New Tribes: an intro

15 minutes drive out of Goroka you’ll find the New Tribes compound. It’s a large mission (own airstrip, own school) full of bible-bashing Americans. If you go to the local hotel in Goroka on Saturdays you’ll see their young hanging out at the pool, bunches of kids under 23 (all whiteskins, barring one or two afro americans, with loud, brash US accents). They do not – it’s a rule – date pngians (though they will employ them). (right = jcd's image; ta)

They believe that once the word of god is spread amongst every single “tribe” in the world, god will come to earth again and take all the saved to heaven – yep, to form the new tribe. They have been in trouble globally for their attitudes towards indigenous peoples: they preach, they’re not interested in listening to understand. Christianity can’t merge with tribal life: it’s one or the other. And so local practices are condemned, classed as backward, pagan, “dark”: traditions are interpreted as the reason why tribes are “behind” and why societies are having troubles. Traditions are evil and stupid; people who follow them invite punishment from God. Whereas a tribe may have had multiple spirits – ranging from good to bad, helpful to cheeky to dangerous – New Tribes preach of only Evil and God. (This reads as a small thing but is quite a radical shift, dramatically changing people’s understanding of the world and of forces within it; of their relationships to place, to the dead; and of course to daily life – weather, food availability, sickness etc.)

New Tribes also get into trouble for their practices: they go specifically to tribes who have not been “missionised” already. These places are extremely remote, so they often build airstrips, bring in planes with their missionaries – who need supplies and so in come businessmen, in come brands (these kids are americans, no mistake, and coke is it, and so on and so on). “Cultural destruction” is a term thrown around with “new tribes”. (see here, for example).

These are some of their ideas about mission, anyway. What they really do in their compound up here no one knows, no one. I’ve been asking all over town for months. There are a lot of them, and they have plenty of money. There are rumours (from locals and expats) that they are reporting to the CIA – but given that they do not mix with locals, and that this is the highlands we’re talking about (what could they possibly report back on that would be of interest to the CIA?), this is rather unlikely. These rumours may be related to their religious surveillance tactics: they encourage locals to inform on others when they don’t attend church, for instance. However, I can confirm that NT have just been kicked out of Venezuela because the government there believes that they are spies. Maybe there’s something to it; maybe not. But we like to think so.