In one of the first comments I ever received on this blog I was asked to describe how coming to Ethiopia changed the preconceived images of the country I had in my mind. Unfortunately I was unable to do so because I was born in Ethiopia. Fortunately I have some nice friends who were willing to take the time to describe their personal experiences.
The following post has been written by Steve Strauss, a very good friend who lived and worked in Ethiopia for over 15 years.
When I first came to Ethiopia in 1982, I had a lot of preconceived images of the country. Some of those images turned out to be accurate, but many of them needed significant correction.
Because I had been to other African countries, I knew that there would be a mix of wealth and poverty and educated and less-educated. I also knew that I would have much to learn from Ethiopian believers and Ethiopian culture. But what I didn’t realize was how much living in Ethiopia would transform my worldview in fundamental ways. I came to teach, but realizing there was much to learn so that I could teach more effectively. I didn’t realize that I had much to learn—and not just to make me a more effective teacher. I needed to change in very basic ways, and Ethiopia was my teacher.
For example, in Ethiopia I saw true, genuine sacrificial giving in a way I had never known before. I saw people willing to give and share what they had, even if it was very little. I saw a hospitality
that went so far beyond what I had previously experienced that the word took on almost a whole new meaning for me.
In another example, I experienced an awareness of God’s intervention in life and a dependence on God to care for us an intervene in our behalf in far deeper ways that I had every imagined. I saw examples of prayer that demonstrated what true faith and trust in God really looked like. I even came to understand Scripture in a more profound way because I felt I was seeing it through the eyes of people who were much more like the original readers, people who had nothing else but God to depend on. Ethiopia, especially the Ethiopian church, taught me about prayer and dependence on God.
A final example: In Ethiopia I learned more about true worship of God, worship with one’s whole being, worship that embraced the whole body—with all its senses—and emotions as well as the mind. Both Marcia and I testify that our experience of coming to know God in Spirit-filled worship would be greatly impoverished if not for our years in Ethiopia.
The change in my stereotype: I came to Ethiopia primarily seeing people as students; Ethiopia, instead, became my life-long teacher.
Steve Strauss
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