Vanimo in Papua New Guinea

Introduction / History

The Vanimo language group is said to have come from the area of Lake Sentani, now part of Indonesia. They traveled along the coast of New Guinea over onehundred years ago to where they are now settled in three villages, between Vanimo town and the Papua New Guinea and Indonesia border. Lonely Planet says, "The coast between Vanimo and the Indonesian border is crammed with superb beaches, waterholes and lagoons, pretty creeks and picturesque villages."

The Vanimo men fish the lagoons and reefs, going out in outrigger canoes from which they stand, balanced to throw their spears at the reef fish. The women, some marked with tattoos and scarification patterns, make clay cooking pots. Traditional culture, however, is not what it used to be, having assimilated to it the Catholic church, the village club for drinking beer and watching videos, and the typical Papua New Guinea markers of development—tin roofing, tin meat, a generator, and rice. One observer reported that for one traditional singsing—drums, dancing, chanting, costumes, spirits—the people from Warimo village brought in a truck load of beer, and they wore second hand clothes under their leaves and feathers.

Despite the fact that a fair amount of Western influence has seeped into their lives, their mother tongue is still of great importance to them. Tok Pisin is secondary to the Vanimo language, and the people expect to be using it far into the future. The only place where Vanimo is not the dominant language is in the church.

Some things remain the same and some things have changed in the way that the Vanimo people live, but the fact remains that Satan uses both old and new to keep his hold on the Vanimo people. There is a need for a Bible in the Vanimo language in that there is a need for the Vanimo people to come to a knowledge of the Truth.

Text Source:   Anonymous