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

“A might roar of released tension reverberated around him, while other spears moved in closer. Yae sank to one knee and called again to Kauwan for mercy, while he tried in vain to pull the barbed spear out of his side.

Kauwan turned away and said simply, “you should have given me a peace child. Then I would have protected you.”

At these words, a vision formed in Yae’s mind, a pain-distorted yet tender vision of Kautap sitting cross-legged by the fire, with the still unnamed baby lying asleep across her lap. The baby! Only that baby could have saved him! But now it was too late.”

The stereotype of the Sawi people seem to revolve around three main concepts; deceitful, uncivilized and cannibalistic. When people first learn about the Sawi culture, they seem to respond with thoughts of inhumanity and disgust. They start to ask questions such as, “why would they go out of their way to deceive others?” Another questions that is frequently asked is, “How can they eat other humans?”

Within this passage it might first seem as the stereotypical Sawi people and culture, however, through this passage we can also see the love and bond of the family. This passage is an illustration of Yae’s ambivalence. In this passage, Yae has been targeted as the victim of deceit and treachery. Within the situation of incredible pain, betrayal and violence, Yae seems to envision his wife and baby. Even though Yae’s reason on envisioning his family was to use the baby as a peace child, the vision is described as tender. Through this vision the reader encounters a glimpse of Yae’s love for his family. At this moment Yae seems to have mixed feelings of regret and fear. However, underneath the feelings of regret and fear, the readers also find Yae’s feeling of love. The main reason why Yae wants to use the baby as the peace is to not only avoid death but also so that he can still support his family. Without Yae, the family will not be able to support itself, in terms of hunting for food and such. When Yae feels regret for not using the baby as the peace child, it is due to the fact that he knows his family will be in adversity.

The reason why this passage holds great significance for me is that this passage seems to represent the Sawi people’s culture before their conversion. Not only does it show the stereotypical perspective, it also shows the tradition related to the significance of the peace child and also the loving bond between the families. This passage clearly says that even in cultures that can be described as “uncivilized” love is still present.

How did Christianity change this culture?

Before the arrival of Don Richardson, the Sawi people had a very primitive culture in terms of its advances in technology and tools. When our culture was at a time of industrialization, the Sawi people seemed to be isolated from the rest of the world and only had such tools such as a stone axe and stone arrows. Furthermore, before their conversion into Christianity, the Sawi people were infamous for their deep value in treachery. They tried to find different ways to deceive others and found enjoyment and status from treachery. As their journey and lifestyle seemed to stray from the right path, their eating habits seemed to have evolved into cannibalism. Because their core value within their culture was treachery, their purpose in life seemed to evolve around such concepts.

However, once Don Richardson arrived, the Sawi people were amazed by the latest tools and inventions at the time such as metal axes and guns. However, the biggest change within this culture came when Don Richardson introduced Christianity. Once Christianity was introduced to the Sawi people, they immediately found peace. Their core value of treachery seemed to vanish rapidly as they began to value peace and harmony. Once fighting tribes seemed to become more peaceful due to the fact that they found a new meaning in life. Instead of trying to be the most deceitful they were trying to become followers of God. Don Richardson shared the word of the gospel, in order the help the Sawi people to find a meaningful purpose in life. Before, the Sawi people were lost. Now, they are found.

Before Don Richardson went to New Guinea to preach to the Sawi people, you could describe their culture with three words; lost, isolated, and deceitful. After Don Richardson was able to convert the Sawi people into Christians, you could describe their new lifestyle as meaningful, peaceful, and found.

How different is your modern culture from the sawi tenants?

When we compare our modern culture and the Sawi culture, we might find very contrasting exterior differences. At first glance, our culture seems to be more technologically advanced whereas the Sawi culture lacks even simple tools such as an axe. Another alarming difference is our eating habits. The Sawi people are cannibalistic diet whereas our culture does not approve of that diet.

However, when we compare our culture with the Sawi culture in terms of our values, system and relationship with others, little differences can be found. The Sawi culture is known for its significant value in treachery. In fact, they create elaborate plans to “fatten them with friendship for slaughter”. They deceive their prey, which can be a whole tribe or just one person. When people first learn about the treacherous side of the Sawi culture, they react with disgust and label it as inhuman. However, it is not very different from our culture. Our culture seems to believe that there have not been times when we have not deceived others. In several cases this is appears to be incorrect, Even in our culture there are people that value treachery as well. People such as robbers, rapists, and other criminals have all deceived others and committed terrible acts. Even the general public has lied to others, which is a form of deceiving others. However, people can argue that what sets us apart from the Sawi people is our system of law with our courts. But the Sawi people have a system of justice as well. When two Sawi tribes are in violent conflict with each other, there is a peaceful tradition, known as the Peace Child. Also, another major similarity with the two cultures is our love for our family. Even in a culture where treachery may be praised, love between members of the families is clearly evident. Likewise, our culture also has strong bonds of family and friendships. However, in both cultures, trust is only evident within people that we may know. It is hard for us to trust the random person on the street. The Sawi people as well find it hard to trust others outside of the tribe. Clearly, both cultures seems to have very similar interior characteristics. 

Just like this picture, at first glance, we may find alarming differences but when we look closer, we can find more similarities than differences

When we first learn about the Sawi people and their culture, we may believe that we are much more civilized and advanced. However, when we really understand the Sawi culture, we can find little differences between one and other.

What do mission organizations do for these people?

For people, such as the Sawi people, there are three main concepts that the mission organizations introduce to them. Through the concepts of peace, religion and trust, the mission organization tries to mainly share the words of the gospel and potentially tries to influence their religious view and core values. The mission organizations try to personally connect with these people by going to their villages. Once they arrive, they show these concepts of peace, religion and trust through their words and action. Not only do the organizations help these people recognize their wrongs and “uncivilized” manner, they show them another alternative.

A paragon of the mission organizations’ intentions for these people is conveyed in the novel, Peace Child. In Peace Child, the writer, Don Richardson, recounts his experiences in New Guinea. Because he was a devoted Christian, he embarked on his journey in New Guinea as a missionary. During this time, Don Richardson effectively presented the concept of peace, religion and trust through one analogy. The analogy is that the peace child of Christianity is Jesus Christ. As the Sawi people start to understand this analogy, their value of treachery starts to dimmer and they find the eternal peace child. Through this awakening, Don Richardson successfully introduces the concept of Christianity. As the Sawi people begin to understand the idea of trust and peace due to the fact that all the tribes have established their eternal peace child. They do not find the need to value treachery. As they are introduced to these three important concepts, the Sawi people recognize their wrongs, such as treachery and cannibalism. Through Don Richardson’s words, he helps to convert the Sawi people into Christians and helps them to become more civilized. Clearly, Don Richardson was a clear representation of the mission organizations’ intentions with people like the Sawi people.

What should society do for “uncivilized cultures” like the Sawi?

Within our society there are several cultures, each with their strengths and faults. However, our society has recognized some cultures to be “uncivilized”. For example, the Sawi culture seems to be uncivilized mainly due to the crude understanding of technology and their moral values. For these cultures several people only recognize and nearly mock but that is not what we should do as a society. There are two main steps that our society needs to do for “uncivilized cultures” such as the Sawi.

The First step is to understand. What we need to first do after we recognize their culture is to try to understand their culture. When understanding their culture the key concept is to keep an open mind. We cannot simply insult their culture and shut off from it even though it is uncivilized. There are several things that these cultures have to learn, but there are aspects that we can learn from them. However, in order to understand their culture completely we need to be as least biased as we can. For example, we need to understand the fact that even though the Sawi culture may seem uncivilized, there are still traditions and systems can still be found. Some traditions such as treachery and betrayal all have their specific plans. Also the “peace child” has been a tradition of stopping wars. 

When we start to understand the culture completely, we can then try to help in correcting their faults. However, our society should not help through violent measures but merely help show what they are doing wrong. For example, Don Richardson showed the Sawi culture that their value of treachery is wrong through the word from the gospel. Through this peaceful way of helping this culture, he led the Sawi people to a life and a culture surrounded by peace and harmony.

An important concept that needs to be emphasized in these two steps is the idea of peace. What our society should do is to understand and help but it should not be done through violent or negative actions. This will never lead to a “civilized” culture. We need to be peaceful and encouraging to uncivilized cultures and show them how to be peaceful, in order for cultures such as the Sawi to be “civilized”.

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

Even though everyone relates to faith differently, there is still one universal idea of faith that we can all relate to; trust. For example, I relate to faith in terms with my family, friends and my everyday activities. Even though, my faith is not tied to religious aspects, i still can have trust and confidence with my family in the fact that they will be there to be my adherents. I can also have trust in my friends when I need there thought or opinion. Lastly, I can have confidence in small everyday activities such as eating lunch at the cafeteria that the cafeteria ladies will not contaminate my food. Even though there are no religious aspects, faith is still evident in my life.

Don Richardson on the other hand has a much more significant relationship towards faith. Because he has a strong religious connection, he relates to faith in a more significant way than I do. Don Richardson relies, believes, and trusts in God. Don Richardson’s every actions are done in the glory of God. Don Richardson’s faith in God is conveyed in the novel, Peace Child. In the novel, Peace Child, Don Richardson’s experiences in New Guinea are illustrated. The main reason for his journey to New Guinea was to share the word of God in an uncivilized culture. He trusted in God through his faith that God will protect him. Don Richardson uses faith as a sole connection to God.

The Sawi culture has a mixture of my relationship to faith and Don Richardson’s relationship with faith. This is due to their transformation from an uncivilized culture, to Christ followers. At first, their culture did not rely on faith due to the fact that their culture valued treachery. However, even within a culture that revolved around treachery, the Sawi people still trusted and had faith within their family and tribe. However, as Don Richardson shared the words form the gospel and his connection with the “peace child” and Jesus Christ, the Sawi culture changed radically. After the conversion, they found new faith in God, and valued peace. This relationship faith moved from a relationship to faith that could only be found in family connections to a relationship that was found through everything that they had done.

Even though all three examples have a different connection to faith, they still connected to faith through the concept of trust. Trust was used in my life in terms of family and friends, whereas Don Richardson used trust in terms of God and Christianity. Also the Sawi culture had trust in family and they also had trust in the peace child, Jesus Christ.

What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?

There are several ways the people can confront other cultures but the best way of confronting another culture, is clearly conveyed in the novel Peace Child by Don Richardson. Through the novel, Peace Child, Don Richardson writes his history and experiences. In Peace Child, Don Richardson recounts his experiences with the Saw tribes. His first intention of traveling to New Guinea was to share the gospel and the word of God. He clearly, understood that the Sawi culture was very contrasting with ours in the fact that the Sawi culture valued treachery over friendship. Through this novel, Don Richardson reveals a reasonable way to confront other cultures.

First of all, he illustrates to the readers that violence is not necessary. Even though Don Richardson did intend to change or alter the Sawi culture, he did not change it in a violent manner. For instance, when he first arrived, he could have just shot all the Sawi people that did not cooperate with him. However, he realized that when confronting with other people’s cultures, violence or physical enforcement of another culture is not acceptable. When we react with violence with other cultures that values treachery, we are no better. Don Richardson tries to keep an open mind, in terms of understanding the other culture and then tries to suggest different values peacefully. He does not use violence to enforce change but the words from the gospel.

When we keep an open-mind when we first confront a different culture, not only will we be able to influence their culture in a greater impact, we also learn that all cultures aren’t very different. Just like the Sawi culture, there are still some people in other cultures that still value treachery as well. This is how we should confront other cultures; through peace and understanding. This thought is explicitly shown in the novel of Peace Child, where the author Don Richardson recounts his experiences with his confrontment with the Sawi Culture.