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John Allen Chau was an adventurer who had hiked in North Cascades National Park in the Pacific Northwest, traveled to Israel, and went on a mission to South Africa. But he has always been attracted to North Sentinel Island, off the Indian coast, and by the people.
The Sentinels live isolated on the isolated island of Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago, protected by Indian law in order to preserve their way of life and protect them from modern diseases for lack of privacy. ;immunity. Chau went on a reconnaissance trip to the Andaman Islands several years ago and told people he wanted to come back, said a friend, John Middleton Ramsey.
Chau's zeal for spreading the Christian gospel brought him back to the far-off island where he was allegedly killed by tribes last week after trespassing, authorities said. Contact with the isolated tribe is forbidden. But those who knew the American missionary called him a martyr of the Christian faith.
"It was someone who died of love for these people to bring the good news of Jesus Christ," said Ramsey, 22, in an interview Wednesday in Cologne, Germany.
"We refuse to treat him as a tourist"
Chau, who according to Indian authorities is believed to be 27, came to India with a tourist visa but went to Andaman and Nicobar Islands in October to proselytize, according to Dependra Pathak, chief executive of the Andaman police. and Nicobar. He is.
"We refuse to call it tourist. Yes, he came with a tourist visa, but he came for a specific purpose to preach on a forbidden island, "he said.
A little more than a dozen people would live on the island, which is a protected area. People are not allowed to travel within 5 nautical miles of the island after cases of aggressive behavior toward strangers. In 2006, the tribes killed two local fishermen.
Chau asked a friend in the area, an electronics engineer, to take a boat and find several fishermen and an expert in water sports to help with the expedition, according to Pathak.
The fishermen said they used "a wooden boat equipped with engines to get to the island on November 15," said Pathak.
The boat stopped at just under a kilometer and Chau "used a canoe to reach the coast of the island," Pathak said. Chau returned later in the day with arrow injuries. On November 16th, "the tribes broke his canoe".
"So, he came back to the boat while swimming. He did not return on the 17th; the fishermen then saw the members of the tribe pull his body around him, "said Pathak.
Police have not independently verified Chau's death, but they believe he was killed, according to the fishermen's story. The authorities have not yet found Chau's body.
"He loved Jesus"
Raised in Vancouver, Washington, Chau was first drawn to nature after discovering a copy of "Robinson Crusoe" in elementary school, he said in an article published several times ago. years in The Outbound Collective, a website and an app that helps people discover nature. .
According to his article, he and his brother painted their faces with wild blackberry juice and ran in their garden with bows and spears sticks.
Chau graduated from Oral Roberts University, where he became involved in Covenant Journey, a Christian ministry that trains immersion students in Israel, according to Mat Staver, founder and president of the group.
Chau went to Israel with Covenant Journey and South Africa for missions with a group of Oral Roberts University, Staver said.
"John loved people and loved Jesus. He was willing to give his life to share Jesus with the people of North Sentinel Island, "Staver said in a press release. "Since high school, John wanted to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with this Aboriginal people."
In the Outward Collective article, Chau was talking about his previous adventures, including hiking at Table Mountain in Washington State during the Christmas holidays at the university.
Chau said his return to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was at the top of his to-do list in the adventure, the article said.
Chau knew the risks but that did not scare him
Chau has not disclosed to the police his intention to travel to North Sentinel to try to convert its inhabitants, officials said. But he told a few people close to him, like Ramsey, who said that Chau knew that the island was a restricted area and that his mission was illegal.
Ramsey, who met Chau in August 2015 during a Covenant trip to Israel, said they "had a shared passion for sharing our faith with others."
When Chau returned from his scouting trip, Ramsey remembered that Chau had spoken of his intention to return to the remote area, bringing gifts to the Sentinel residents. Ramsey recalled that he wanted to know the way of life of the people of the island, finally share the gospel and perhaps translate the Bible.
"I kind of figured out that he would have been willing to stay there all his life, but he did not say that explicitly," Ramsey said.
Ramsey said Chau knew the risks, "but that does not seem to scare him."
"He believed that he would go to heaven and that he would be with God if he died," Ramsey said.
Because of this, Chau did not want anyone to come with him on the island and put his life at risk, Staver said.
"He came back himself knowing that he would be in danger."
Norwegian geneticist Erika Hagelberg described the larger group of Andaman Islanders as "arguably the most enigmatic people on our planet". century.
Survival International, a non-governmental group dedicated to the rights of tribal peoples, said Indian authorities should ensure that foreigners do not contact the tribe because of the risk of disease or threat to their land.
"The Sentinels have shown time and time again that they want to be alone and that their wishes should be respected," the group said. "The British colonial occupation of the Andaman Islands decimated the tribes who lived there, wiping out thousands of tribe members, and only a fraction of the original population survived. The fear of foreigners at the Sentinels is very understandable. "
"This faith is worth dying for"
In a post on his Instagram page, Chau's family said, "He loved God, life, helping those in need, and had only love for the Sentinel people."
They remembered him as a beloved member of the family. For others, he was "a Christian missionary, an EMT in the wild, an international football coach and mountaineer," his family wrote.
For Ramsey, Chau is a modern day Jim Elliot – an evangelical Christian American killed on a mission to Ecuador in the 1950s. His friend might reach more people in death than in life, Ramsey said.
"It can make the world understand that this faith is worth the death, I suppose," Ramsey said.
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