Overseas Partners

These links offer us an invaluable perspective. We appreciate the frequent updates we receive from both partner families, giving us the opportunity to follow the progress of their important work.

A proportion of the money we raised during our recent renovation was set aside to support our overseas partners. In East Africa, our donation paid for IT upgrades to facilitate the work of Tanzanian translators, who are newly trained in computer skills and the use of Bible translation software. In Thailand, our contribution is helping to support the HIV/AIDS Project.
 

 

October 2010

Jane and Mike are currently supporting Pose Chokponchaiyagun, a member of the Karen minority group living in Thailand, through a four-year course at the Bangkok Institute of Theology. Mayfield Salisbury is providing assistance for this from the Salisbury Fund. So we were delighted to hear that Pose’s studies are progressing extremely well and that he recently won an award for the best student role model, voted for by fellow students and members of the faculty.

The photograph shows Pose (pictured right), receiving his award.

 
The following testimony was written for us by Pose. The comments in italics are Jane’s.

Testimony of Pose Chokponchaiyagun
My name is Pose Chokponchaikun. I am currently a student at Bangkok Institute of Theology in my 4th and final year. I am 23 years old. I am Karen. My parents were Christians and as a result had to flee from Burma as refugees, because the Burmese army was persecuting minority groups and Christians and driving them out of the country. I thank God that my parents were Christians and my mother was a pastor. One of the problems or obstacles our family has is that we do not have the rights of Thai citizens – we are considered ‘aliens’ in Thailand. But because of God’s love towards us and his amazing provision, He cared for us so that we have never been in want of anything.
 
(This family lived hand to mouth in a jungle village, foraging for most of their food and never knowing for sure where the next meal was coming from – we would call it abject poverty – Pose just sees God’s provision)

I have 3 siblings. I am the second child. Even though we have known many problems I have always felt I had a warm caring family. Our parents regularly taught us about Jesus so I always believed in Him. Ever since I was a child I have been aware of God’s love in my life. This was particularly obvious in my education. Most people in my situation (stateless and poor) do not get an opportunity to study at all. Even though my parents could not afford to send me away to be able to go to school themselves (they lived in the jungle far from a school, and the only school who would take stateless kids was the Christian one in Sangklaburi  4 hours away) yet through God’s love and provision He provided the opportunity for me to go to the Christian school and stay in the hostel there, through scholarships from people I had never met or known. Because of this love to me, when I was 14 years old I decided to be baptized and I committed my life to God and asked Him to lead me in every area of my life.  

Even though I had no Thai ID card God opened doors for me and blessed me in my studies from primary school until I finished vocational school (many kids who don’t have citizenship will study to Year 9 level and then go to vocational school).  I represented the school on many occasions at provincial and national level and won several prizes eg. First in welding for Singburi province, came second in welding at national level, competed at national level playing draughts and was also on sports teams.  As far as academic studies are concerned I was usually 2nd in my class. I believe all these things are not down to my ability but rather because of God’s leading and love in my life. But even more than all of this God gave me something I had wanted since I was a small child, and that was Thai citizenship.  When I received citizenship I felt I had been given freedom at last and the opportunity to really use my life and get more education. (Children who are considered stateless do not receive a High school diploma and have no opportunity for tertiary education) My life has been so filled with God’s love and grace I can’t put it into words.
 
 
If I speak about my dreams or vision, I believe I was called by God when I was 10 years old one day when I was travelling home to my village from school. I felt I must serve God and I prayed asking for the opportunity to serve Him. I constantly remember that day. Even though there have many times since that day when I have turned from God for various reasons, yet I know in my heart that I must serve God and that my life is His. I thought I would serve by supporting and helping a pastor. My mother served God as a pastor through great sacrifice. She also worked as the community health worker and was always giving her time and love to the people in our village and many other villages. As the child of someone in full time ministry I saw how hard she worked and worried about her. Many other pastors experience the same as my mother. So I thought I would not become a full time pastor but be a support person more, earning a living with a trade and supporting the church and the pastor.  However when I finished my schooling I felt called to change my vision, and decided I needed to study the Bible at seminary and become a full time pastor. I am willing to serve anywhere but my heart is for the disadvantaged and oppressed, starting with the community where I grew up. Many times I have felt as if my story is similar to that of Moses, who was called to rescue his own people from what was happening to them.

Last year when I was studying in my 3rd year at seminary, my mother died unexpectedly. This was a big shock and the church in our area now has no pastor. I hope to return to my village. But if it is God’s will I may be able to serve him wider than just my own village. This is my vision. But whatever happens I know it is God who will lead me in my service of Him. Finally may God bless all of you who read this testimony. May you know his grace and love.

 

Oliver Stegen in East Africa

Oliver works as a linguistics consultant with SIL International, on language projects in Northern Tanzania.

SIL grew out of an original 1934 training programme, ‘Summer Institute of Linguistics’, and today has a staff of 6,000 in 60 countries. Oliver’s work involves training Tanzanian professionals in linguistic analysis and translation principles, and the production of written forms of previously unwritten African languages. This enables speakers to have access to the Bible in their own mother tongue.
Oliver lives in Nairobi with his wife Dorothea, who is currently training as a teacher of German, and their three children. We enjoy meeting up with the family at Mayfield Salisbury during Oliver’s regular visits to Edinburgh for postgraduate study.


Below are some recent updates from the Stegen family:

From: oliver_stegen@sil.org
To: info@oliverstegen.net
CC: dorothea_stegen@sil.org
Subject: Christmas greetings from the Stegen family
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:21:21 +0300

Dear friends,

 

When looking back over the year, we are filled with deep gratitude:

 

We celebrated the last New Year with visitors from Germany in our favourite holiday location of Eldama Ravine in the Kenyan highlands. Still in January, we taught part-time in a four-week preparatory study course for African colleagues from eight different countries; Dorothea taught English and I introduction to linguistics. Short conference trips took me to Cape Town, South Africa, and Dorothea to Maua, Tanzania, on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. In April and May respectively, Dorothea and I completed our studies, Dorothea in Teaching German as a Foreign Language, and I in Applied Linguistics. For five weeks of July and August, our family was touring Germany and we met with many of our family, friends and supporters. Back in Nairobi, Tabita successfully transferred from the German school to Rosslyn Academy, and Dorothea did a four-month internship at the German school. In all of this of course, our main task still is to advise both expatriate and African colleagues in their language learning and in applied linguistics.

 

 Allow us to report in more detail about three travels of more recent months:

 

- In September, I spent two weeks in Northern Tanzania with our friends and colleagues Julia and Viggo Larsen, who are living and working among the Mbugwe people. Together with sixteen Mbugwe speakers, we investigated the verbal system of the Mbugwe language in order to settle remaining orthography questions. It was a demanding, yet successful workshop. The Mbugwe participants in the end all agreed on the necessary spelling rules, and we are now writing a spelling guide which is to be tested during the next workshop in spring of 2012.

 

- In October, I went to Musoma for two weeks where in a cluster project on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, work progresses in nine languages. On four days, I helped twelve Tanzanian Bible translators to deepen their grammatical understanding. I also worked together with my colleagues Holly Higgins and Johnny Walker to plan the project’s linguistic work for the next months, and I introduced two new colleagues to the development of orthographies specifically for Bantu languages. This too was a successful trip. The highlight was the last October weekend when I joined the translation team for the Ikoma language to travel to the remote village of Robanda on the edge of the Serengeti. There, we presented and distributed the newly translated Gospel of Luke in the Ikoma language. Now, the Ikoma too are able to understand when it is proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest …”!

 

- In November, Dorothea attended a two-week course in Turkey for language learning advisors. There, she got a thorough introduction to a promising approach to language learning. It is called “Growing Participator Approach”. One particularly helpful exercise was on encouraging language learners, how to listen well and draw people out. Now, Dorothea is looking forward to applying it in her German teaching and in her advising colleagues in Tanzania.

 

From December 27 to January 4, we intend to be travelling in Tanzania to visit our old haunts and to see our friends in Kondoa and Dodoma. School in Nairobi starts January 9 again.

 

But now, our focus is on Immanuel, God with us, God taking human form in Jesus, and Him we seek to meet these days:

 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

 

With those verses, we wish you a joyful Christmas and a blessed start into the New Year.

 

(The appended family picture was taken by friends from our early days in Tanzania, who recently visited us.)

 

With gratitude,

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver & Dorothea Stegen

 

P.O.Box 539, Village Market, 00621 Nairobi, Kenya

 

Mobile: (+254)-710-215301 (Oliver); (+254)-727-480331 (Dorothea)

 

Email:   Oliver_Stegen@sil.org

 

Dorothea_Stegen@sil.org

 

Skype: stegling (Oliver); steglina (Dorothea)

 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/babatabita

 

Web: http://oliverstegen.net

 

 

 

 

 

August 2011

Dear friends,
For five weeks, our family traveled through Germany, from the East to the North, then to the West and the South. We’ve seen many friends, reconnecting, giving first-hand accounts of our work in East Africa and all in all being blessed by all the friendship and support. God is good!
Now our time in Germany is over and we have returned to Nairobi: On August 10th, Tabita started 10th grade at Rosslyn Academy (http://rosslynacademy.org/), and twelve days later, Miriam and Silas resumed their studies at the German school (http://dsnairobi.de/index.php?article_id=1&clang=1). Thanks for your prayers through which you continue to accompany our children in their education and friendships.
With regard to our ministry, it feels like we’ve hit the ground running. I’ve just attended a 3-day seminar of the African Union on the establishment of a Swahili Commission (http://www.acalan.org/eng/events/nairobi_workshop.php) during which I learned a lot about language policy and academic relations. Now I am preparing to go to Northern Tanzania and help the Mbugwe language team to run their final orthography workshop from September 5-15. Completing this workshop should enable them to focus more on literacy and translation afterwards.
As of this week, Dorothea starts a 5-month internship at the German school in teaching German as a foreign language. This will give her more experience and a good foundation for even better service in that area. We’re excited and looking forward to which doors God is going to open for Dorothea’s language teaching.
With love in Christ from Nairobi,
Oliver & Dorothea with Tabita, Miriam & Silas
 

June 2011

Dear friends at Mayfield-Salisbury, At the morning services of May 8 I was kindly given the opportunity to greet the congregation. For the benefit of those who were not present, I am now writing to you all. On Thursday, May 5 I defended my doctoral thesis successfully. This achievement is in no small measure thanks to the support of Mayfield-Salisbury, and thus it is with both joy and gratitude that I report this success to you. My doctoral research is a direct contribution to literature development in the Rangi language of Tanzania, and our ministry continues to being aimed at helping people to use their mother tongue to its full potential in everyday life as well as for spiritual growth. In the services, I also showed a copy of the Gospel of Mark in the Rangi language. A video of the dedication ceremony for this first published New Testament book in Rangi was shown at Mayfield-Salisbury end of last year. Eugene Peterson, probably best known for his translation of the Bible as “The Message”, has proposed that the church should be a place where people can tell their stories.I want to express my deep gratitude to Mayfield-Salisbury for giving me a place to tell and to listen. The story of my doctoral studies is ended. The story of literature development in the small languages of the world still goes on, just as the story of Jesus continues to go around the world, and I am looking forward to continued cooperation with you on behalf of these marginalised language communities. So thank you all for making me a part of the story of Mayfield-Salisbury, and thank you for being a part of the story of the small languages of the world.
 Oliver Stegen and family
 

May 2011

Dear friends,  

First of all, we thank you for your support and the many congratulations on the completion of our studies. In April, Dorothea passed her teaching qualification for German as a foreign language, and on May 5, I successfully defended my doctoral thesis. Two milestones have been reached almost simultaneously. God is good!
 
Still, the next steps are already on the horizon, particularly our biennial summer furlough in Germany. I will start reconnecting with our supporters in the Dresden area from June 14; Dorothea and the children will join me there on July 3, after having completed school in Nairobi. Other areas visited will include the North (July 16-29) and the Southwest of Germany (August 1-8). On August 8, I take Tabita back to Nairobi where on August 10, she will start 10th grade at Rosslyn Academy, whereas Dorothea, Miriam and Silas fly to Nairobi on August 17 for the German school start on the 22nd.
 
Which brings us to the second big topic of this prayer update: Tabita’s transition from the German school to Rosslyn Academy, an American high school. The main reason for the change is that many of her friends from the youth group are attending Rosslyn Academy, whereas even in almost four years, she hasn’t made good friends at the German school. So when she received a positive reply to her application, she was very happy. In the meantime, she’s successfully auditioned for the Rosslyn school choir, and we’re finalising her timetable.
(If you’re interested in more details, please don’t hesitate to ask – we’re more than happy to reply )
 
Thanks for accompanying us with your prayers during our travels and transitions!
With all our love from Nairobi,
Oliver & Dorothea with Tabita, Miriam & Silas
 
April 2011
Dear friends,
 For this month, just a quick note in telegramme style:
- Dorothea got an A in her final exam
- April 4-8, successful orthography consulting for the Mbugwe language
- Rangi language now in spelling software (http://accentuate.us)
- new Rangi online chat group now over 100 members (and they use it to also
- distribute newly translated Scripture verses!)
- Tabita made new friends at an international Christian youth group
- Oliver flying to Edinburgh May 2nd for his viva there on May 5th
- whole family preparing for deputation in Germany (June-August)
Happy Easter and many thanks for your support,
Oliver & Dorothea with Tabita, Miriam & Silas
 
March  2011
Dear friends and supporters,

A few days before the deadline of February 28, my thesis arrived at the
postgraduate office of Edinburgh University. What a blessing that over these
last few weeks, everything worked out from working my supervisors' comments
into the document to printing, photocopying, binding and mailing. Thanks be
to God! And thanks also to you who accompanied me and my family along the
way!
Next, it is Dorothea's turn to finish her study programme in teaching German
as a foreign language. She will sit her final exam during the two weeks from
March 17-31 (she will have to write several essay answers including
preparing lesson plans and similar tasks). Unfortunately, for five days of
her exam period, I will be at a consultant seminar. Thanks for remembering
her especially during those two weeks!

So now, we're starting to focus on how to apply our newly gained knowledge
and skills to the work ahead here in Nairobi and the wider region of East
Africa. Several doors are opening but we want to make the right choices and
also work as a team again (Dorothea's language teaching and my applied
linguistics have quite some overlap and hence a potential for cooperation).
So we're talking with our supervisors and colleagues in SIL* and also with
friends and family about different ministry needs: these range from
assisting both national and expatriate colleagues in documenting the results
of their projects (including options of using internet technology for
distribution and networking) to language support (mostly English for
national colleagues and Swahili for expatriates) and the development of
language terminology in Swahili for academic publishing.

Does this sound rather technical and not too relevant to Bible translation?
Well, it is still a necessary part of making God's Word available in the
mother tongue to our fellow brothers and sisters who speak one of over 2000
African languages. If everyone in East Africa is to understand what God is
saying to His beloved sons and daughters, from the electronically
well-connected city-dweller to the farmer in rural areas, a lot of
language-related work has to be going on (and often behind the scenes at
that). Thanks for your contributions to this ministry!

Give thanks:
- for both our studies coming to an end
Please pray:
- for our decision-making in prioritising our future responsibilities
- for Dorothea's final exam March 17-31
- for good friendships for our children, especially Tabita and Silas

With love in Christ, and many greetings from Nairobi,

Oliver & Dorothea with Tabita, Miriam & Silas

 *SIL is the organisation to which we are seconded by Wycliffe for ministry
in East Africa.