Avakori Culture in Bougainville

Leonard Fong Roka

In the Nasioi society of Bougainville there is a saying for males that goes: ‘when you fuck a woman, you must know that you are fucking a garden, a house and everything that will sustain you both’. This is associated with marriage.

This wisdom really is a norm in Central Bougainville to South Bougainville; unlike the north, it is not that evident. And in the proverb above, it is the situation where it tells a man that ‘he is fucking a house the moment he is naked on his woman’ that is the catch phrase here.

In most Bougainville communities in Nasioi, Koromira, Eivo, Nagovis, Banoni and Siwai (areas I am familiar with) the village concept is dying out rapidly. In the post crisis Bougainville, hardly there is a village community in existence in these communities.

The 10-year Bougainville civil conflict did contributed to the rapid dying of the village systems. The crisis scattered people into refugee camps away from the coasts or into the PNG held care centers thus disturbing the harmonious progress of village living.

But in Buin I discovered such massive villages especially Oria, Laguai and Malabita but the proverb still is prevalent in these villages.

In today’s Bougainville homes are being erected within the extended or nuclear family circles. Males in the family turn to make these isolated and family based homesteads into something of a village scale to the distant eyes.

In the Nasioi society it is evident that little boys as young as six years turn to force their parents or brothers to built them one-room houses. This is a culture referred to as avakori in Nasioi which means baby-works (both boys’ tiny houses or girls’ little gardens are referred to as avakori).

Avakori, especially for younger girls’ gardens, when their brothers or parents support it, contribute to the sustenance of the family.

There is this spirit of independence or self reliance for the youngsters with the old tradition of avakori. Males are equipped to built own homes and females are real independent to make gardens that sustains their families when marriage is reached.

For myself, I did begin to do avakori in the peak of the Bougainville crisis in 1992 in the Kupe village.  Influenced by my peer grouping, I began making my own garden backed by my mother and late in 1993, I began a house of my own supported by a relative.

In my Tumpusiong Valley with modern materials and money from gold is at hand, male kids are well engaged with avakori of little houses (as photographed (above) is my cousin, Tabekau, in his own house that also has electricity supplied ) and females also running parallel with their interests.

This has led to change in the said areas where the young are becoming the breadwinners since in their families or they are more financially independent and not being fed by their parents.