About the People
About 150,000 Otammari live in Northern Benin and Togo. They are famous for their masonry and their traditional homes that resemble mud castles. Most are subsistence farmers and hunters.
Illiteracy is high among this group. Many people only read French, the administrative language of Benin. Very few can read or write their heart language, Ditammari. Most cling to animism and ancestor worship and have resisted both Islam and Christianity. Each household has a family altar called the fetish, where the father of the household makes sacrifices and appeals to the spirits of the ancestors. Participation in initiation ceremonies is of the highest importance for teenage boys and girls.
The whole Bible is translated into Ditammari, but it is out of print. However, the Holy Spirit is moving among these people who have traditionally been extremely resistant to outsiders. Evangelical Christians of several denominations have noticed a dramatic change in their openness in recent years.
About the Project
AFM missionaries have been ministering to the Otammari people since Linden and Michelle St. Clair launched the project in 1996. Today, Ulrike Baur-Kouato leads the project, assisted by her husband Toussaint and three local evangelists. They are working to nurture the church in Natitingou and a growing number of groups in surrounding villages. Suzy Baldwin worked on the Otammari Project for many years and now serves on the Pendjari Project.
People-Group Facts
- Population: 150,000
- Language: Ditammari
- Religion: Animist
Eleven-year-old Josue moved here from Togo to live with his older brother, one of our church members. Before he started coming to Sabbath School, he didn’t know anything about God. If you don’t know Josue well, your first impression might be that he is silly and just wants to mess around.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
December 01 2007, 3:44 pm | Comments 0
Thump, thump. The pestle hits the bottom of the mortar. Pop, snap goes the charcoal as it heats up. “Aaayyyyeeee!” goes the person as a hot coal hits a bare foot. “Ha ha ha!” the people laugh as they look at each other blackened by charcoal powder.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
November 01 2007, 2:46 pm | Comments 0
You come from all over the world. Some of you are elderly, and some are young. Some give out of your wealth others out of your pensions. You live in large houses and small apartments. Some of you have experienced overseas life, others haven’t.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
October 01 2007, 2:47 pm | Comments 0
This year, the AFM furloughing missionary retreat was held at Glacier View Ranch, an Adventist camp in Colorado. Before I arrived, I asked a friend to see whether she could arrange a speaking appointment for me in a local church while I was there.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
September 01 2007, 2:49 pm | Comments 0
The fear oppressed me more and more the farther we walked from Katherine’s home. I fought back and prayed, holding onto my faith in God’s power to liberate me. As soon as Katherine’s son parted ways with me, I made a mad dash across the road to an empty field.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
August 01 2007, 2:51 pm | Comments 0
We were in the middle of youth week of prayer. The kids had first heard about this type of event in a Sabbath School mission story almost a year before. From that point on, they’d talked about doing a youth week of prayer. They kept asking me, and we tried several times to find a date when everyone would be free.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
July 01 2007, 2:52 pm | Comments 0
It was 7 p.m., and we were all set up for another evening of the outdoor evangelistic series we’re holding at a school. A storm was coming fast, and rain threatened at any moment. We could see where rain was already falling north of us, and it was coming south straight for us.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
June 01 2007, 2:53 pm | Comments 0
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:18, 19).
As I was reading this verse this morning,
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
May 01 2007, 2:55 pm | Comments 0
Hi. I am Suzy’s watch. I have been sitting on her wrist for many years. We go everywhere together. My band collects all kinds of yucky stuff like bread dough, dirt, mud, gasoline,
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
April 01 2007, 2:57 pm | Comments 0
“During our family’s Christmas/New Year celebration, my father took down his big fetish and sacrificed a bunch of chickens over it,” Jack told me this last Sabbath. “I didn’t want to eat chicken offered to the fetish.
By:
Suzy & Fidel Baldwin-Noutehou
March 01 2007, 3:59 pm | Comments 0
