...but inside, the Sawi have a heart.

      When I first checked out Peace Child from the school library, the first words that I read out of the book were the following:

'Peace Child...An Unforgettable Story of Primitive Jungle Treachery in the 20th Century...'

      These words gave me the strong impression that Don Richardson's book was going to illustrate the merciless and diabolical ways of the heartless tribal people in New Guinea. However, as I read deeper into the story, I discovered that beneath the treachery and slaughter, there were goodness and human affection in the Sawi people. Many of Richardson's Sawi comrades payed him with great loyalty and obedience like no other that I have ever seen. When Richardson tried to save Warahai from succumbing to the Sawi 'aumamay', Mahaen, a villager who had grown friendly towards Richardson, determinedly complied to carry Warahai back to Richardson's hut, ignoring all the contempt and pressure that he received from his fellow Sawis. For one to follow a foreigner's request and turn against his/her society is something that cannot be easily done, even in our modern culture. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that the Sawi had affectionate feelings for their children. When the families offered their children as the Peace Child to be traded between two tribes for everlasting peace, the mothers and fathers of the children cried in despair and sorrow, pleading for their children with all the force of their souls. Richardson describes the scene as something that he and his wife "had felt the most sympathy for a fellow human being" (page 168). Similar to their love for their family, the Sawi feel attachment towards nature and life.

I would have guessed they were also poets-an entire subclass of Sawi verbs is devoted to personifying inanimate objects as speaking! If a flower has a pleasant scent, it is saying fok! fok! to your nostrils. Is it also beautiful? It is saying ga! ga! to your eyes. When a star twinkles it is whispering sevair! sevair! If your eyes twinkle they are calling si! si! If mud squish around your feet, it is murmuring sos! sos! In the Sawi universe, not only man, but all things are communicating. -Page 147-

      This excerpt from the story shows that the Sawi people enjoy observing the world in which they live. They appreciate nature and life so much that they find it reasonable enough to dedicate a range of their language for describing objects as if they were blessed with life.

      The capability of the Sawi to stay true and obedient to their comrades, to cherish their family and children, and to celebrate the gifts of life and nature totally contradict their treacherous values of power, misery, and slaughter. Because they do not have a reliable source of faith, like Christianity or trust in a merciful God, could it be that they feel vulnerable and fragile in the midst of all the danger and bloodbaths? Could they be praising death because they fear the end of their lives, not because they enjoy the treachery that death brings? Their vulnerability and fear tie back to all their other headhunting and cannibalistic ways. Might not the Sawi depend on their ominous body paintings, weapons and spears, and brutal wars because they don't know any better ways to survive and keep strong in their vast and frenzied lives? This leads to the questions that intrigue me the most.

Why are the Sawi such brutal cannibals and vengeful murderers, even when they clearly have a good heart for family and life? 

Could it be that they just need something to believe, like the merciful and understanding God that we have?