About Us

The Seimat language is spoken by approximately 1700 people living in the Ninigo Islands, Manus province in Papua New Guinea. The Ninigo archipelago is 370 km northwest of Manus Island and 250 km north of the town of Wewak on the mainland. The main villages are on the islands of Awin, Patexux, Mal, Lau, Pihon, Amix and Liot. In addition, there are also Seimat people living in the community on Luf, one of the Hermit Islands, east of Ninigo. A number of Seimat people live and work in the provincial capital Lorengau and in other cities such as Port Moresby, Lae, Wewak and Madang.

Seimat men and women are sailors, fishermen and gardeners. Traditionally men build their own outrigger sailing canoes to go out fishing and to sail between the islands. Since the islands are all very small, people's gardens are on islands other than where the main villages are situated. The people therefore travel frequently to work in their gardens and harvest their food. Garden produce includes taro, cassava, sago, pumpkin, sugar cane, sweet potato and cucumber. The main types of fruit grown are banana, papaya, citrus fruits and breadfruit. Most food is cooked in coconut juice since coconuts grow in abundance on each of the islands. The main source of protein is fish, seafood, chicken and pork.