Treachery on the Twisted River

Hidden in the swamps near the southern coast of New Guinea lived a tribe of cannibal-headhunters known as the Sawi. They built houses perched on poles forty feet above the forest floor in villages on the banks of a river known as the Kronkel, the Dutch word for “twisted.”

Skilled in surviving in the untamed jungle, Sawi of all ages were expert hunters and fishermen. With their bows and arrows, spears and bone knives, they could capture and kill wild pigs, gather grubs from the trunks of downed trees, and trap freshwater shrimp in baskets woven from palm fronds.

But the Sawi also lived violent lives. They resolved disputes by treachery and murder and battled other tribes for territory. They were filled with fear of spirits they believed lived in the river and the surrounding jungle. The Sawi had never heard the true story of the God who sent His Son to make peace with humanity.

Then one day, a man, his wife, and their baby boy made their home in a Sawi village and began to learn the local language so they could teach the Sawi about this God. Would the Sawi accept this man’s strange new message or receive it with fear and betrayal?

Treachery on the Twisted River is an adaptation of Don Richardson’s best-selling book, Peace Child, which documented his family’s life among the Sawi and the tribe’s encounter with the transforming message of the gospel.