General to lead retirement celebration for PNG’s territorial commander
Commissioner Andrew Kalai speaks at celebrations to mark the opening of The Salvation Army in Solomon Islands. Photo: Shairon Paterson.
Papua New Guinea’s first Indigenous Territorial Commander, Commissioner Andrew Kalai, will retire this weekend.
After serving as a Salvation Army officer for 32 years, he will be honoured at a ceremony, as part of congress celebrations in Port Moresby, attended by General Linda Bond.
Well known to many Australian Salvationists who either worked with him in PNG or trained alongside him at Booth College in Sydney, Commissioner Kalai’s history with The Salvation Army dates back to when he was a boy.
He attended an Army primary school in Port Moresby in the mid-1960s, and then began to go to Sunday School at Koki Corps. In his early teenage years, he was enrolled as a senior soldier.
“The Salvation Army soon became the centre of my life,” Commissioner Kalai remembers. “I was involved in the brass band, the corps cadets, youth group and other activities.”
When he was 17, he was commissioned as corps sergeant major at Koki, a position he held for the next six years until he went to the Army’s officer training college.
During that time, Commissioner Kalai finished school, obtained an arts degree from the University of Papua New Guinea, fell in love and got married. With his wife, Napa, he entered the training college in Sydney in 1979 as part of the Proclaimers of Salvation session.
The Kalais served together in a number of appointments from 1981 to 1994 in PNG, at corps, divisional and territorial headquarters and at the training college in Port Moresby. They were serving as divisional commanders when Napa was promoted to glory in October 1994, leaving behind her husband and their four children.
Commissioner Kalai continued to serve in leadership positions in PNG. Nine years after the death of his first wife, he married Captain Julie Siso.
In 2004-2005, the couple was appointed to serve in the United Kingdom Territory, before returning to PNG as territorial leaders. Commissioner Kalai remembers the day of his appointment vividly, rushing home to tell his wife who was not at work that day.
“I wanted to share the news with Julie in person. I also wanted us to spend time in prayer before the announcement was made,” he says. “We felt a tremendous sense of awe at the thought of the responsibilities that lay before us. But as we continued praying, all of a sudden a sense of peace enveloped us.”
Tragically, after less than three years of marriage, Commissioner Kalai was bereaved again, with his wife promoted to glory in October 2006.
“Many fine tributes were given by friends and colleague leaders from around the world,” he says. “But those who knew her from her early days said Julie had matured into a wonderful spiritual leader in the short space of time she had been in senior leadership.”
In February 2008, General Shaw Clifton promoted Colonel Andrew Kalai to commissioner. He has been in senior leadership of The Salvation Army in PNG as chief secretary for five years and territorial commander for nearly eight years. During his leadership, the territory celebrated its 50-year anniversary and he presided over its expansion into the Solomon Islands.
Commissioner Kalai says he has been honoured to lead the territory and hopes that the Army will not only continue to grow in number, but also in quality. “It is important the Army is characterised by strong love for God and love for others,” he says.
This weekend’s congress, with the theme “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”,will attract hundreds of Salvationists and other dignitaries.
Among those attending are Australia Eastern Territory leaders, Commissioners James and Jan Condon, who served in PNG under Commissioner Kalai.
“Andrew Kalai has served with distinction as a national leader in Papua New Guinea,” says Commissioner James Condon. “He has a desire for The Salvation Army to continue growing and wants to see the expansion of Salvation Army schools so that children of the country have an opportunity to receive an education and also hear about Jesus.”
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