Tombe is a tribe which left the Timitopa tribe near Titipa in S.W. Kandep and migrated to the Laiagam area in approximately the eighth generation. The migration legend, as confirmed both at Laiagam and Titipa, goes as follows:
A descendant of Timitopa, named Timu, got married to a woman from the Waitini clan near Laiagam, and they had two sons, Waio and Waipyangu. Timu also had other wives. His Walini wife often told her sons about her home at Kuaka Mountain near Laiagam. One day at Titipa, an incident occurred which made them leave for their mother’s land in the Lagaip. It started when somebody in the family killed a cassowary and roasted it. Timu shared it with his other children, but not with Waio and Waipyangu. Feeling rejected, they left for their mother’s place near Laiagam.
They first reached Yapai and then tried to go on to their mother’s place but turned back because the Lagaip River was too high and slept at Saukutengesa. They remained there and stole food from gardens. A man from the Walini Ipaini clan saw them stealing, so he gave them land and told them to stay. They made their own gardens and settled there. Waio died before he was married, and Waipyangu married a woman named Pumalia, from the Pumane tribe, and gave birth to Tombe.
In addition to getting land from Ipaini, Tombe got some of his Pumane mother’s land when Pumane left Porgera. Tombe had five sons, four of whom remained in the Laiagam area, and one who returned to Titipa in Kandep. Tombe was called ‘the sons of a woman from yesterday’ since they were ‘born yesterday and came yesterday’.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Tombe clans and places
| Clan | Location | Nearest school/aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Toka | Yaunduaka | Laiagam |
| Yaoeange | Yaunduaka | Laiagam |
| Pauma | Kopakopa | Laiagam |
| Kapi | Kopakopa | Laiagam |
| Kolaka | Titipa | Titipa |