The Nate Saint story

February 5, 2008

They are learning to fly and yet they can’t drive. Such is the vision of Jesse Saint, grandson of Nate Saint, one of the five missionaries murdered by the Waorani Indian tribe in the 1950’s. He has designed an ultra light plane that flys with a type of parasail wing and can be used to access the jungle where landing strips and runways beneath the thick jungle canopy don’t exist. I met Jesse Saint and Mincaye last night. Mincaye is one of the Waorani Indians who speared his grandfather. Now Jesse calls Mincaye grandfather, and they have a bond even stronger than blood.

Prior to intervention by the missionaries the Waorani, or Auca Indians, as they are also called, had lost 6 out of every 10 members to homicide over the course of 5 generations. Children were taught to “spear or be speared”. The tribe had no system of conflict resolution and murders usually took place because a personal right had been offended, as revenge for a previous killing, or simply because someone was angry. If a father was speared and dying he had the right to demand that his children be buried with him. The wife was then given the task of strangling and killing the children to lay in the grave with her husband. At the time of the missionary murders tribal warfare had escalated to the point where the tribe was on the verge of extinction. The government was even threatening to exterminate them secondary to the many killings of foreigners and village members living close to the tribal territory. Shell Oil, who previously owned the land now occupied by the town of Shell, was forced to abandon their site secondary to the violence and deaths suffered by it’s workers because of the Waorani tribe. The Aucas were called “a violent and murderous tribe” and kept the 20th century at bay through the force of their spears.

After the murder of Nate Saint and the other missionary men, Auca women from the tribe actually requested the missionary wives to return to their tribe. They felt that the tribal men would not be threatened by women. Jesse Saint’s aunt and one of the widowed missionary wives, Elizabeth Elliot, returned to minister to the Waorani tribe and help teach them a better way of life. The tribe already believed in an all powerful creator. The missionaries taught them that this creator didn’t want them to kill, but to love each other and their tribes. The tribe unanimously decided to stop killing. Once their tribe stopped killing and the revenge murders stopped, one by one the other Waorani tribes stopped killing too. Now there are more grandfathers living than have ever existed in the history of the tribe. Fifty years later this murderous tribe is now known as a peaceful and compassionate people.

When Jesse Saint’s aunt died the Waorani asked Nate Saint’s son Steve to come live with them. Steve, his wife, his son Jesse, and his daughter all went to live with the Auca’s for several years. Jesse actually felt he was more one of the tribe because his father had been killed by the spear. At that time every tribal member had lost one or more family members by the spear. Mincaye and Jesse became very close and Mincaye actually went to Jesse’s graduation from College in the states after he returned. Now Steve, Jesse, Mincaye, and his wife travel the world relating their story and how forgiveness changed the history of a people.

There was much that fascinated Mincaye when he entered the modern world. He watched war movies and couldn’t understand why you would kill someone that you didn’t know. At least his tribe had killed people they knew. In a way, we are becoming like the Waorani were. We kill or create war for revenge, because of anger, or because our rights have been infringed apon.

Jesse currently builds small airplanes and is teaching the Waorani to fly so they can bring supplies to their village and transport the sick and injured to medical care.

There are three movies and several books that document this amazing story. “The End of the Spear”, “Through the Gates of Splendor”, and “Beyond the Gates of Splendor”. I highly recommend all of them, but especially “Beyond the Gates of Splendor”, because it has extensive original film footage and interviews with many of the tribe members including Mincaye and his wife. Steve and Jesse Saint are also in the film. Jesse and Mincaye are working on another documentary film which will relate the story of their relationship and the special bond they share.

Sorry if that was more than you wanted to know, but it was wonderful to meet two people with such a rich life and such a compelling story.