Introduction

  

The Fore People are a tribe residing in the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. They are a tribe classified as horticulturalists. Horticulturalists thrive off harvesting fruits and vegetables. The Fore People are known for an extremely fatal illness that almost drove them to extinction. Traditionally The Fore People had no name for themselves and had no collective ceremonies or other distinguishable aspects of a tribe.

Bordered by mountains and rivers the Fore People are very nature dependent. There are approximately 20,000 Fore who are scattered amongst the forest. They are majorly divided by the Wanevinti Mountains into the North Fore and the South Fore regions. There are 3 common dialects of the Fore language but the Fore People are also known to speak the languages of their surrounding neighbors. The language of the Fore People is recently being translated into written form and they now own written records of their language.

The Fore People are especially known for their extreme kindness and eagerness to accept different things. They are very open people who reach out to learn about new things and people and do not find a hassle in welcoming others into their culture.

"The Fore never wavered in their welcome, weaving us into their community through the exchange of food, goods and labor, and the sharing of information. As we visited the hamlets small groups of inquisitive young men tagged along. Women, young and old, were always busy in the gardens. We benefited, perhaps, by being in the ambiguous category of outsiders--not government officers or missionaries, who they had encountered already, but people who wanted to learn about their loves. At first, they called us 'story masta' and 'story missus', and later by our names, which were soon given to several infants (eliciting birth gifts from us) (Lindenbaum)."

Reports such as the one listed above are very common when it comes to the investigators who came in contact with the Fore People. Their welcoming nature, even though many are very strong rooted to their traditions, is very admirable to people around the world.

By: Deepika Ratnala