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John Allen Chau

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John Allen Chau
Born(1991-12-18)December 18, 1991[1]
Alabama, U.S.
DiedNovember 17, 2018(2018-11-17) (aged 26)
North Sentinel Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
EducationOral Roberts University[2]
OccupationChristian missionary

John Allen Chau (December 18, 1991 – November 17, 2018) was an American Christian missionary who was killed by the Sentinelese, an uncontacted people in voluntary isolation who inhabit North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman Islands archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. Travel to the island is prohibited by the government of India.[3]

Early life

Chau was born on December 18, 1991 in the U.S. state of Alabama, the third and youngest child of Lynda Adams-Chau, an organizer for Chi Alpha, and Patrick Chau, a Chinese-American psychiatrist[4] who left China during the Cultural Revolution.[4]

Throughout his childhood, he loved camping, hiking, and travelling and excelled at various club, charity, and other extracurricular activities. He admired numerous explorers and missionaries including David Livingstone and Bruce Olson. He later attended Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Prior to his last and fatal travel to the North Sentinel Island, Chau participated in the missionary trips to Mexico, Kurdistan in Iraq, and South Africa. He first traveled to Andaman Islands in 2015 and 2016 as the parts of his missionary trips, but did not visit North Sentinel Island.[5]

Contact with Sentinelese and death

In 2017, during the year when Chau participated in the boot camp missionary training by the evangelical organization All Nations, Chau reportedly expressed his interest in preaching the Sentinelese to his friend. Chau then traveled to and established his residence at Port Blair in October of 2018 where he prepared the initial contact kit including the picture cards for communication, the gifts for Sentinelese people, medical equipment, and other necessities.[5]

In November, Chau embarked on an expedition to North Sentinel Island, which he considered as "Satan's last stronghold on Earth,[6] with the aim of contacting and living among the Sentinelese.[7][8] He expressed a strong desire to preach Christianity to the tribe.[9] In preparation for the trip, Chau was vaccinated and quarantined,[10] and also undertook medical and linguistic training.[9] However, he did not seek permission from the Indian authorities before embarking, making his trip illegal under Indian law,[11] as foreign citizens must obtain a permit to visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with nobody being allowed on North Sentinel.[12] Instead, Chau paid two fishermen ₹25,000 (equivalent to $333.50) to take him close to the island.[13] The fishermen were later arrested.[14]

Chau paddled a kayak from the boat to the island and attempted to communicate with Sentinelese upon their first contact, but left the gifts and retreated when the villagers began stringing their bows at him. He later paddled back to the island and walked up to the beach this time while attempting to communicate with the natives. Chau abandoned his kayak and swam back to the boat in panic when one of the villagers shot an arrow at him and struck the bible he was holding. On November 16, the date when Chau was last seen alive, he asked the fishermen to drop him off alone on the island after thinking that the Sentinelese might feel more comfortable if they did not see the foreign fishing boat nearby. Prior to being left on the island alone, Chau admitted in his diary that he was scared, but it was "worth it to declare Jesus to these people."[5]

Aftermath

Despite efforts by Indian authorities, which involved a tense encounter with the tribe, Chau's body was not recovered.[8] Indian officials made several attempts to recover Chau's body but eventually abandoned those efforts. An anthropologist involved in the case told The Guardian that the risk of a dangerous clash between investigators and the islanders was too great to justify any further attempts.[15] A murder case was opened following his death [16] though both the Indian and the U.S. governments have stated that they will not pursue legal charges against the Sentinelese natives.[17][unreliable source?]

Chau was the subject of significant public criticism for visiting the island despite the possibility of introducing pathogens to the native Sentinelese, which could have been deadly since it was likely that the natives were not exposed previously to the diseases outside the island.[18][4][19][20] All Nations, the evangelical organization that trained Chau, was accused and criticized for describing Chau as a martyr when it stated "...the privilege of gospel has often involved great cost. We pray that John's sacrificial efforts will bear eternal fruit in due season." while expressing the condolences for Chau's death. Chau's father also blamed his son's death on the missionary community for enabling the extreme Christian vision within Chau.[5] According to the report by The New York Times, the missionary training by All Nations included navigating a mock native village manned by the missionary staffs pretending to be hostile natives with fake spears.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Christian Martyr: John Allen Chau". Covenant Journey. November 21, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  2. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey; Kumar, Hari; Schultz, Kai (November 23, 2018). "A Man's Last Letter Before Being Killed on a Forbidden Island". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  3. ^ McKirdy, Euan (November 22, 2018). "'You guys might think I'm crazy': Diary of US 'missionary' reveals last days in remote island". CNN. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Perry, Alex (July 24, 2019). "The Last Days of John Allen Chau". Outside. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Conroy, J. Oliver (February 3, 2019). "The life and death of John Chau, the man who tried to convert his killers". The Guardian. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  6. ^ Gjelten, Tom. "Killing Of American Missionary Ignites Debate Over How To Evangelize". NPR.org. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  7. ^ Bonner, David (December 8, 2018). "John Allen Chau is No Jim Elliot. The Story of John Chau Illustrates the Dangers of Indoctrination in Evangelical Culture and Being Naïve". Wondering Eagle. Retrieved March 24, 2020 – via WordPress.
  8. ^ a b "Police face off with Sentinelese tribe as they struggle to recover slain missionary's body". News.com.au. November 26, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Stetzer, Ed (November 28, 2018). "Slain missionary John Chau prepared much more than we thought, but are missionaries still fools?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  10. ^ "What John Allen Chau's Missions Agency Wants You to Know". Christianity Today. November 28, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  11. ^ Osborne, Mark; Joglekar, Rahul (November 26, 2018). "John Allen Chau detailed efforts to convert islanders to Christianity in final diary entries: 'You guys might think I'm crazy'". ABC News. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  12. ^ Chatterjee, Tanmay; Lama, Prawesh (November 23, 2018). "American national John Allen Chau violated every rule in the book to meet the Sentinelese". Hindustan Times. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  13. ^ Banerjie, Monideepa (November 22, 2018). "American Paid Fishermen Rs. 25,000 For Fatal Trip To Andamans". NDTV. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  14. ^ Eustachewich, Lia (November 23, 2018). "Cops arrest suspects believed to help US missionary on fatal trip". New York Post. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  15. ^ Safi, Michael; Giles, Denis (November 28, 2018). "India has no plans to recover body of US missionary killed by tribe". The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  16. ^ "John Allen Chau: 'Incredibly dangerous' to retrieve body from North Sentinel". BBC News. November 26, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  17. ^ Massey, Jake (December 18, 2019). "US Will Not Seek To Prosecute North Sentinelese Tribe That Killed Missionary". LADbible. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  18. ^ Elonai, Maisha (November 28, 2018). "John Allen Chau was brave. He was also reckless". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  19. ^ "Survival International statement on killing of American man John Allen Chau by Sentinelese tribe, Andaman Islands". Survival International. November 21, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  20. ^ "Missionary claims that John Chau did not pose a threat to the Sentinelese - Survival responds". www.survivalinternational.org. Survival International. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  21. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (November 30, 2018). "John Chau Aced Missionary Boot Camp. Reality Proved a Harsher Test". The New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
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