Meet one of OTML's first female Apprentice's

Adeline Parker is one of those people who you meet one day and feel like you’ve known forever. She gets a twinkle in her eye when she talks about what she loves – God, her family and of course the work that she does. Humility and respect are values that she strongly upholds in her life, she gives me a sideways smile as she describes herself as not being the brightest girl in the class, but has got this far through diligence and commitment to the Lord.

Adeline was the first female apprentice in the mechanical trade in the OTML Apprenticeship program, the second female to be accepted into the program and a true pioneer in regards to breaking into male dominated fields. She now works in the Ancillary Workshops Department based at Workshop 1 in Tabubil, and has been employed with OTML for 19 years, moving her way up from the Workshop floor to becoming a Maintenance Planner. I recently sat down with Adeline to discuss her journey in this field and her views as a pioneer.

As a girl Adeline didn’t see women in the trade, so her role model was not a woman but a man – her Dad. He was a Refrigeration Mechanic and she wanted to be like him. She always admired tradesmen in their uniform, she found herself drawn towards the trade of motor mechanics. When I probed further to find out her passion for the trade she burst out laughing saying

“I liked being dirty, I wanted to be dirty and I admired them in their dirty uniforms and I wanted to be like that”.

Despite her desire to be in a field where women weren’t seen, her parents were very supportive of her and encouraged her desire. Her dad was an important source of guidance for her, with his advice she ended up pursuing a career in the Auto Electrical trade at the Port Moresby Technical College (POMTEC).

Adeline can still recall when the OTML HR team went to POMTEC to conduct interviews to recruit apprentices for the training program. At the time in 1996, there were no more than 15 girls taking trades courses at the college, as opposed to 100 males. She was recruited into the OTML trainee program and in her first year she was the only female trainee with 29 males – something some women may have felt intimidated by, but Adeline took it all her stride. She cheerfully remembers getting along well with all her male counterparts. Adeline’s personality and determination no doubt made an impact on her recruiters, when I asked what she thought made her stand out from amongst the males she replied

“Whatever they do, I do it too, I don’t hold back. I try my best to do things and get it done myself. Or I get help from them, I ask them”.

One of the most memorable challenges Adeline faced during her Apprenticeship, was doing service on the tower crane that was previously used to lift up the mantle on the crusher at the mine pit, and place it back on. She vividly recalls how it involved climbing 50 meters up the crane, in the rain and fog in order to reach the engine and do maintenance.

“The first time I climbed it, I said no, no, no – I can’t do this I’m going back down. You have to climb up through the first hatch and the second hatch and go through the doors. So it’s raining and it’s slippery…So the first time I said no way”. Despite the fear from the first climb, Adeline did manage to complete the task, “I carried my tool bag and I went up…I climbed it, I would go to the top and stand up there, and the operator starts the crane and moves the crane and I’d just think - Oh Lord please this crane must not break”. When asked how she managed to overcome this fear Adeline simply said “I said this is my job and I’m gonna do it so I have to get it over and done with”.

Since her training years, Adeline has been working with OTML as a fulltime employee, she says she likes working here and has never left. She is very open about motherhood and working, and how often times she had to sacrifice time with her children in order to do the work she did

“It’s one of the things I regret but cannot bring those days back because it’s gone. But it’s what I have to do”.

Adeline describes her experience of having two children while working “on the floor” – (for us nontechnical folks “on the floor” means doing physical work and holding tools).

She especially recalls removing starter motors for the mine buses as difficult work, because the motors were heavy and if you didn’t follow safe work procedures it could fall on you. She was fortunate to have understanding supervisors who held her off doing heavy work when she was expecting.

“All my kids were bottle fed because of my work, its different from the office, I’m dirty and don’t have time to go back and see them during the day. I was in the field.”

Family was a big motivation to Adeline achieving success in her schoolwork and career, she has a close family and upholding the family name and making her parents proud was important to her. She warmly recalls how proud her family was when she graduated from the apprenticeship program. Being the first born she also strived to be a role model to her younger sisters and little brother. Adeline’s career as a tradeswoman was also a breakthrough in her province and in her community, she became a role model to both males and females.

She attributes her success to the support of her parents and family and especially her husband who is also a Tradesperson.

“Because of my supportive husband I can be who I am working in this trade. He is very understanding. I got married 2 years after I got my Trades Certificate, he understands me and respects my job. I wouldn’t be still working if he wasn’t like that.”

Above all she believes that her many blessings stem from the guidance of the Lord and from her faithfulness and service to the Lord through her church,

“I see my blessings came from being faithful to the Lord and in His work. When I was at school I was active in the church in whatever way to help. And even after I got married I continued this way. Many oppositions may come to achieving your dream, but I’ve seen how prayer has helped me in a big way”.

Adeline’s story as a pioneer can be valuable to any woman breaking into a male dominated field. In her career she has found her male colleagues to be very respectful towards her. She believes humility is the key to having respectful relations with her male counterparts,

“My male colleagues have so much respect for me… To work with men, you have to respect them and they will respect you.” She often advises young female apprentices, that in the technical field, being among many men there are going to be a lot of distractions and it’s very important to be focused. “Your training is very important…focus on what you want to achieve”.

Since Adeline’s days as an apprentice the proverbial landscape has changed, there are now more and more female apprentice intakes and more women on the floor. In 2019 OTML took a bold step towards increasing the number of women in the workforce by ensuring trainees recruited were 50% female. As a pioneer and a catalyst towards creating this change in the workforce Adeline believes the landscape is changing because females now have a new mindset from being exposed to gender equality issues and seeing other women breaking through those glass ceilings

“Women now think - If men can do that, we women can do that, if they can lift that thing then we can do that, if they can have that brains, we have the brains. As a culture now, men think that they are the leaders, they take the lead to do everything, they see we women cannot do it, but we’ve broken that barrier. They see that women can only do white collar jobs in the office but we’ve changed that. I feel proud of myself. As a role model they look up to me - em meri ya, em wok ya, Man noh mekim, em meri em mekim (that’s a woman and she’s doing the job, not a man)”.

When asked if she realised that as one of OTML’s first female apprentices, she has been at the forefront of breaking those barriers for young girls in PNG. She stopped a while to ponder this suggestion and then smiled at the realisation and said

“Yes. That’s true”.

The fact that Adeline never realised her part in this story is a testament to her humility and illustrates the nature of women – we put our heads down, and do what needs to be done. Glory and prestige is not usually a motive, at the end of the day we just want to help and be appreciated by our loved ones.

Adeline Parker and I would like to dedicate this article to the memory of Adeline’s father, Late Gilbert Okena (1958 - 2019).