In the eyes of some Christians, Western missionaries in Africa are often regarded as holy martyrs who must Christianize the dark continent at all costs. In the eyes of secular skeptics, missionaries are usually the destroyers of indigenous cultures and irrational proselytizers who want to convert people to the Christian faith against their will.
Both of these divergent views
Photo by Aaron Burden via Unsplas
LOUISVILLE — On Monday the Presbyterian Writers Guild celebrated the
With my husband and sons, I moved mid-career to Nairobi, Kenya from a teaching job in Ethiopia. We’d been asked to work for four years with Nuers, the second largest ethnic group in South Sudan. It was a misbegotten and doomed assignment. Trauma from the Sudanese civil war, now in its thirtieth year, pressed on everyone, always, and everywhere. Corruption ruled.
Caroline Kurtz Recommends Maaza Mengiste, Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Dinaw Mengestu, and More – By Caroline Kurtz
The first home I remember well sat on the edge of a remote escarpment in mountainous Ethiopia. Ethiopians there accepted me, bemused and curious about my strange hair that had been bleached by the tropical highland sun. When I returned to the US, I spoke as a native,
Caroline Kurtz’s book is real, raw and truly a sacred story of who she is and how God has called her since childhood. This is her second memoir, as she continues to process her ministry, cross-cultural identity, family connections and deep desire to make a difference in the world. As a mother, mission co-worker and minister, I could relate. I have three daughters who sometimes feel
On April 5, 2022, Annie Bloom’s welcomed back local author Caroline Kurtz for a livestream reading from her new memoir, Today Is Tomorrow. Caroline was in conversation with her sister, children’s author Jane Kurtz.
How do we represent Africa as a multicultural, multifaceted continent to our readers? How do we embrace diversity in early readers for Africa’s kids? And how do we market our wonderful African stories to a Eurocentric world? In this Zoom discussion five experts explained how to open doors to the rest of the world and how to be proudly African in our offering.
On 4 November 2020 the Ethiopian government’s federal army led an assault on a group of militias in the Tigray province after numerous, apparently unprovoked, attacks on the official army. A year later the war seems to be escalating, with politicians and diplomats scrambling to stop what could become yet another civil war.
• What is the role of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize,
Summer of 2011 | University of Portland Rise Campaign
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“When she lost her husband to cancer, (Caroline) made a solo hike along the rugged Oregon coast. . . . Her hike enabled her to shed her old identity and find a new one. . . . This is a beautifully written, poetic memoir.”
“Walking the Tideline invites us to join Caroline Kurtz on an intimate journey of self-discovery along the Oregon Coast Trail in the wake of her husband’s passing. Written with warmth and honesty, we experience the beauty, exhaustion, and healing of a sandy pilgrimage anchored in grief, yet longing for release. A story brave in its revelations, and satisfying in its insights, it’s a book that stays with you.”
” I pretty much inhaled this book. I read it fast because of the sustained tension in both the domestic and the professional sides of your life. And you present such a clear evocation of exactly what it was like to be in the scenes you describe–the vividness and specificity took my breath away! ”
“Today is Tomorrow” is indeed an incredible statement of hope for all who would like to see the light at the end of the tunnel in South Sudan.
“A lot of your memoir resonated with how I have interpreted my life between my two homes, how I have interacted with religion, and the place/value Ethiopia has in my present American life. ”
“Caroline Kurtz takes her readers on a journey from Oregon, to Maji, Ethiopia, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Pasadena, California and back to Ethiopia and America with beautiful description, emotional moments, and an enduring love for the people of Ethiopia.”
” Working side-by-side with (Caroline) in Sudan, I can say that the realities she describes with such sublime word pictures are all real. She is an artistic wordsmith, and it was my privilege to have her as my right arm at Wunlit where the people made their peace become real, mal mi chum-chum, sweet peace, for a time. ”
“This beautifully written book is a wonderful read. The story unlocks the power a place and its people can have in helping us become who we should be. I highly recommend this for anyone.”
“If you ever dreamed of adventure thrust upon you at an early age, Caroline Kurtz will tell you all about what happens in this story full of lovely detail starting with her arrival at age five in Maji, Ethiopia with her missionary parents.”
” I started to dread the end as I could not have enough of your reflections on several themes about our common experiences of belonging to both Ethiopia and the USA. ”
” I loved this memoir by Caroline Kurtz. It is a beautifully written account of growing up In two countries that are worlds apart, Ethiopia and the United States. For me, one of the best qualities of the story is that it is not sugar-coated. ”
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