The villages by contrast are all extremely tidy and well-kept.  This is the traditional life-style.  The villagers survive by subsistence farming - chiefly taro, bananas and the like, though there is a shortage of protein.  Most villages will keep some pigs and chicken, though the pigs seem to be used as a status-symbol, for bride-price, and various important ceremonial meals such as after a funeral, rather than as part of the normal diet.

Some villagers may have formal employment, though this would be very much the exception rather than the rule.  The local industries are the Palm-Oil company (run by English and Australians) and a sawmill (run by Malaysians).  There are numerous oil palms, and the villagers gather the fruit, take it to the nearest dirt road (which can be miles away) where the company trucks collect it and take it for processing to the rather old and smelly plant near Popondetta.  The oil is then shipped out from the wharf at Oro Bay.