Perspectives: Reaching Headhunters for Christ
In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson moved to remote Irian Jaya (Netherlands New Guinea) bring the gospel to the headhunting and cannibalistic Sawi tribe who still lived in the Stone Age and pillowed their heads on the skulls of their victims.
Wouldn’t you love to ask him what it was like to travel by dugout canoe into the dark jungle with his wife and young son to reach the Sawi with the gospel? Or at least ask him, “What were you thinking?” You can do just that if you take part in the Intensive Perspectives course April 9-17 where Don will be one of ten featured speakers. Here’s a brief excerpt from Don’s story:
Among the Sawi, treachery was more than a way of life; it was “an ideal which unnumbered generations of Sawi had conceived, systematized and perfected.” For them, “to fatten with friendship” a victim for the slaughter was the highest form of treachery….
Kaiyo’s chest was heaving with emotion as he reached the edge of Haenam village. The leading men of the village were massed in front of him now, expectantly eyeing the child Kaiyo held in his hands. Kaiyo scanned the row of enemy faces before him…. Then he saw the man he had chosen and called his name. “Mahor!” he cried. Mahor leaped forward, his eyes bright with emotion. Kaiyo and Mahor drew near to each other. All the men, women and children of Haenam were crowding closer, their faces bright with anticipation…. Kaiyo and Mahor stood face to face. “Mahor!” Kaiyo challenged. “Will you plead the words of Kamur village among your people?” “Yes!” … “Then I give you my only son and with him my name!” Kaiyo held forth little Biakadon, and Mahor received him gently into his arms. Mahor shouted, “It is enough!” “I will surely plead for peace between us!” … Suddenly Mahaen from Haenam held aloft one of his baby sons and cried, “Kaiyo!” “Will you plead the words of Haenam among your people?” “Yes!” cried Kaiyo, holding out his hands…. “Then I give you my son and with him my name!”
A Kamur villager explains: “Kaiyo has given his son to Haenam as a tarop tim, a peace child, and Mahaen in return has given a tarop tim to us!” “Tuan, you’ve been urging us to make peace – don’t you know it’s impossible to have peace without a peace child?”…. “The children will not be harmed.” “In fact, both villages will guard the lives of these tarop children even more zealously than they protect their own offspring. For if Biakadon dies, Kamur villiage no longer be bound to a peace agreement with Haenam.
Among the Sawi, every demonstration of friendship was suspect except one. If a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted!
Join others April 9-17, 2012 in Minneapolis at the EFCA national office to hear and learn from Don as well as many other missional leaders and peers. Unpack the Biblical, Historical, Cultural, and Strategic nature of global missions – from local to global.
