John Allen Chau was an American missionary reportedly killed by the Sentinelese tribes of the Andaman islands. Although currently believed dead, reports coming from news sources from Austrailia and the UK state that may not be the case.
John Allen Chau was an experienced missionary who had successfully ventured into other countries and had assisted in several humanitarian causes, He had trained with a group called All Nations, and was an experienced mountaineer and EMT. He had worked in Burma and Iraq helping refugees.
According to statements made by his mother, Lynda Admas Chau, she felt that any criminal prosecution towards those that killed her son would be wrong, due to friends he had locally on Sentinel Island.
According to John Chau’s close friend John Middleton Ramsey, due to the fact that the witness was not entirely sure of what he saw as well as the fact no body has been found, were reasons to hold out hope for the missionary’s survival.
Faith seems to be at the very heart of this drive by Mr. Chau to visit Sentinel Island. From his work in different countries to evangelize others, as part of The Great Commission as given in The New Testament, he felt that a people that woud not have any other way to hear what he felt were words of life to this people as what drove him.
In an interview with the Kansascity.com website, Mary Ho had this to say about John Chau:
“He was a young man who, from the time he was about 18 years old, went on a mission trip and knew that he was called to be a missionary,” Ho said. “Even as a young man, before we met him, every decision he made, every step he took, was to share the love of God with the North Sentinelese. … Knowing John, he would have pursued this calling no matter what.”
Although odds against Mr. Chau are against his survival, with his personal determination and faith, it is yet to be seen what the final verdict is on his demise.