Enga love poem

A short translation for her into Enga (Caga, Tchaga, Tsaga), the language of the ethnic clan enga, here into the Wild West dialect of Laiagam.

I hope that the enga girl of my poem, will never be the source of warrior rivalries between clans, excepted on backdrop of traditions in warrior clothes, and in mimed fighting during a ritual ceremony.

There are 230,000 people in the Highlands at the east of Papua New Guinea, who speak this vernacular language. There are 9 dialects of enga, it's an important language because generally papu languages can only have 100 speakers.

The enga language group, is the most important in PPN, however Engas live in the central Highlands in some of the rugged and remote areas in the country. This undermines the theory that so much linguistic diversity in Papua should be linked to the geography of the country.

It seems that it is more the pride of the small cultural differences and an identity that explains this diversity. Ware are an example of this need of identity, they have always been frequent among the various groups, but when it was bows and arrows which opposed the belligerents, they ended in a calm manner.

At the end of the 20th century, the guns and the hiring of henchmen, replaced the arrows, and this resulted in many deaths. Today the wisdom of the elders took over, and the wars end more quickly.