The Walini tribe is settled on the north side of the Lagaip just west of Laiagam. Its lands extend up into the high country as far as Kindatepa and Yapai. According to their origin tradition, the founding ancestor of the Walini was a snake man who lived at Ipai. Another origin tradition, narrated by Wambuli Kapilyo of the Walini Wapo clan, links Walini to groups further down the Lagaipa. It states that Walini had its origins when a large python left the Porgera area from Anawe and traveled the bush route Munikote-Alepai-Gotepau-Kindanepau-Katialingi-Kanalakatis-Katitukati-Katikuaka to Ipai. At Ipai the snake settled and gave birth to the snake man Kepakali, the founding ancestor of Walini.
The Walini origin tradition is closely associated with their origin story for the Kepele ritual:
Other tribes know where their forefather came from, but we were not told of the origin of ours. We were only told that a long time ago there lived a snake man at Ipai called Kepakali. One day a mother and her daughter came to Ipai on their way from Porgera to the east. It is not known exactly where they were going. They were cold and tired and wanted to build a fire when they saw smoke rising from a men’s house. The mother sent her daughter to get a burning stick from the house to start a fire and told her that she would wait for her at Meme. The daughter went to the house and saw a man inside it. He was a snake man named Kepakali. He seduced the girl and she became pregnant.
The mother, expecting her daughter to return with fire, waited and waited at Meme. When she didn’t come, the mother went on to Keokengusa and slept the night and then continued on to Kanake before returning to Porgera. At the places where she slept, the Kepele ritual was carried out. The daughter stayed, married Kepakali and gave birth to Walini.
(Pastor Malaka Lependi, Walini Wapo clan, Liopo, Laiagam)
Testimonies collected amongst Monaini at Kasap and Sakate at Pipitaka also mention the travels of the mother and daughter who founded Kepele houses, down the Lagaip and into the upper Lai, further supporting Walini’s ritual ties with groups to the west.
Walini remained concentrated in the area just west of Laiagam, with branches extending up into the highlands, with one segment near Yapuma in the northern Kandep area, which was formed when a Kamani woman married a Walini man, and returned home with her sons.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Walini clans and places
| Clan | Place | Nearest school or aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Ipaini | Ipai and | Mamale |
| Yapai and Kindatepa | Kindatepa | |
| Wapo | Liopo | Mamale |
| Lyambaina | Mamale | Mamale |
| Yalapa | Aiaka | Aiaka |
| Yanguna | Aiaka | Aiaka |