| Raylance Mesa | |
| Birth Place: | Tami Islands, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG) |
| Nationality: | Papua New Guinean |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Known For: | Youngest winner of the Westpac Outstanding Women Award in PNG |
In 2019, at the age of 24, Raylance Mesa was the youngest winner of the Westpac Outstanding Woman Award (WOW) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for her work to help her island to adapt to climate change.
Raylance Mesa comes from the Tami Islands, which are off Finschhafen on the Huon Peninsula in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. She attained a bachelor's degree with merit in Architecture at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (Unitech), in PNG's second city of Lae, between 2014 and 2018.[1] [2] [3] [4]
The island that Mesa comes from is sinking as a result of climate change, with differences in sea levels clearly noticeable. She started to work with her community to make changes at the age of 16. Building sea walls to protect buildings at risk of being swamped by the sea by using materials such as dead coral and tree trunks, she also organized fundraising to upgrade the island's school and to buy land on the mainland for occupation by the islanders when the sea does eventually reclaim their island.[1] [4] [5]
Since 2019, Mesa has been employed as a Graduate Architect by ExxonMobil in PNG's capital, Port Moresby.[3] [6]