John Tyman's
Cultures in Context Series
Torembi and the Sepik
A Study of Village Life in New Guinea
PART ONE:  THE NATURAL SETTING
Topic No. 4: The Village
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036. The village of Torembi is one of several inhabited by members of the Sawos tribe. It lies mostly within the forest, but on the edge of the kunai.
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037. It is adjacent to a small stream (the Kwatit) which, close to sea level, winds to and fro among the trees.
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038. Ten kilometres downstream it joins the Sepik, so the people of Torembi are able to draw on the resources of all four  environments – forest, grassland, swamp grassland and swamp woodland.
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039. On the Sepik Plains today a village typically consists of lines of houses strung out on either side of a track. 
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040. In Torembi’s case, however, there are 3 villages, not one, plus a mission.
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041. Torembi 1 is the oldest and lies closest to the Sepik.  Of the three it was the only one not positioned alongside the Kwatit. It was sited instead in a forest clearing close to sago swamp, in easy reach of food and water. 
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042. It is the largest of the 3, and has almost a thousand people. There are 3 or 4 lines of houses, more or less parallel to the forest path. 
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043. As the population grew in size, groups of families were encouraged to establish new settlements elsewhere. Had they all remained in Torembi 1, they would have had to travel a long way from home to find land for their gardens.
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044. The new village --  Torembi 2 -- grew up alongside of the river and now it has a population of 200.
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045. Later it acquired a satellite settlement or outlier of its own, on the grassland nearby. Some families, however, have abandoned their homes here recently because of a dispute over land ownership.
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046. Torembi 3 was the next settlement established.  It has a population of 250. .  Like Torembi 2 it grew up close to the river, which provided water (for both drinking and washing), means of transport, fish to eat, and a way to dispose of garbage.
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047. Flooding was a problem, though, so as the village grew, new homes were built away from the river. 
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048. Most of these were located on the edge of the forest, where the trail from Torembi 2 joined the main track which linked the Mission to the Sepik.
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049. Torembi Mission was established in 1950, in a grassy area at the northern end of the village, where there was room for a landing strip.
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050. With its church, its clinic, school, post office, passenger and airfreight services, the Mission has served as a doorway through which new ideas have penetrated the community.


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Text, photos and recordings by John Tyman
Intended for Educational Use Only.
Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, 2010.
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