Expanded PDF Profile

The Nuk people live in the Saruwaged mountain range in Morobe province. The ten villages are between 800 and 1500 metres above sea level. The nights can be cool and many rooms have fire places in the middle which people sleep next to at night. Houses are built on posts one to one and a half metres off the ground. The majority of houses are made of woven bamboo walls and floors and have thatched roofs of either grass or sago leaves. A few houses have walls made of handmade lumber.
The people live off what they grow in their gardens: taro, sweet potatoes, yams, cooking bananas, greens and various kinds of fruit. They also plant betel nut and coffee for cash crops, as well as selling some of the other produce from their gardens.

Christianity was introduced by the Lutherans in the 1930s. Everyone in the area would now claim to be a Christian, although many still believe in their traditional religion.

There are three dialects of Nuk. Young people and children in two of the dialects are using Tok Pisin rather than Nuk. The other dialect remains strong and it has a need for Bible translation so people can clearly understand scripture for themselves.

* Scripture Prayers for the Nuk in Papua New Guinea.