Suain in Papua New Guinea

People Name:	Suain
Country:	Papua New Guinea
10/40 Window:	No
Population:	5,100
World Population:	5,100
Primary Language:	Ulau-Suain
Primary Religion:	Christianity
Christian Adherents:	99.00 %
Evangelicals:	17.00 %
Scripture:	Translation Needed
Online Audio NT:	No
Jesus Film:	No
Audio Recordings:	Yes
People Cluster:	New Guinea
Affinity Bloc:	Pacific Islanders
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

The speakers of Ulau-Suain live in the villages of Ulau, Suain and Tawak. Ulau and Suain are located on the Sepik coast and Tawak is located a little way inland. Ulau and Suain are broken into many smaller hamlets, with people living in clan groups.

People collect building materials for their houses from their own land, having ready access to sago palms, bamboo and other building materials. Most houses are built on stilts. There are now some semi-permanent houses with corrugated iron roofs.

People in the Ulau-Suain area mainly eat sago, made by processing pith of the sago palm. Sago can be cooked in a variety of different ways, the most common of which is to mix it with hot water and form small balls with a jelly-like consistency. People also have gardens where they grow fruit, greens and assorted tubers.

The Catholic Church was the first denomination to evangelize the Ulau-Suain area. They did some work before World War 2, but did not become really established until after the war. They started the two primary schools in the area. Most people would still claim affiliation to the Catholic Church although, since the 1970s, other denominations have started churches in the area.