numberEIGHT.

Choose a representative passage from this novel that holds particular significence to you. Type it in and comment on its significance.


The wilderness of the locale seemed to taunt me. Something in the mood of the place seemed to say mockingly, "I am not like your tame, manageable Canadian homeland. I am tangled. I am too dense to walk through. I am hot and steamy and drenched with rain. I am hip-deep mud and six-inch sago thorns. I am death adders and taipans and leeches and crocodiles. I am malaria and dysentery and filariasis and hepatitis. Your idealism means nothing here. Your Christian gospel has never scrupled the conscience of my children. You think you love them, but wait until you know them, if you can ever know them! You presume you are ready to grapple with me, understand my mysteries and change my nature. But I am easily able to overpower you with my gloom, my remoteness, my heedless brutality, my indolence, my unashamed morbidity, my total otherness! Think again, before you commit yourself to certain disillusionment! Can't you see I am no place for your wife? I am no place for your son. I am no place for you . . " Page 85


Amazement. Pride. Wonder. Role model. Exemplar. Hero. These are the words that filled my head as I read this passage. I chose this particular passage because this passage shows me how Don Richardson is a hero. Without any knowledge of the land, language, or culture, Don Richardson still agreed to go to New Guinea with his wife and son. A place where people practice cannibalism and indulge in the betrayal and slaying of other tribes, Don Richardson still volunteered to go. Neglecting the fact that he was putting his family at risk, Don Richardson chose to live with cannibals to share the Word of God. Amazing. I don't even have the courage to share the Word of God with ordinary people, let alone cannibals. Knowing that the people gaze at you as if you were meat and knowing that you had no way to communicate with them whatsoever, I think that it is suicide. However, through patience and tenacity, Don Richardson succeeded in connecting with the   Sawi tribe and eventually turned them into Christians. He even built a church with the Sawi people where they dedicate it to the glory of God. Don Richardson took a huge leap of faith and relied on God to protect him, and God did. 

numberSEVEN.

What reflections and connections can you make with this novel?

I can personally reflect and connect with this novel through my religious background. Growing up with the label "PK" (Pastors kid) and going to church my whole life, I can connect with this novel through the works of Don Richardson. My whole life I have been taught in church, almost as if I have been brain-washed, to share the message of God and to do the works of God in other people's life. While my mom constantly brought non-believers to church, I never really had the courage to do it. As I read the Peace Child, I felt that a Christian was obligated to share the Word of God with others. I felt ashamed that I didn't have a courage to do so, yet I felt hope. I felt hope feeling that no matter how corrupt or how sinful one is, there is still a chance to change. If it wasn't for Don Richardson or the other missionaries that went to New Guinea, the people of the Sawi tribe and other tribes would have never been saved. Don Richardson saved those people by introducing God into their lives. Like Don Richardson, I want to save others too. Don Richardson, is my new hero.

numberSIX.

How different is your modern culture from the Sawi tenants?


At first glance, it seems that the Sawi tenants are very different from our modern culture. First of all, they practice cannibalism and they indulge in the betrayal of others. I was alarmed of how much pleasure the Sawi people feel when they slay a victim, especially when the women and children also contribute in the killing. It amazes me how such treachery can please and entertain such people into celebrating while even creating decorations out of the victim's jaw bone. However, as you probe deeper and peel back all the external layers, you find that there are not so much differences after all but in fact many similarities between the Sawi tenants and our modern culture.


In our modern-day culture, it is true that we have better technology, food, diet, houses, clothes, lifestyle, etc. The things that satisfy our physical wants may be different, but our psychological wants are the same. Many people would say that the Sawi people are gruesome and disturbed in that they indulge in the betrayal of others. But who are we to judge when we do the same things? Every single person that has lived in this world betrayed someone  in their life, and every single person that has been betrayed had retaliated to take revenge. Husbands cheat on wives, wives cheat on husbands. Friends betray each other because of envy and greed. Numerous and numerous accounts of betrayal label our world, so who are we to judge? The Sawi tenants may be more extreme and gruesome but our modern world isn't any different. There are millions of serial killers, rapists, drug dealers, terrorists, kidnappers, robbers, and other criminals who would kill anyone to satisfy their needs, whether it is a 5-year old child or a elderly woman. The Sawi deceive others by "fattening them with friendship." People in modern day scam others by deceiving them with lies. The Sawi gruesomely slay each other in different tribes. Serial killers and rapists strangle, torture, molest, and eventually kill their victims. The Sawi take revenge and retaliate by inflicting the same damage that they have felt. Friends take revenge on each other because of anger and jealousy. There are really no differences between the Sawi tenants and our modern culture, but in fact many similarites that we may blindly miss because of our hypocrisy. 

numberFIVE.

What does Jesus want us to do for the Sawi?
As I ponder over this question, the answer is so simple and evident; Jesus wants all of us to share the Word of God with others. I have been going to church for as long as I can remember, up to the point where church feels like my second home. I grew up in a warm Christian home and currently attend a Christian school. As you can see, I grew up in a Christian atmosphere my whole life, and all those years I've always heard to spread the message of Jesus. But I never did. I never told a non-Christian the story about Jesus' birth or told an agnostic to go to church. I've had numerous and countless opportunities to share the message, but I never really thought about actually doing it. I admire the valor and the determination of Don Richardson and countless of other missionaries who go out into the field to share the gospel. Especially countries like China or New Guinea where Christianity is prohibited or does not even exist in the minds of the people. What Don Richardson, his wife, and an immeasurable amount of people are doing to this world is what Jesus wants us to do, not only to the Sawi but to all non-Christians; sacrificing their life, time, and strength and venturing out into the wild, knowing that danger is just around the corner. 

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 20:19-20

numberFOUR.

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


I was very surprised. Actually, I was more than surprised. Surprised can't even define the feelings I felt while reading the Peace Child. They were ambivalent feelings of both amazement and a bit of disturbance. All these words filled my head as I read the Peace Child : Macabre, horrendous, gruesome, appalling, shocking. The process the Sawi goes through to eat a "meal" left me shocked and gaped in bewilderment. The craving of the human flesh that impels the Sawi to do such gruesome act was the most surprising to me. The Sawi first makes contact with their victims by presenting them with a  piece of their hair, which is a sign of trust and honesty. The Sawi then deceit their victims by "fattening them with friendship." The Sawi "fattens" their victims for months and months, waiting patiently and pondering what their victim's facial expression would look like as they stab them repeatedly. Can you believe that? They take months and months, just to have the satisfaction of betraying a friend. How the Sawi can be so treacherous and inhumane amazes me. 


However, I felt a slight hint of hope when I finished the book. A slight hope that even people who indulge in the betrayal of their own kind and who practice cannibalism can change their habits and turn good. That even people who enjoy looking into the terrified eyes of their victims as they slay them can take a 180 degrees turn in their life and become believers of God. This gives me hope in thinking that if the Sawi can become believers in God, then anyone can become a believer in God, whatever the sins in their life. God looks not at the past but at the future. If you truly ask for forgiveness, then God will forgive you and look past those sins and love you equally as a person who've been a Christian their whole life. 
You know why? 
Because God is awesome like that.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9