Letters from Ethopia:

2/14/2008
Ethiopian Reali"tea" 

Little glimpses of the big picture from East Africa.

This morning we awakened to overcast skies and broke bread for the first time with our neighbor.  Sarawit invited him in for mid-morning tea and thick chunks of "diffo dabo."  Abnur's work with the Ministry of Education requires travel, and he had just returned from an African literacy summit in Mozambique. Of the 15 most challenged nations on the continent, he explained, Ethiopia sits in the middle of the pack with a 44% literacy rate.

But the shadow over our table wasn't the gathering rain—hoped for because "small rains" end the annual 4-5 month drought—or the staggering uphill battle to educated the diverse people groups scattered across this nation.  It was his great sadness.  And in the tradition of Ethiopian hospitality we did not speak directly of our neighbor's grief though it flavored every mouthful like the raisins in our savory bread.

A year ago this week Abnur and his family were driving through the mountainous northern city of Bahar Dar when a car ran through an intersection, hitting the passenger side like a rocket, killing his wife, the mother of his three children.  Now, a year later, a ceremony promoting the journey of her soul will be held at their home where a bevy of local Orthodox priests, family, and neighbors will eat together.  Azeb will help in the meal preparation, Sarawit will assist setting up benches and serving "kitah," a beverage made from roasted barley. 

 The challenge of this custom is that for a whole week after the initial loss, at 40 days after the funeral, again at 80 days, and then on the year anniversary, this solemn gathering and feeding takes place.  This religious obligation requires food, expense, and days missed from work.  Studies show that between the traditions surrounding death and observing required days of worship in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, the average person only works two days a week.

 Our Ethiopian friends ask us, and we ask you, to pray for the following:

So much of the corruption which fuels the fires we recently saw televised from western Kenya is rooted in the ongoing challenge of employment..  Those of you familiar with Africa's 50 years of independence from colonialism and return, in some cases, to ethnic strife, will pray with understanding for African leaders balancing the cultural obligation to look after their own (dependants, family, people group) with the well-being of the nation.

We are thankful for opportunities to stand with men and women of integrity with a vision for their nation; and we are grateful to welcome the heartbroken family next door.  For tea, and, by the grace of God, for eternity. Thank you for your support and encouragements.

Owen and Char

Support to:  House of Prayer, 5719 Pioneer Park Pl., Langley, WA 98260, designated "Baldwins Ethiopia"

12/11/2007

Christmas Greetings from Ethiopia

Holiday Greetings from Ethiopia! 

'Tis the season to be jolly…and to count our blessings. 

1. Last Christmas we were bumping along an unfinished road in a "one horse open ghari."  Now we make our way—through pedestrian, animal and construction vehicle traffic—on a new road in our "new" used car, for which we are so very grateful. We wondered then if we would ever drive here, but now Owen gets behind the wheel without hesitation.

2. A year ago we were hoping to somehow connect with an Ethiopian pastor interested in New Frontiers through a contact in Kenya.  That connection was made in June at the East African Forum with Edward and Fridah Buria, and Owen began working with Fisseha Tesfaye to present the very first Newfrontiers Conference in this nation the week before Ethiopian New Year in September.   Owen has preached twice now at Semiawe Berhan Church, assisted in a leadership training program and we are enjoying fellowship with Fisseha, his wife Wedaje and their girls.

3. This time last year we were exploring a working relationship with AHOPE Children's Home; we are presently involved in field trips, puppet ministry and oral language classes with 11-14 year-olds. Last month we added a Saturday program at a second Orphanage, All God's Children, preparing orphans (who will soon be adopted into American Christian families) to see, hear and communicate with English speakers.   

4. In the beginning we were watching for opportunities to encourage others called to serve in this part of the world.  Now we are friends, mentors, marriage counselors and language helpers to several "laborers in this vineyard" who are Ethiopian, Korean, Australian—and American.   Our home with Sarawit, Azeb and Dodi is an "apostolic household" (in Edward Buria's words) where people from all over the planet are welcomed to eat, pray, laugh, rest and make plans together.

5. At times over the past 30 years we longed for a part in the global picture, finding much joy and satisfaction in being a Whidbey Island oasis for others who were coming and going "about the Father's business."   Now, here we are, transplanted like palm trees to Addis Ababa, where a cool place on a hot dusty day, and a warm bed on a chilly star-lit high desert plateau speak 'welcome" in any language.  

6. Along the way we've wondered if this challenging, musical, difficult language of Amharic would

7. ever find it's way into our aging ears, overflowing brains and out our made-in-America mouths.  Owen continues to press into the grammar…and we both take advantage of every opportunity to stammer…as we continue to humble ourselves and LEARN.  

8. Over the years we've seen how the realities of distances, disappointments, and distress can undo

9. or enlarge us.  Our strategy is to find ways to flourish, put down roots like the palm tree mentioned in Psalm 92 — and still bear fruit in old age!

The challenges of cross-cultural living are summed up language, and occasional eruptions of laughter. Owen had Wit and Dodi in stitches recently; he thought he was saying one thing, but what came out was: I'm eating the car!   The English we run across gives us a chuckle as well.  We occasionally stop for a hamburger (considered breakfast food here) but find the menu reads Hum Burger—and for a few more birr, we can get extra Hum.   On the way home, still humming, we pass a beauty salon featuring a product called "Hair Mayonnaise."  Would you like a pickle on the side?  

As we count our blessings this holiday season, we count each of you who take the time to read this, to pray, and to invest in what God has us doing here.  Thank you!  "Exhabier yisteling" in Amharic says: may the Lord likewise richly bless and keep you.

Owen and Char

Support to:   Baldwins/Ethiopia  c/o House of Prayer 5719 Pioneer Park Place   Langley WA 98260  USA  

10/9/2007

October News from Ethiopia

Greetings to friends far and near.  The Julian calendar, a 13-month year on which so much of Ethiopian culture hinges, made a leap into the New Millennium on September 12..   We have officially entered the 21^st  century!  Spruced up buildings, banners, fireworks, and visiting dignitaries featured on local television all contributed to the holiday atmosphere.

Edward and Fridah Buria arrived in Ethiopia with a Newfrontiers team from Kenya to work with our good friend Pastor Fisseha presenting a 3-day Millennium Conference.   Fisseha's "Semeawe Berhan" church, freshly joined to the Newfrontiers fellowship of churches, collaborated with several local congregations to host a vibrant young crowd seeking inspiration for the New Millennium.   Tremendous worship rocked the building—and the foundation of God's building projects in this nation—with a uniquely Ethiopian expression of joy.

Edward's cheerful, thoughtful, and straight-forward style is the hallmark of a weekly worship television broadcast which blankets Kenya and is distributed by DSTV over much of Africa. He challenged us to see ourselves as missional people with an apostolic mindset: blessed to be a blessing in every area of personal and public life.  Fridah addressed a practical outworking of grace: earning a living in order to invest and give, speaking clearly to a local religious stronghold perpetuating begging as a vehicle for penance.

Owen and Sarawit shared the job of driving Edward's team in our "new" used car and fielding many questions about the Ethiopian culture.   We celebrated on New Years Eve with a meal prepared by Azeb for the Burias, their Kenyan team (Morris, the film guy, and Martin, a banker with a young family) Fisseha, and his family.   The Burias encouraged us, before flying back to Kenya, to see our home as an apostolic way-station for people on the move…which may be some of you reading these words.

A second September celebration called "Meskel" opened a door to see the Gurage countryside where we were invited by family friends to visit their ancestral home, four hours south-east of Addis.   Meskel is celebrated there much like American Thanksgiving—everyone who can goes home to eat.

Home, in this case, was a huge round "gojo" topped with a woven cone-shaped roof, no electricity or running water, a round ceramic "hearth" on the floor with a small fire burning all day, and a single open door for fresh air and daylight.   Azeb, our daughter-in-law who grew up in the countryside, had warned as we packed to spend 3 days: it's very dark and always smoky!  The meal was a bull purchased after we arrived and kept in a partitioned room of the gojo overnight with the rest of the livestock for protection from hyenas.    Every aspect of the preparation of the Meskel meal, from hoof to hamburger-like "kitfo"—minced raw meat heated in spicy butter—is the holiday.   We tasted it, then were graciously offered a cooked version to eat with "kotcho," a thick flatbread made of "false banana" tree cores. Delicious!

Highlights: hiking up into an ancient highland forest where we heard, then saw, a rare turaco, brilliant red wings flaring high overhead; delighting in the dripping greenery from lacy mosses to the fern-clad canopy of towering trees.   We rejoiced with our young Ethiopian friends in several languages, thanking God for His glorious creation. Later we dug out an array of lights—headlamps, flashlights, lanterns—when the gojo door was latched tight and dense darkness closed the day.  

Hope this finds you delighting…and bringing your light out when and where needed.  With gratitude for your involvement, interest and incredibly effective prayers,

Char and Owen

8/21/2007

Ethiopia Newsletter August 2007

Merrily, merrily—life is but a dream.

Greetings to friends, family and faithful followers of Owen and Char's excellent African adventure.  Our 5 weeks in the States was like a rich dessert: dense, delicious and delightful.   Heartfelt thanks to our church, our children and so many who welcomed, fed and encouraged us—for the times you held our hands and heard our hearts.  We were challenged by your questions, refreshed by your fellowship, and ready to return to our assignment in Ethiopia.

Thanks especially to those who made arrangements to pick our brains regarding connections with Newfrontiers East Africa, with HIV-AIDS infected children in terms of cultural attitudes, adoption possibilities, and our work at AHOPE Children's home.   We found our perspective adjusted by your concerns and clarified by your contributions.   

Before we were out of the country, in Washington, D.C., families, students, wedding guests and visitors traveling to Ethiopia began greeting and meeting one another while waiting to board the plane.  Owen commented on the fact that we were already in another culture. About 15 hours later we spotted our son Sarawit on the dark rain-slick sidewalk outside Bole Airport, stalled in a huge security line of people eager to meet our flight.   It was a vivid reminder of the "passionate patience" required to get around here on the ground! 

This is the "black month" on the Ethiopian calendar, when dense clouds block the sun and drench us several times a day.  The sticky soil all around us which bakes like a brick in the sun now clings in sticky layers to our shoes like clay on a potter's wheel..  Owen, on an expedition for roasting ears of corn that took him and Sarawit out past dark, had a shoe sucked off his foot in several inches of the stuff and had to bury his sock-clad foot in ooze to regain his balance and find his shoe!  

So, as you enjoy the end of your sun-baked, or steamy, summer—think of us in cold rains anticipating  a Millennium celebration on September 11, when the Ethiopian calendar officially turns to the year 2000.

Expectations here are for crowds of visitors and returning exiles willing to pay the currently sky-rocketing prices on everything from grain to gasoline.  

Our immediate challenges include: finding an affordable vehicle which will suit our family and our work with Fisseha Tesfaye and the Newfrontiers churches here; Char preparing for teacher-training team with a Kidzana team in Gonder, approximately 400 miles north, in mid-September, and continued grace, health and favor as we come alongside God's servants—Ethiopian and from many other nations.

We echo the words of the Apostle John who writes, "My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have entered eternal life, the reality and not the illusion." (1John 5:13 Msg)   Our life here may seem like a dream to you—or a nightmare.  We were home to the States, then back home to Ethiopia in a blink of an eye…like a dream.   We pray that you will be encouraged to move beyond the shadows of every doubt, merrily, knowing that faith will be rewarded, and life is but a dream

Blessings,

Char and Owen Baldwin

6/20/2007

Ethiopia Newsletter

Greetings from East Africa.  We wind down our first ten-month term as Ethiopia winds up for its Millennium celebration.   The Julian calendar—used exclusively in Ethiopia—turns to the year 2000 on September 11 this year.  The numbers reflect the return of Jesus, exiled from Judea by Herod's murderous edict, from Africa as a 7 year-old. The promotions here encourage tourists and "scatterling" Ethiopians to come, celebrate—and be 7 years younger!   

Endings:  Owen finished Amharic Language and Cultural Orientation School, took written and oral finals June 4 and graduated on June 8.   Char completed tutoring course with Choy, wife of our Korean friend Sung Yun who attended language school and will serve as a school director in the southern Ethiopian countryside.

Middles:  Our work at AHOPE Children's Home will take a 5-week break.  We continue to build relationship with 15 kids in their early to mid-teens.  We are part of a support system for AHOPE volunteers from the states, and prayer support to Almaz who has been certified to facilitate international adoptions. Char anticipates participating in more teacher training teams.

Beginnings: Our Newfrontiers connections in East Africa took root with a week of meetings in Kambakia, Kenya, about four hours drive through rice-growing flats, up tea-producing mountainsides, from Nairobi.  Edward and Fridah Buria welcomed us into their home; Dave and Silla Devenish came from England  to challenge and encourage Newfrontiers pastors gathered from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, DR Congo…and Ethiopia. Wow!  The interactions, cross-cultural insights, and stories of God's transforming power helped us set our course for our return to Ethiopia in August.

Schedule so far for 5 weeks stateside:

Arrive Seattle: June 25

Sharing at House of Prayer, Whidbey Island, WA: July 1, 7-8

Bremerton, WA, with Ted and Katy: July 2-6

St. Louis, MO, area with Toby, Laura, Emily, and Valerie: July 10-18

Ashland, OR:  latter part of July

Return to Ethiopia: August 1

We'll watch our e-mail for anyone hoping to get in touch while we're in your area. 

Blessings,

Owen and Char Baldwin

4/26/2007

Time doesn't fly in Ethiopia...it runs!

02/27/07 

Wonderful weavings…and knotty threads:

Forty years ago, on February 1, we "tied the knot."  Married over semester break from college, anticipating a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, we cast our fate to the wind.   We were clueless—in Seattle as well as on that 13 mile-long Island in the Ocean we called home for the next two years—that the "Ruach" winds of the Holy Spirit were moving us toward an encounter with the God of the Nations.

Like an anchor (Owen) and a balloon (Char), we held on by a thread as we moved through some stormy years: more school, cross-cultural teaching, and bringing children into a world that was painfully far from the ideals we entertained.  But the "knot" held as our little family continued to cast about for a sense of belonging and purpose.  Some threads endured from childhood: Phyllis Rainey carting me to church where the updraft of worship seemed to defy gravity; Owen discovering, at the invitation of a neighborhood buddy, God's Word so riveting that he copied it to post on his bedroom bulletin board..

Many of you reading this were woven into our lives since those days when God's mercy oversaw our unraveling, freeing us to take part in a fabric of His design.   And that's why we are here, now, in East Africa, learning language and culture.  We are fitting into a bigger picture, seeing the "back side of the tapestry" in our daily lives, and believing the Lord intends to make something beautiful.

Ethiopian traditional fabric is woven from cotton grown in the southern regions, as in Egypt, for centuries.  Women stretch fluffy cotton fibers across a twirling stick to form threads.  Men from families who have practiced this craft for generations weave the snowy threads into material used for everything from elegant traditional dresses and matching gauzy "nettala" shawls to humble mops pushed across floors daily.

Like threads, we are woven into daily life here and appreciate your prayers as we are stretched:

to reach out to a neighbor's family who lost their mother in a car accident recently.  Especially Mary, a daughter at Addis University, and El Shaddai, who is in school with Dodi…

to include Cari Ernst, the volunteer nurse at AHOPE Orphanage, who is living with us for three months, missing her husband in Seattle, and fulfilling a life-long desire to serve in Ethiopia...

to know God's leading and timing in building relationships: Owen in Language School, Char with Kidzana Teams training children's workers, Azeb with Neighborhood Kids Club, Wit with soccer connections…

 to cook, clean, and stay presentable with a minimum of water—our community water sources has been shut down for 6 days because of a break in the waterline caused by road construction.

to "fight the good fight, keep the faith, and run the race" knowing there is a crown for ALL who long for the Lord's appearing!

Glimpses of heaven:  celebrating 76 birthdays at once at AHOPE on a Sunday afternoon, with Happy Birthday sung for each child in two languages; faces around our table as Dodi reads a Bible passage in Amharic and we echo in English; neighbors' voices calling, "Dad, Mom, Dena nachew? (How are you?)" across the dusty road; warm thoughts stretching around the world to each of you, wherever you are.

with love,  Char and Owen Baldwin

12/21/06

Merry Christmas (twice) from Ethiopia      

"Dashing through the snow (dust) in a one-horse open sleigh (gari), o'er the fields (roadbed) we go, laughing all the way!"   We sang at the top of our lungs on our way home from church, led by Dodi who is learning the old favorite we associate with Christmas. No bells jingled—just lots of curious looks from people along the road, and a lopsided grin on the face of our gari driver.  This mile-long bone-jarring trip-to-anywhere from our house will eventually be history…maybe even a fond memory.  Right now it's a challenging reality.  

The story of Jesus' birth is like that in so many ways—a scene packaged in sentiment, separated by time and memory from the exhaustion, terror, and mystery of a plan that required going away:

Staying here, for us, involves leaving here to renew our visas. We will be spending ten days with our longtime-friends, Steven and Cissy Mayanja, and their family in Uganda.  We leave here the day after our traditional Christmas and return to Ethiopia the day before Orthodox Christmas, which is what Ethiopians celebrate, on January 6th.  Sounds like a kid's dream—two Christmas celebrations in two weeks!  

Heartfelt thanks to all who have thought of, prayed for, had dreams about us…may the same God who spoke life to Mary and direction to Joseph visit you with encouragement so that you may put your hope in things that count forever.

Love in Him who first loved us,

Owen and Charlene Baldwin

11/02/06

Wherever we go….there we are!  Two months into this Ethiopian assignment and we have discovered that:

Our Language and Culture training uses the word "deconstruction" to describe what takes place as we give up some things that are familiar (available restrooms, pedestrian safety, blending in) in order to accept the way things ARE in a new place. This process, described by a couple named Lingenfelter who teach at Biola University (where Peggy Mott and the Teague girls studied) is called, "becoming a 150% person." It means letting go of enough of our own cultural ways to take on new ways of thinking and seeing without losing our identity or values.

That can range from learning how to react to the wide range of handicaps and needs we see when beggars come rushing toward foreigners, to navigating well-traveled sidewalks ripe with donkey, sheep and cow dung.  We have to come down off our western "high horse" and give up our judgment that "things shouldn't be done this way." With Christ in us, the hope of glory, we walk shoulder to shoulder with people He lived and died for. An Amharic proverb serves as the Language School motto and has become a real theme for us: it translates "little by little the egg begins to walk." 

Marion Henny was part of a Kidzana team training Ethiopian teachers here, in Addis Ababa, with us in 2004.  She used an egg to illustrate the uniqueness of each child created by God.  Little did we realize that we were (by the Lord's faithfulness) tapping into a rich metaphor known across ethnic lines among Amharic-speaking people! There are times in these first months we've related to that egg, sensing we're alive and rocking…but a long way from walking!

Our intentions to learn the culture and language were jump-started by Sarawit and Azeb's double wedding with her sister on October 7.  That involved eating "fit-fit," a traditional lunch meal, with the grooms and attendants; caravanning to the brides and attendants' with singing and "illilta"; on to a hotel with vast gardens for outdoor photos, then to the church and a formal entry to a lively choir, followed by preaching, rings, unity candles and great joy!  From there we went to a huge buffet meal for about 400 people, a worship team, more singing, dancing "shipsheba," the traditional worship dance, and cakes.

Two days later we moved from the SIM Guest House (where we'd been almost a month, along with a number of our Language School friends) into Wit and Azeb's house on the outskirts of the city of Addis Ababa.  The wedding events continued for the next week; the final event will be hosted by the newlyweds here, at our home, on Sunday, October 29, as a thank-you to their 14 attendants.  There is no "honeymoon" tradition here—we've been welcomed into a situation that might seem awkward in our culture but is considered perfectly normal here.  We all camped out in the living room the first night, but were soon in proper rooms as the house is being finished (by ingenious African craftsmen) right around us, with progress every day.

We are so very grateful to all who prayed with and for us regarding Owen's father's death. The call came on a day we had no school because of a national holiday, so we were taking our time at breakfast with language school friends and a group of men (2 German, one Dutch) who minister in prisons here.  Hope called to inform us; when Owen's Mom died, she was in Ethiopia—now the tables were turned.  We spoke with all the family members in the next few days (thank God for phone cards!) and were content with our agreement last summer with family that we wouldn't fly home.  Wit and Azeb wept with us.

The apostle Paul wrote to his friends, the Philippians, "Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.  Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.  I find myself praying for you with a glad heart." (Message)  Those words capture how we enjoy thinking of you, holding you up to the Lord with gratitude.  

Please pray for wisdom and grace for:

Love in Him who first loved us,

Char and Owen

9/10/06

Happy New Year!

On September 11 we celebrate our first national holiday, and 1999 gets underway.  Yes, you're reading that right--the local calendar dates from the time Jesus came out of Africa (by way of Egypt) as a child.  Too bad our years can't be rolled back!  Schools and universities start the next day, and Language School for us.   We are presently staying in the guest house of a Mekane Yesus (Lutheran) church not far from the airport, surrounded by kind people willing to repeat words to us in Amharic until we come close to making sense in their challenging melodic language.  

Owen's work on the interactive CD over the past few months has given him a jump-start in reading and writing the curly Amharic letters that look as complex as the beautiful braided hairdos we see on women of all ages..  We were advised by an Ethiopian friend to pay attention to names as they have meaning and are a good way to build vocabulary.  So we were all ears when we met Pastor Tagash (patience) and discovered we'd be served breakfast every day by Bezu (many) and Mulu (full.)   Baby talk, so far!! We so appreciate your prayers for quickened ears and nimble tongues.

Those of you who have lived in other cultures know how your senses are stretched by new tastes, sounds and smells.   We are adjusting from our long summer days on Whidbey Island to a sun that rises daily at 6:30 and sinks suddenly at the same time in the evening.  Arriving in the midst of the "big rains" means chilly mornings in the mid-50's and lots of mud. People run for cover as thunder booms and a dark curtain of rain floods the streets and walkways, sometimes twice a day.   When the sky clears, however, we can anticipate the dusty high 80's of the dry season ahead, and months without rain.

Our present living situation is a guest house attached to a church in a small compound.  We share a bath with two other guest rooms, a common living and dining room where various gatherings are held, and a kitchen which I am free to use in the evenings, camping out on a kerosene stove with limited resources.   It suits our strategy of "backing into the culture;" listening, sharing pictures, surrounded by Ethiopians who are gracious and welcoming.  We were invited to give a testimony to an outreach program for kids, then got to read their names and admire certificates of graduation another day when they were back from a "field trip" to an arcade.   Also shared with a group of Ethiopian Airline Hostesses who meet here because it's close to the airport—all from different churches.

When Wit and Azeb's house is ready we'll move into the next phase of making ourselves at home here. The location is going to be a challenge until a new road to the area is finished, but will be close to the part of the city where the orphanage is located, and is also close to Debra Zeit and Wit's farm.   On our visits to the building site we've watched a 3-story cement shell become a home: windows installed, gutters attached, electricity and plumbing carved into cement, walls smooth-coated with gypsum and tiles laid for flooring.   Amazing—and termite proof!

A high school kid named Beta (house of) Solomon hangs around the guest house practicing the keyboard, waiting for school to start.   He's commented on the struggles of young African Christians. That's why we're here and going back to school, to be part of building grace into a nation and a generation.

David Devenish, who led Newfrontiers first Cross-cultural training in St. Louis this summer, saw our lives as a story: a very interesting story put together by a skilled novelist with clues along the way of the action to come.   Connections in process to cultivate in prayer:

We are walking out this chapter with gratitude to the "author and finisher of our faith," and all who have believed in us, supporting and encouraging us to take this big step.   Thanks for your kind words, generosity and thoughtful prayers. 

Love in Him who first loved us,

Owen and Charlene Baldwin