The women also wanted to earn more money, but in addition they wanted better child-birthing facilities and information about growing Western crops in their family food gardens. Formerly, villages were spread all over the mountainous interiors of the archipelago's islands. Encouraged by missionaries who wanted better access to the heathens and in order to gain better access to Western goods and health care, almost all ni-Vanuatu moved to the coastal plains. In the village, everyone lives amongst their own clan, often with its own language and different customs and traditions than neighbouring villages. People and their ways are known and act in predictable ways.
Society is comfortable and supportive, as long as one conforms to it.
Neighbours provide vital social support against hostile members of other clans and language groups. One lives on one's own ground, the home of one's ancestral spirits, and one understands the spirits of the local land, rivers, trees, stones, etc., even if some are antagonistic. This is where the family nasara, or sacred dancing ground, is located. The money economy doesn't have much influence in the village. Housing comes from the bush, and food is grown in the garden.