Ottio’s dream comes true one year after the former Kumul’s passing

Kato Ottio’s dream of building a home for his mother Joyce and family was realised on Wednesday, exactly one year on from the former PNG international’s death.

The four-bedroom house erected on Tatana Island just outside of Port Moresby was paid for through crowd-funding and gofundme pages set up by the Canberra Raiders and Widnes Vikings, with contributions from the PNG Rugby Football League and SP PNG Hunters.

Ottio was a talented finisher and racked up a heap of tries on the wing for the Raiders’ feeder team Mounties before signing with Widnes in the Super League just weeks before he suffered a fatal heat stroke while on a run with former Hunters teammates in Port Moresby. He was just 23.

Along with the unveiling of the Ottio abode, a headstone in his honour has taken pride of place in Tatana village.

Kumuls coach Michael Marum hopes it will inspire other players to follow Ottio’s example.

“We try to encourage all the players that they too should do, there are couple of players who go back during off-season to build houses,” said Marum.

“For Kato, he promised his mum to build a house so we assisted in that and we are making sure with the opening today (Wednesday).

“Hopefully, this can open the eyes of a few other players who they can build a house for themselves or their families.”

It was a special moment for Ottio’s mother, who was flown out for the Raiders round one clash with the Knights in Canberra last year for a tribute in his honour.

Ottio’s brother Ahulo, who also made the trip over, explained the devastation the family had suffered.

“[Ottio] would go out of his way to make life good for other people. Seeing them smile was his own satisfaction. It is really good to come out here,” Ahulo said at the time.

“Mum wakes up every morning since Friday, she is in Canberra, she cannot stop crying. She walks the streets thinking ‘my son walked here’. Coming here you couldn’t stop this lady from crying.

“Thank you to Newcastle too. They were not obliged to stand out there with the Raiders. It was something special, so thank you to Newcastle and the Raiders players for doing that.”