People migrated to Langalanga Lagoon and built the artificial islands not because of warfare, being outcasts or from mosquitoes. People of different places congregated in Langalanga lagoon to participate in a cash economy designed around shell money and trade.

Yes, the people may not have land, but they design a trading system using shell money to buy the goods they could not produce themselves. trading is done in the currency of the region.

They produce different currencies for the different geographical regions of Malaita, Gela, Guadalcanal, Makira and Ulawa. The different currencies also have different denominations. For example, the currency for the central and north part of Malaita is tafuliae. The two denominations are bata maefuo and bata fofoloabisi. The currency of Wala is galia. The different denominations are galia, fura and isae galia. The different denominations of south Mala include ulu'ulu, apala, kaweiha'a. ha'atahana and kari awara. The denominations for Gela included turobuto, vinda, sautolu, bara, matabala, talina and sauhongavulu. These people also had the equivalent of a Central Bank to monitor the standard and quality of the different currencies issued.

The communities occupying the artficial islands of Langalanga (Wala) were premised on the principle of interdependency. Each tribe contributes a skill to the functioning of the community. The people who began the tribes were important people (maedo) from the places they came from. Some of the skills they brought with them include dani (controlling weather), mamamu (fishing), susu (food) and torina (canoe making).

We have a lot to learn from these communities. Let us dig deep and see the beauty of the organisational structures of these communities and learn a two for our societies today.