My name is Ajani. I was born and grew up in Eritrea in a small town called Dongla Laelay.  I went to school up to grade 8 only. I lived with my family but didn’t have work. I received Jesus Christ while I was in Eretria. My brother was the first to receive Jesus in the family. After receiving Jesus, he always witnessed about Jesus in our family. Because of that, I accepted Jesus in 2002. At that time the church was closed and time was challenging and hard.  It was very difficult to have fellowship or even to communicate with other Christians. If you do, people will tell or give a sign to the police and you will be put in prison. Some believers are in prison leaving their wives, children, brothers, and sisters. I know many Christian brothers and sisters suffer a lot and go through different difficulties in prison. I myself even went through such difficulty. In 2006, my sister and I were sent to prison with my sister’s daughter who was five at that time. They took us to a very hot area called Wuah. There we stayed two years in a very bad prison. The time there was very difficult. There were other bad women who joined us in prison. The weather was very hot, these women caused us many problems, and on top of that, they gave us very strong military training in case they needed us. We stayed over a year there. 

Then they took us to an underground prison. This underground prison was shaped like a circle and had a cover on top. We stayed the day in the underground covered and then during the night they would take us out and beat us bitterly. All this suffering was just because of Christianity. We took off our shoes and every movement was barefoot. One day, at five years old, my sister’s daughter cried a lot and brought shoes for her mother. But her mother gave them to me thinking that she is stronger than me. Unfortunately, the soldiers came and took the shoes from us. Being barefoot was very dangerous, it was too hot and some things hurt the feet. It was really difficult to walk. 

When we were in that underground one day they asked us to deny Jesus. Our response was “No, never, we are ready to receive any kind of suffering for the sake of Jesus.” They asked us again, “Is this everyone’s decision?” One of the ladies said, “We are ready to pay more than this for Jesus. We will never be ashamed of Jesus wherever we go, we will live like that.” The other lady also said the same thing. They took these two ladies and separated from us. They beat these two especially and beat us too. One day, they took us to one place in the daytime and showed us something that looked like a grave. They told us, “We killed those two ladies and buried them here.” But we were aware that it was not true because the Spirit of God revealed to us that they were lying. They have the right to do to us whatever they like. No one asks them. The other day they took three ladies among us; one had a daughter and two were university students. After taking them they told them to dig a grave for themselves.  Boldly, without any fear, they dug the grave. Then the soldiers said, “These people aren’t afraid of anything.” So they turned them back to us. 

After some time the bosses came and discussed our issue and took us to the military training place. After the training, they assigned us to different places like any soldier. I was assigned to Dahilak and stayed there. Some were assigned to Sawa, others to other military areas. I stayed about eight years in a military house and it was very difficult for Christians. You can’t read the Bible and have fellowship with other believers. You have to do everything very carefully and wisely. If you are caught again, things will be worse. 

One day, I got permission to visit my sister who was in Sudan for her wedding. While I was there the Holy Spirit told me not to go back to Eritrea. If I go back there, I may face worse. So I stayed in Sudan for a year and a half and later came here to Ethiopia. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lie. The Christians who were in my area had faced difficult suffering for four years. If I had gone back there I would have joined them and faced that challenge. 

Today, life and Christianity are still difficult here in the refugee camp. It is just like Eritrea. The outside community is very difficult. But we don’t know why God brought us here. He has a plan. This is what we think all the time. The challenge is from inside the camp and from outside the community. Praise God today here in the refugee camp church I am serving the Lord by visiting and comforting other believers.