Tomas Perzelt - KK 2005

Tomas's Story

From the very moment I was selected as one of the four students from Nerang State High School I had no clue what I was in for.

At the beginning the weekly Sunday morning training wasn’t too bad but doing this for four months every Sunday was a bit too much and had a serious effect on my social and school life. It was my belief that training was only needed on every second weekend and maybe even some organised design training at school with the students. It was a bit too much that I had no social life during the training period but in the end big things come with a big price. 

At the beginning I had said that I wanted to choose the right path in my life and I believed this experience would help me. It has most definitely had a major impact on my life. I feel now that I know where my life should head and how I should live it. I have more self confidence now knowing that I have completed something so significant in my life. More of our youth need to experience a programme like this so that they will learn about respect and gratitude that we all need in our life.

It seemed to take forever for the day to arrive when we would finally leave. Especially because of my passport situation which was only issued three days before we left.

I am so appreciative that I had so many people supporting me who would not allow me to give up even when I was at the point of doing so.

I myself did not know much about the history of Kokoda and I think in spite of that all of the participants in the Kokoda Youth Leadership Programme take the time to learn about the remarkable Kokoda Campaign and the amazing deeds of those young soldiers so long ago.

Whilst on the Kokoda track I experienced things I will never forget and like many of our diggers in 1942 I had to be carried one day when heat exhaustion got the better of me. Here I was a 16 year old being carried by descendants of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels along some of the track where our diggers had fought. It was an unforgettable experience.

There are great lessons and great life experiences to be gained and I am hoping that the Kokoda Youth Leadership Programme continues because there are many kids that need an experience like this to help them take a better direction in their lives. I hope that like our group many more young people get this chance.

I have made many friendships that will last a lifetime and gained knowledge that will guide me through life but most importantly I have gained respect and appreciation of the life that I live and that is thanks to the men who fought and died to protect this great country I call home.

It was amazing visiting sites on the track that made me feel like going home at times because here I am standing at a spot where men died. At times I felt like falling into the ground and bawling my eyes out but being stubborn as I am I refused to but inside myself I was. It was finally at the war cemetery at Port Moresby that I could not hold it in. It hit me most when I walked past the grave of Papua boy. He was just 16. He was younger than me and here he was in a grave. I sat there and read over and over his name. It was Popipin and his number was P964. I sat there in awe and sadness and finally I tore a cross that I’d been wearing around my neck and dug a hold in this young boy’s grave where I buried my cross. It was not just a religious symbol for me but a sign of the respect for what his boy had sacrificed his life for me and Australia.

It was an amazing feeling crying for a young man I did not know but had sacrificed his life for you so long ago. It’s a feeling that I find hard to explain I will just say to feel these things you really need to experience them for yourself.

There are many things that I may write in this report and some which you may not understand well. But I say to you how can you explain something that there is no way of explaining just experiencing. It’s like trying to explain the meaning of love and of course the only way to understand that is to experience it.

I am hoping that the Kokoda Kids 2005 are just the first of many who will experience what we have. That they will have the opportunity to go through what I did because it will last forever.

I know in myself that I have changed for the better and that’s what my goal was to start with. I now have more appreciation and respect for the smaller things in life and I hope that many others will too.

It’s made me who I am now.

Tomas Perzelt
Kokoda Kids 2005