Peace Child

In 1962 Don and Carol Richardson as missionaries went to live with the Sawi people, an unreached people living in Papua New Guinea.

The Sawi people were cannibals and head hunters who had been at war with the surrounding tribes for as long as anyone knew, likely for hundreds or even possibly thousands of years. Thre were about 2,500 Sawi spread across 18 villages.

Don spent 8 to 10 hours per day learning their language which was no small feat - the Sawi verbs have 19 diffferent tenses. Carol was a nurse who was spending her time daily providing medical help to the villagers.

Eventually Don learned enough of the Sawi language to share the gospel. But no matter how much he shared it, the gospel never took hold among the Sawis.

For the Sawis, deception and treachery were the highest virtues. When they heard the gospel, they instantly understood Judas to be the hero of the story and Jesus was the dupe, the fool. How do you communicate the gospel to a culture with such a vastly different worldview?

One day after several weeks of nearly constant fighting between the Sawi and their neighboring tribe, the Richardsons told the Sawis that they could not continue to live with them if they continued fighting. But the Sawis really wanted the Richardsons to stay.

The chief decided to make peace with their enemies. The Richardsons did not know this but when the Sawis and their neighbors ever wanted to make peace, they actually already had a way to do so that was rooted in their culture.

The chief of each Sawi village took an infant son, usually their own, and gave him to their enemy to live in that tribe for the rest of his life. As long as that son lived there would be peace between the tribes.

The peace child was the key to the gospel. Don explained that God had also sent his son as a Peace Child and that this son would never die. The gospel finally clicked with the Sawi people. They finally understood God’s love for them.