kids Early Childhood Centre and have been working here for ten years. Vanimo town is a small tropical town of Papua New Guinea lying on the north-west part of the country and sharing the land border with Djayapura in Indonesia. The school is on the north tip of Vanimo town on beautiful white sandy beachfront which meets the Pacific Ocean.
What does being a Lasallian mean to you? Being a Lasallian means so much to me, for someone who never graduated from a Teachers’ College and now teaching for ten years is because of what I learnt from Lasallian gatherings for twenty-one years. The teaching of our patron Saint had a significant impact in my teaching career.
The school is small and with semi-permanent material buildings. Still, it has a long record of graduating some good students who are now performing academically well in primary and secondary schools in Vanimo, Sandaun province. The school has three teachers, five staff members and 75 students. As well as my school duties, I am a single parent and the area coordinator for the Vanimo lasallian family.
Who is your role model? Why do you look up to this person? My first role model is Br Ignatius Kennedy who inspired me when he invited me to join the Lasallian family. The second role model is Maureen Ammoniu, the mother of my children and who I have been working with for the last twenty-one years. I have six children. The first is a girl then two boys and another three girls. Unfortunately, I lost a girl named ChaSalle, after the patron saint and the first letters Cha is from my name.
MAMBU MAGAZINE
21
2020 EDITION 1
