5 - Crisis and Christianity

Summary

Life was not easy in Santa Isabel during the years preceding the turn of the century. It may not have been as bad as the darkness and death depicted in mission journals of the day, but there is abundant evidence that Isabel society was indeed a society in jeopardy, suffering widespread dislocation and serious population decline at the hands of raiders armed with newly acquired weaponry. Stories such as that told by James Nidi in the preceding chapter remind present generations of the once-upon-a-time vulnerability of their ancestors. Other accounts are even more immediate, told, until recently, in the first person. Christian Odi, an old man of Koviloko village now deceased, tells of his experience as a child being kidnapped by raiders:

At first we were located at Kolokofa. Then when the raiders started coming, we all fled to Kubolota where there were many others in our Thauvia clan. But Nagu and Jra'i, two chiefs of the Nakmerufunei clan, thought that we were becoming too numerous. So they sent a pouch-payment to Goregita for him to come and wipe out our Thauvia line … When the payment reached Tuarughu in Hograno, Goregita said to his followers: “Nagu and Jra'i have sent us a pouch-payment, so we are going to raid Kubolota.” […]