How a person half my age changed my life forever:

How a person half my age changed my life forever:

 Between September and November 2015, I had recurring HBP of 190/100.  A couple of checks at the PIH found nothing that could explain why this was so.  There was already talk by the Dr for me to consider some serious examination of my heart.  My one and only bestie Daera Ako gave them a blunt “NO” and bundled me off, cap in hand, to Prof Kevau’s clinic.

After some ear-bashing by uncle Isi for rushing off to the so-called experts at PIH when the real helpers were at POMGEN, he told me to stand on the weighing machine and grimaced as the needle pointed into the void at 126kg.  (Void as in going past the “obese” category on the machine).  There and there, he started laying down the law.

 That December, (in the first week, I think), me and my colleagues Marie Eorage-Vele and Julie Wapo were in Canberra to pick up our Peruvian visas to attend the APEC ISOM in Lima the following week.  A couple of days later I receive a text message from a mate of mine from our Defence Rugby League days, Robert Ilu, asking me if I was available to have a short talk with the shyly spoken Kato Ottio, who was feeling homesick and was already thinking of packing it in and going home.  I jumped at this opportunity to meet this champ and do my best to talk him out of it so that he can go chasing his dream.

The following day, the ladies and I drove to locate where GIO stadium was (and nearly getting booked by the police for driving up a wrong lane).  Finally locating it, we met up with Rob and Kato at the GIO car park.  We all then drove off to the nearest coffee shop to have a yarn.

 

Forming the Canberra Raiders "frontrow" at the carpark of the GIO stadium, with me as hooker, Robert as prop, and a visibly shy Kats as the other prop

 

The first time I met this champ who would change my lifestyle for the better.

Sitting down, I asked him in Motu, “Ede bamona, be Rob egwaumu hanua taudia olalo dia mu?” (Whats this Im hearing from Rob that you are feeling homesick?)

 

He looked up at me shyly and replied in the same language, “Its just that everything here is new and Im finding it a bit different from my time at the hunters. I also worry about my mum because I'm here now and Im not sure how she is coping in my absence.”

I nodded my understanding and asked him to communicate in pidgin so that Rob could understand and also give some helpful advice too. 

So, over a couple of capuchinos and blueberry muffins, Rob and I did our best to convince him to stay strong to his dream, which could only be achieved at GIO and not in Port Moresby; and to forget about home for a while but to concentrate on the job at hand - which was to secure for himself a contract with the Raiders.  Most important if all, we told him too that there was no turning back from hereon, and that he could kiss his dreams goodbye if he packed it in there and then. 

 

As we left him standing outside his apartment, I leaned out of the driver's seat and told him that for whatever the reason, he carried the hopes and dreams of all Papua New Guineans; that if he was to succeed in playing top grade for the Raiders, we would rejoice with him for his success; as such, he was not to do anything that would bring us sorrow instead. (How was I to know that in less than three years down the road, he would do exactly that?).

I told him that I would be returning back to Canberra again from Peru in a week's time and that we would catch up again. 

We returned from Peru a week later and I made a beeline straight to Queanbeyan to see my sister.  Tina was having her Xmas BBQ that Saturday and we invited Kato to Tina’s where he met Tina’s family and got to know them too.  During the next 7 or so days in Australia, I made sure we (my wife, Daera, daughter Boni, and sons Aaron-Sidney and Nou) visited him every second day in the evenings, just to keep him company and to support him get over his trial and train sessions; and most of all, to give him that family warmth he was obviously missing. 

 

Tina also told him to visit her now and then and to call her if he needed anything.  I was surprised when Tina informed me later that Kato had gone to her place one day, of his own accord, to weed around her hedges and do general cleanup, etc.  He also called Tina during his very first winter in Canberra for blankets which Tina hurriedly rushed off to him...

Visiting Kats at the AIS where he was staying during his Trial and Train at the Canberra Raiders in December, 2015.

With Mr Rex Nou of the Department of Defence, cleaning Tina's garage out in Queanbeyan

  

Catching up again at the Port Moresby Waterfront shopping centre that December 2015

 

As we developed out relationship, he started opening up to me and telling me about his training regime at the Raiders, the type of food to eat or not to eat, etc.  Taking this opening, I asked him how an "old man" like me could use some of his training tips to cut down his weight and beat the HBP hovering over him.  The first time I asked this, he gave me one of his shy smiles and just for the sake of it all, he provide me a tip or two, but couldn't elaborate further.  I knew why he opted not to venture further with his unofficial tutorial.  Been the respectful young man he was, he was conscious of the gap in our ages, and most importantly, Motuan protocol decreed it disrespectful to talk openly about an elder’s health and lifestyle in his presence.  I knew there and then, that he was destined for greatness.

 So, I asked him one night. 

“Kats, when you return home for your break, which gym will you use?”

“I don’t know,” he responded.  “Why? Do you have one in mind?” he asked.

I nodded.  “Listen, I'm a member of the Aviat Club, and I know that they have a gym there with new equipment.  You could train there?”, I hinted.  I knew and I knew that he knew that for him, the High Performance Training Facilities in Port Moresby were available to athletes of his calibre.  Again, with God driving our relationship, he opted to "train with me" instead.

So, commenced a training program built upon the foundations of a very strange relationship between two very unlikely training partners: A 22-year old professional Rugby League player trying to secure his first ever rugby league contract in the world’s toughest rugby league competition; and a 47-year old wannabee trying to do the impossible.

 

During our first training session at the Aviat Club gym. Here we are posing for a pix with the gym attendant.  This was when Paul Taumik Jnr also interviewed him for the News coverage that evening.

Kats showing me how its done at the Raiders

After-gym visit to Nese Heights as he wanted to meet my family, especially my parents in particular.  Here he is posing with my mum.

By the time Kato left the following year, I promised him that the next time he saw me, he would see a totally different me.  I visited Tina again the following December and he congratulated me on looking much more “trimmer than the last time I saw you, kaks”, he said.  I told him yes, from 121kg I was now down to 107kg.  He smiled approvingly.

That December after he had returned home in September due to injury, he joined me at the gym, this time with Kohu "Kouchy" Dai.  We would do marathon gym session under his guidance and mentoring (rowing machines, and other cardio exercises, etc) to assist me get to 100kg by 31 December, 2016.  We all cheered loudly, with him giving me a couple of high fives, when I made 98.6kg on that last day of the year.

Kato calls a "break" in training for a selfie shot..

The end of another workout session, as both youngsters congratulate the old man for successfully completing gruelling high-speed 8 x 20-seconds rowing session

Keeping time as the champ rowed for his contract...

Kouchy Dai going at it...

...and the one-minute plank sessions...

Pushing and pushing...rowing and rowing...

..under the watchful eyes of Aaron Sidney LAHUI-AKO

He returned back to Australia in the beginning of 2017 for his second season with the Mounties, and the last time I would see him and talk with him would be in July that year.  Both Ambassador Pomaleu and I were guests of the Australian APEC team in Canberra (and also to observe the ongoing training of the 52 PNG public servants on APEC-related policy initiatives in Australia).  that night, Tina invited the both of us to dinner.  Being the person she is, she also instructed me to check on Kato and to see if he was available to eat with us.  He was.

 

Kats came to my hotel at the Mantra on Northbourne and was quietly sitting at the corner, trying his very best to look inconspicuous.  Too bad for him. The hotel was full of Papua New Guineans - all 52 of them.  They all crowded him, wanting to meet him for the first time, and just to talk with him, get to know him better.  He got photos with a few of them too.  Which was the reason why he quickly but apologetically got up from where he was sitting when he saw me walk out of the lift...  The rest of the team, sensing his distraction from their queries, jokes, etc, made way for him as he slowly strolled towards me.  Hugging me he apologized for intruding like this. I shrugged off his apologies and quickly introduced him to Ambassador Pomaleu.  In the car, on our way to Tina’s, he quietly asked me in Motu, “Kaks, you’ve lost a lot of weight now.  How much?” I replied, “I'm 94kg now.”  He nodded and smiled to himself, the smile of a person knowing that one's success was also his success.

Our God is an awesome God and He works in very mysterious ways, and I believe that people come into your life for a reason.  God almighty, in His ever lasting wisdom, put Kato into mine - purposely to bring me back to health.  Our God, in turn, put me into Kato's life during the early days of his "Trial and Train" outing with the Raiders to support him and encourage him to reach his goals, and not to lose hope.  I praise God because we both carried out His will to the letter.  You see, both of us needed something which the other had.  And we could only obtain them through no other way but by "sharing" our expertise and God-given talent and gift with one another.  

 

When I reflect back on his passing, I know that he is now reporting to our God that "Yes, Father, Your will was carried out and your servant Lahui is now rolling on with what You had task me to teach him..."

 

Well bro, I am well now, and I exercise regularly for someone my age.  I tipped the scales at 87.7kg today (Saturday, 6 January, 2018), I walk 5km in under 40-minutes now, and I row 2,500m in 10 minutes now.   I no longer have those health issues I had before meeting you in December, 2015.  My BP is normal, and so as my sugar level.  All because you rubbed your youthful exuberance, enthusiasm, and your great need to succeed at the Canberra Raiders, off on me and pushed me on to regain my wellbeing. 

 

Kats congratulating me for achieving another milestone in our training sessions in December, 2016.

Today, I pay tribute to you, my brother, Kato Ottio. You have changed my life forever.  My family and I will never forget you for as long as we live.  Today, the Akos of Nese Heights, Hanuabada mourn your passing and Remember you as a Game changer and Legend!

“Rest in peace, Tadigu lalokau na.  Aola, eda Dirava ese emu noho gabuna na vada e ahegaegae a. Aola, mai maino mu ida…”

 

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