Question/Answer - Numero 9

9. What concepts in the Sawi culture intrigued/reviled/saddened/angered/surprised you?

As cannibals, the people of the Sawi culture devoured human flesh. However, not only were they eating humans to satisfy their appetite, they believed that eating the flesh of another person would give them complete power over the dead person. Also, one of the tribes ate a Peace Child that was given to them because they believed the spirit of the Peace Child would live inside of them eternally. As I read on, however, I realized the Sawi cared more of the process to reach the opportunity to gain human flesh. They savor the moment when the person about to be eaten stiffens up in terror as the realization strikes him that his fate had been planned. To produce such an effect, they use the concept of “Tuwi asonai man”, which means “fattening a pig for slaughtering”.



From the moment we learn how to talk and start learning about the world, one of the things we are told by our parents is that we should not deceive and betray others. In the Sawi culture however, I realized that the mere act of treachery is considered as an honorable and noble act. In the first two chapters of the “Peace Child”, Yae believes that he has established a successful and friendly relationship with another tribe, Haenam. Yae acts as a diplomat between his own tribe and Haenam. However, the people of Haenam decide to betray him. Not until the moment before he is killed does Yae realize that he had been tricked. Reality strikes him, however, before he can rescue himself out of the predicament; he is killed and is devoured down the throats of the hungry people of Haenam. Yae had been the pig that was fattened for slaughtering. From a world that treats the act of treachery and betrayal as one of the worst actions one could do, the fact that the Sawi culture revered this concept was shocking. This is also shown when Richardson tells the story of betrayal when Judas betrays Jesus. For the Sawi, Judas becomes the “super-Sawi” and hero of the story.

I was shocked to discover that the children in the Sawi culture were trained to be violent and treacherous since childhood. Instead of learning to be considerate and caring, the children were taught to become warriors and live to betray others. Consequently, they would have grown up only genuinely trusting no one but their family. In a society that I am a part of, international relations and connections between many people are essential. Consequently, I found the fact that the tribes could not intermingle with each other surprising.



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Question/Answer - Numero 8

1. How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?

How do I relate to faith?

Someone who I can have faith in is someone who I can trust and rely on. That someone to me is God. Although I admit that my faith is not complete and can waver when I face hardships, I believe that God can give me strength and courage to stand back up.

Faith gives me Fortitude and courage to take action.
Faith acts like an Antidote for my heart lacerated with sin.
Faith helps me to be Introspective and reflective of how I live my life.
Faith with prayer helps Transports me to God in times of adversity
Faith removes various kinds of Hindrances that attempt to impede my relationship with God.

How did Don Richardson relate to Faith?

Don Richardson related to his faith in God as his motivation to go and help the Sawi people learn about Christianity. Although Richardson despairs in times when he experiences difficulties in trying to convey the message of God to the Sawi people, his unwavering and consistent faith in God produces the result of the Sawi believing in God.

Faith gave Richardson Fervor and passion to spread the word of God to the Sawi people.
Faith helped Richardson to Approach the cannibalistic tribe with courage.
Faith gave Richardson the ability to Ignite the light of Christianity for the Sawi people.
Faith helped Richardson to Traverse and to have perseverance with the Sawi people.
Faith enabled him to have Hope even when he faced hardships.

How do the Sawi relate to faith?

The faith of the Sawi people consisted of malevolent spirits, cannibalism, and treachery. “Tuwi asonai man”, which means, “to fatten with friendship for slaughter” is the basis of their faith. When Richardson came, he found that they had no words to describe the concept of God, therefore, could not have had any possible relationship to Christianity.

However, the redemptive analogy overturned the tide.

Upon Richardson’s declaration of him leaving the tribe because of constant war between the tribes, the tribes decided to guarantee peace by the “Peace Child”. By exchanging the Peace Child, this promised peace between the tribe as far as the peace child lived. Here is where the redemptive analogy comes in to play. Jesus is portrayed as God’s Peace Child, who guarantees eternal peace. Jesus’ crucifixion can also tie in when one of the tribe leaders expresses sorrow over his son, a Peace Child who was killed and eaten by the other tribe. Richardson presents God’s one and only Son killed by the ones who God gave His Son voluntarily to. Eventually the Sawi people come to accept God and establish a church.

The faith of the Sawi people was filled with Furor in treachery and betrayal.
The faith of the Sawi people was difficult to Approach with an attempt to change it.
To the Sawi, their faith was Immaculate and flawless.
Their traditional faith in cannibalism and treason was the focus of the life of the Sawi people.
However, the Sawi people finally came to understand God and Jesus through redemptive analogy.




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Question/Answer - Numero 7

10. How did Christianity change this culture?

For centuries, the Sawi had lived as cannibals. In order for one to be honored and to be a “legend maker”, one had to commit a treacherous act and betray another’s trust by murder. This concept was called the “Tuwi asonai man”, which meant “fattening a pig for slaughter”, just like a pig that is given a lot of food to eat before it is slaughtered. The Sawi also believed in spirits of the dead. However, Richardson helps bring a transformation of the Sawi culture. Through redemptive analogy, he connects the concept of the Peace Child to Jesus Christ and helps the Sawi to comprehend what God did for His people. The Sawi initially thought Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was the hero of the story. Through Richardson efforts, the Sawi finally realizes the connection between their Peace Child and God’s Peace Child and understands the atrocious crime that Judas committed by killing God’s Peace Child.

Christianity changes the once barbaric culture into a community that no longer believes that they need a Peace Child of their own. The Sawi understands that their Peace Child does not last forever, and is not perfect. Richardson helps them realize that God's Peace Child, Jesus is the perfect Peace Child who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Consequentially, Richardson helps the Sawi to build a church. Christianity also gives the opportunity to have more trust in other tribesmen. Before Christianity was introduced into the tribes, no one knew what would happen those who put their lives at risk by attempting to create a friendly relationship with another tribe. In the first two chapters, Yae goes alone to Haenam to establish a friendly relationship with another tribe. After a successful first visit, Yae feels more and more confident after each visit to Haenam. of having established a peaceful relationship with another tribe grows. Ultimately however, Yae is murdered by the blood-thirsty tribesmen of Haenam, who had been patiently waiting for this day to carry out the slaughter part after fattening the pig. Although the culture of the Sawi cannot be utterly modified,the spread of Christianity will help the Sawi culture to develop a stronger sense of trust with other tribes.

Question/Answer - Numero 6

7. Using the five senses, describe through the eyes of Sawi Child. How would they perceive the arrival of the Tuans?

The odor of the sago filled the hut as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. I flung the sago angrily at Rayen, my father’s fifth wife and the youngest, declaring that I wasn’t hungry. “What a waste”, I thought, “I could spend this time training to become a warrior”. With that, I grabbed my bow and arrows and strode out of the hut to practice shooting.

About twenty steps away from the tree, I stopped and in one swift motion, fitted the arrow on to the bow. Feeling the misty, cool air settling on my skin, I focused only on the tree and erased my surroundings. Taking a deep breath, I released. The arrow seemed to split through the air as it whizzed forward and struck the tree – dead center. Whooping with glee, I fitted another arrow and took a step back to try again. As my eyes narrowed onto the tree, I sensed something moving beyond the tree on the river. It was a canoe. Squinting, I saw that there were Tunas heading this way.

“They’re here!” I shouted as loud as I could towards the inner part our tribe. My fateful message seemed to travel through the air, rushing into every hut and bringing out every single inhabitant outside. I saw my friends darting out just like everyone else with dirt flying behind them. Approaching closer to the riverbank with the rest of the people, I saw the canoe with the Tuans clearly growing bigger as it glided slowly towards us. The canoe finally reached the shore and came to a gentle halt. My heart hammered like war drums as the Tuans stepped out of the canoe. It was the first time I had seen them this close; I had caught a glimpse of the Tuan man who had come for the past few days to build his hut here. I could see that their skin was all white unlike the rest of us and they were wearing pieces of… something that I had never seen before.

As night grew on, the Tuans began to make their way to their new hut as we surrounded them and followed them. Together with a few of the tribesmen, my father brought out drums to celebrate their arrival. As the Tuans disappeared inside their hut, the drums grew louder and my heart thumped more widely as all of us savored this moment of pride that the Tuans had chosen our tribe to live with.

Suddenly, light exploded from the hut as if it was ablaze. The light hit our eyes and pandemonium broke out. Everyone tried to run towards the opposite direction, away from the dazzling hut. Shielding my eyes from the blinding light, I roughly pushed through the mayhem, shoving those who were doing the same but were blocking my way. Then, the Tuan man came out and shouted, pouring instant silence over the havoc. He tried to reassure us, which brought back the people who had succeeded in putting a distance between them and the hut. His voice had strength, like a warrior, but it was not harsh forceful. His eyes seem to hold power and authority like our chief did. I sank into my thoughts about the Tuan, recalling the eavesdropping of the chief and several tribesmen, including my dad, had been saying about the Tuans living with us and wondered what could possibly bring these Tuans to our tribe.



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Question/Answer - Numero 5

10. How different is your modern culture from the sawi tenants?

Chapter after chapter, I began to realize how unusual yet fascinating the life lead by the Sawi people was, in the context that our culture and their culture is on utterly opposite ends on a magnet. The contrast between this peculiar Sawi culture and our culture is so extreme that I find myself feeling eerie and amazed simultaneously.

Right from the first few chapters of the book, I realized that the Sawi people thought treachery as a value and considered “fattening with friendship for slaughter” as the most honorable act one could do. Also, by devouring the flesh of the person who was “slaughtered” signifies the power that the eater now has because he/she has taken in the dead person’s spirit that is now utterly under their control. In our culture however, one does not kill a person for the purpose of eating that person for power and respect. On the other hand, treachery, robbery, trickery, and murder are far from being held as respectable. They are considered as despicable and disgraceful acts and are trained from early childhood not to lie, steal, or hurt other people.

The previous sentence leads to another difference - child behavior. “The Sawi child is trained to obtain his will by sheer force of violence and temper” (p.157 – Peace Child). Also, the children are, “…goaded constantly to take revenge every time he is hurt or insulted” (p.157). Furthermore, “Every Sawi Child knows that if he throws a violent enough tantrum, he will get his way” (p. 156). On the rare occasion when a parent actually strikes a child with intent to punish them, “…the child will often strike back, or at least throw himself into convulsive rage to bend the parent’s will. The parent will accept this reaction, thus encouraging a similar response next time. Generally punishing a child is frowned upon, and the reason given is “in case you break his spirit”.” As Don Richardson says, we can “Call it discipline-in-reverse” (p. 156).

The condition that the Sawis live in is also appalling. The hygienic level of the Sawi culture is settled at the lowest possible level. A part of the book described two girls who were walking off the trail and occasionally pulled off leeches from their feet and ankle while not breaking the conversation. As a modern culture with medication and resources, what they consider as “normal” is utterly shocking for us.

“Lord, in all of time and space has Your message ever encountered a world view more opposite than this one? Could there be a world view more opposite to the gospel?” (p. 154).


33% of the world population is considered as Christians and Christianity stands as the religion with the largest percentage of believers. God’s words and His gospel are studied while the Sawi people are on a wholly different thinking level as depicted in the quote above. They are not only cruel, they honor the act of cruelty; “Their highest pleasure depended upon the misery and despair of others” (p. 153). Beyond their pleasure in cruelty, the situation that really struck gold of being the opposite from the gospel was the Sawi people’s reaction to the story of Judas and his betrayal to Jesus. For them, Judas was the hero; he was considered as a “Super – Sawi”.

I realized that the differences that lie between our modern culture and the Sawi culture are extreme. It will be interesting to see how Don Richardson overcomes these differences and obstacles in order to teach the Sawi people about the word of God.

Question/Answer - Numero 4

2. How does faith relate to the world in which we live in?

Faith is having complete trust in something for which there is no proof. There are those who live without faith, without purpose, and without intentions while there are those who have unfaltering faith and know who they live for. In my opinion, everybody should have someone or something that they believe in.

There are all kinds of beliefs that people from different cultures believe in. For the Sawi, they believe in legends and cannibalism. Betraying friends from other tribes is thought to be an honorable and great act. They also eat the human flesh and believe that eating another person will make you eternally dominant since you have devoured the person's spirit. Also, the only way to earn respect is to eat human flesh. Although this is quite sickening and although I cannot comprehend their culture,it is a culture all too natural for the Sawis since they have grown up with it. People in each culture are so used their religion that they frequently fail to try and comprehend other religions or cultures besides their own. We should therefore, open-up our minds and recognize other types of faith in order to be open to the world.

I believe that faith is the foundation of a human and is what leads them to live life with a purpose. For some people who do not have faith, they don’t seem to realize the true meaning of their existence and the fact that their presence is significant for people around them. For example, there are times when celebrities who are under an intense level of stress commit suicide. They might have thought about their family, friends, and those who love them, however, one of the main reasons that they choose to commit suicide involves loosing their will to live. When in a preidcament and without knowing why they live, they seem to lose their determination to try to change the circumstances they are in. Of course, there are those who do not have faith but still become successful and I respect that. As a Christian however, God comes to me as one of the motivators of my life.

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Question/Answer - Numero 3

8. What do mission organizations do for these people?
“We risk our lives to get to them first because we believe we are more sympathetic agents of change than profit-hungry commercialists”.

Missionaries who venture out into the wilderness have some kind of motivation that connects with the message of Christ. Their attempts to reach those who have been “untouched” such as the primitives and native tribes are led with the purpose displayed in the quote above: to deliver the message of God before the commercialists make contact with the undeveloped tribes first.

Some might ask that wouldn’t the missionaries be destroying the cultures themselves in order for the conversion in religion. However, as Don Richardson states, “It’s true that we destroy certain things in cultures, just as doctors sometimes must destroy certain things in a human body if a patient is to live.” Missionaries do not have the intention to tear down the culture – they just feel the need to save the people by spreading the word of God. In another way, however, it sounds as if we are pushing Christianity into the arms of people who do not require it. It seems as if the unique culture and religion of that specific group of people is being muddled.

Don Richardson however, points out that missionaries do more than introduce a new religion and try to persuade them to believe it. In the article, he pointed out the question of “Should anyone go in?” (in tribes where people are not aware of the message of God) is obsolete, since someone will eventually. Missionaries strive to teach the tribes not only spiritual truth, but physical survival as well. The missionaries try to teach the people about money, language, medication, trading, and other skills to survive before they make contact with outsiders.


By reading Don Richardson’s article, I felt that sympathy is the key to all doors of missionary missions. Don Richardson says, “…part of my task was to give the Sawi a rational basis for voluntarily renouncing cannibalism before the guns of the police decided the issue”. This quote reveals that since the Sawi are part of the people under a government – a government that does not allow cannibalism, the Sawi need to stop killing and eating people. Essentially, Don Richardson is persuading the Sawi to stop their belief in cannibalism before they are forced to do so while being concerned with their future encounter with commercialists.

As messengers of God’s word, I believe the motivation that missionaries have that gives them the courage to confront the wilderness is sympathy. Underneath sympathy, there would be teaching them about their own language, culture, and medication while naturally teaching the word of Christ. It is also par to their safety because the missionaries are, in a sense, preparing for their encounter with commercialists.

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