Missionary to Nigeria retraces Washington roots

By Rachel Pritchett, communicator

PARKLAND — Even when she was a high-schooler in Longview, Dorthea Hamman had a hunch she'd spend her life in missionary work.
"I just had this feeling I wouldn't stay in the United States," said Hamman, now a longtime lay missionary in Jos, Nigeria. She came to visit family and friends in the Southwestern Washington Synod in July.
After high school, it was straight to Colombia for her first taste of helping others abroad and also to Western Washington University in Bellingham, where the Rev. Jim Stender, then campus pastor and now pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church of Vancouver, encouraged her to follow her calling.
It's been two decades, now, that Hamman has taught school in Nigeria. Today, she's a volunteer ELCA missionary and history teacher at Hillcrest School.
The school of less than 300 students is very diverse. Some are children of other missionaries or ex-pats who've settled in Nigeria. Some are children of local families.
"I especially enjoy (world history) because because there is already such diversity in my classrooms that it connects to each of us in a different way, and studying it helps us to understand our own pasts better," she said.
She said she found it difficult, at first, to teach from a Christian context. So many years later, she sees no other way.
"From teaching ... and understanding better how religion and belief systems have been such a guiding force throughout history, it just makes sense that bringing in God should be encouraged," she said.
Hamman married a Nigerian clergyman, the Rev. Amson Adamu Hamman, in 1996 and today they have three children, Daniel, Annette and Nat. Her husband has a four-point ministry of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria in Jos and in surrounding villages.
Because of the political unrest and violence between Christians and Muslims in Jos and because it is the custom in Africa, the family must live in a walled compound supported by the ELCA and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
The family, especially the children, were enjoying their freedom during their brief stay in Washington. The kids rode their bikes, and the family toured Pacific Lutheran University on an excursion hosted by Diane and Ed Armbrust and Missy Tade of the synod's Global Mission Committee.
From Washington, they will go to the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where Pastor Hamman will preach to a congregation that is part of a companion relationship in Nigeria.
Hammon said that anyone who is considering missionary work should not put it off, even if they can't go as far as Nigeria.
"If you want to be a missionary, start wherever you are," she said.

Pictured left to right: Annette, Amson Adamu, Daniel and Dorthea Hamman during a visit to the Southwestern Washington Synod office on July 7.

Visit here to read more on political conditions in Jos, Nigeria:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/jos-nigeria%E2%80%99s-face-of-terror/