SADNESS AT GRAND CHIEF'S FIRST ANNIVERSARY

 

Arthur Somare and his sister Dulciana sharing the memory of their dad and father of the nation Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare on the first anniversary of his passing.

A DAUGHTER'S UNDYING LOVE FOR DAD

BY CLAUDIA TALLY of Post-Courier

THERE is an undying belief that daughters are always closest to their father’s hearts.

This bond is broken when the father departs the physical realm. Sadness torments the heart. Disbelief at the loss. Sorrow at the loneliness. Memories of happy father and daughter moments humble the torn heart.

They say it takes time to heal a broken heart. Yes, a lot of soul searching, a lot of tears and a lot of time to regain one’s feet.

One such heart-broken daughter still shaken by her father’s passing shared her grief yesterday.

One year on, the passing of her dad Sir Michael Somare remains a wound fresh still in his daughter’s heart as it is also in the hearts of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Dulciana Somare-Brash had no idea that settling into a life without her father would be tough.

“A year ago, when my father laid in front of me in a coffin, I was very resolute and I spoke with clarity because I didn’t quite know how severe the loneliness and sadness was going to be. I thought I’d cried enough from the moment he’d died.

“But it’s the settling back into a life that will never be the same again and I can feel the country feels the same way. How do we settle back again into some big boots and some big shoes? How to we drive and steer and find a direction every single time a generation comes up with new needs and challenges,” an emotional Ms Somare-Brash told the Post-Courier.

In the past year, Ms Somare-Brash has learnt so much about the values that her late father had thought her and her siblings.

But what she fails to understand to this day is Sir Michael’s ability to make everything seem so easy.

“I’ve got political aspirations and I am so frustrated and confused and still wondering how I am going to go out and promise to a large group of people something that I then have to deliver. I think my father, because he felt his vision so innately he was fearless. I am so proud of that,” shared Ms Somare-Brash.

She further added that her father’s passing brought a nation of a thousand tribes together and that is something that the late Sir Michael strived for during his 50 years of leading the country.

“In the year that has gone by we’ve seen an entire country come back together and I think the lesson is within that. We’ve looked for a new hero. We want to settle all debts we want to forget the hardships and we want to build on the strength of what dad left for us.”

Children at the memorial candle light vigil at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium in Port Moresby.