Tasiko, Lewo in Vanuatu

Introduction / History

The Lewo Tasiko are a Melanesian people inhabiting the northeastern coast of Epi Island in Shefa Province, one of the larger islands in the Republic of Vanuatu, an archipelago of more than eighty islands lying in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Epi Island, formerly known to outsiders as Tasiko or Volcano Island, sits at the geographical center of the Vanuatu chain, roughly a thirty-minute flight from the capital, Port Vila, on the island of Efate. The Lewo Tasiko take their name from Tasiko, the principal dialect of the Lewo language — a Southern Oceanic language belonging to the broader Malayo-Polynesian family, closely related to Lamen, which is also spoken on Epi. Along with Tasiko, the Lewo language includes the Maluba and Lemaroro dialects. Bislama, the national creole language of Vanuatu, along with English and French — the country's three official languages — serve as languages of wider communication in trade, education, and government. Epi's rugged volcanic interior and its coastal margins have been home to Melanesian communities for thousands of years, and the island's people were drawn into contact with the wider world through the brutal era of black birding in the late nineteenth century, when Pacific Islanders were forcibly taken to work on colonial plantations in Queensland, Australia, and Fiji. Presbyterian missionaries arrived on Epi not long after, and in 1892 the Gospel of Matthew was translated into the Tasiko dialect of Lewo — the first appearance of the language in written form — under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand and the British and Foreign Bible Society. That early missionary presence planted seeds of faith that have grown and deepened across generations.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Daily life among the Lewo Tasiko is shaped by the rhythms of island subsistence and the close-knit bonds of extended family and community. Epi's principal economic activity is subsistence agriculture, and the Lewo Tasiko are no exception to this pattern, cultivating garden plots of taro, yams, sweet potato, cassava, peanuts, and other vegetables for household consumption. Copra — dried coconut — has long been the primary cash crop of the island, and the large plantation at Valesdir continues to produce copra, beef, and kava, while many families maintain their own small holdings. Kava, the traditional ceremonial and social beverage of Vanuatu prepared from the root of the pepper plant, is cultivated on Epi and occupies a significant place in both the local economy and customary social life. Fishing supplements the diet and provides additional income for coastal families, and the reef waters around Epi — which include the habitat of the dugong at Lamen Bay — are known among the most pristine in Vanuatu. The interior of the island is rugged volcanic terrain covered with lush rainforest, and relatively few vehicular roads connect the scattered coastal villages. The concept of kastom — the traditional laws, values, and social customs that govern community relationships, land ownership, and ceremonial life — remains deeply important in Epi communities. Both men and women participate in farming and fishing, though clearing land for new garden plots is traditionally the work of men, while women bear primary responsibility for daily food preparation and the care of young children. The Christmas and New Year season, called Bonane, is the most celebrated time of the community year among Christian ni-Vanuatu, with singing, village visits, and festive gatherings. Traditional ceremonies marking male initiation and other rites of passage, accompanied by music, feasting, and dancing, also remain meaningful occasions on Epi.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Lewo Tasiko are a predominantly Christian community, with Presbyterian Christianity representing the deepest and most historically rooted strand of their faith. Presbyterian missionaries were the first to bring the gospel to Epi Island, and the Presbyterian Church has maintained a hospital at Vaémali on the island's northern end — a testimony to the long Christian investment in the wellbeing of Epi's people. In 2017, the Lewo language community celebrated a landmark moment in their spiritual history: the dedication of the complete Lewo Bible, the fruit of thirty-five years of translation work begun in 1982 by a New Zealand family working alongside Epi church elders. The celebration at Nikaura village, where over a thousand Bibles were received with singing and joyful procession, was a profound expression of how deeply the gospel has taken root in this community. As is true across much of Vanuatu, however, Christian faith among the Lewo Tasiko coexists in complex ways with traditional beliefs. The people of Epi are known throughout Vanuatu for their association with customary magic — particularly love magic practiced by young men — and the belief that supernatural powers are most potent near the island's active volcanoes. These traditional convictions do not simply vanish with Christian conversion, and the ongoing challenge for the Lewo Tasiko church is to see the transforming power of the gospel penetrate every corner of cultural life, displacing fear and magical thinking with the freedom and confidence that belong to those who know Christ.

What Are Their Needs?

The physical remoteness of Epi Island creates genuine hardship for the Lewo Tasiko community, particularly regarding access to healthcare beyond the Presbyterian hospital at the island's north end. Most of the island's population does not have access to reliable clean water, electricity, or plumbing, and these basic infrastructure gaps affect daily quality of life in significant ways. The island's economy is narrow, resting heavily on copra and subsistence agriculture, and young people often face a difficult choice between remaining in their home community with limited opportunity or leaving for Port Vila, weakening family and village bonds. Spiritually, the Lewo Tasiko church now has something of extraordinary value in its hands — the complete Word of God in the Lewo language — and the great need is for that Scripture to be read, taught, preached, and internalized by a new generation of believers. The church also has an opportunity before it that few small island communities in the Pacific possess: equipped with Scripture in their own tongue and a century of Christian heritage, the Lewo Tasiko could become active contributors to the evangelization of the many unreached peoples of Vanuatu and the broader Pacific who have yet to hear the gospel in their own heart languages.

Prayer Points

Pray that the newly dedicated Lewo Bible would be read widely and deeply among the Tasiko community — that God's Word in their own language would bring genuine transformation, displace syncretistic practices rooted in fear of ancestral spirits and magic, and raise up a generation of bold and biblically grounded Lewo believers.
Pray for improved access to healthcare and clean water on Epi Island, where physical distance from medical services remains a serious risk, and for Christian health workers and aid organizations to invest in the wellbeing of communities on this remote island.
Pray for the young people of the Lewo Tasiko community — that they would find purpose and calling within their home island rather than drifting away to the capital, and that strong local churches would provide the community anchoring that sustains families and passes faith between generations.
Pray that the Lewo Tasiko church, richly blessed with scripture in its own language and a long history of gospel witness, would be stirred to become a sending community — contributing workers and resources to the many unreached and minimally reached peoples within Vanuatu and across the Pacific who are still waiting to hear the name of Jesus Christ.

Text Source:   Joshua Project