It is not just Christianity they're resisting, but Western influence. This is no ordinary day. For as well as the weekly market attracting Christianised coastal villagers and people from the interior, a ship has come into the harbour carrying people from the national capital, Honiara, who are fleeing ethnic strife and political uncertainty. On the Ato'ifi wharf, made from coral rock bound with galvanised wire, urbanites unload the paraphernalia of modern living - from sewing machines to CD players. The coast dwellers arrive in dugout canoes, while the ancestor-worshipping Kwaio have walked for up to 10 hours along muddy jungle tracks.
Some men clutch bows and arrows, others machetes.
A pretty young girl's face is covered by a geometric pattern of tattooed dots. Normally they are in the bush and they are hidden. Once feared as headhunters and cannibals, these wiry folk still produce comment among more Westernised Solomon Islanders. My God, you went there. Lester Asugeni works for the Ato'ifi hospital and, while now a Christian, acts as a liaison officer in the often difficult cross-cultural communications.