My name is Urgesa. I was born in Erteria in a place called Areza and grew up in Gashbarka (or Tokombia). In my childhood, while living with family, I didn’t get a chance to go to school. But after joining the military, I was able to attend school. I was a shepherd in my childhood age. I stayed for two years in the military and it was full of challenges there but it was a more complicated challenge for Christians. I suffered a lot because I was a Christian. Though it was a hard time and full of challenges, military life was precious to me. Because it introduced Jesus to me and gave me eternal life.
I received Jesus Christ as my personal savior in 2006. Christian soldiers who were in the military preached the gospel to me. I was in jail many times because of believing in Jesus. Once, I was in prison for a month, and another time more than a year. The first time they put me in prison was when I came home for a break. My wife and I were both put in prison, our children were left at home. The bad thing was that my wife and I were in different prisons and didn’t know what would happen to the other. In the prison, they would ask many questions and force us to say words like, “I will not meet with other Christians again, preach the good news, and pray if I go out.” They even push you to sign before you go out of prison not to do things you did before. So just because you are Christian you suffer a lot.
Going out of the country was not my intention. I came to Ethiopia for my son’s wedding. I stayed two months in Addis Ababa. When I was on the way back to Eretria, the civil war between TPLF and Ethiopia started and on my way, Tigray soldiers found me and took me to jail. I ended up here in a refugee camp.
Here in the camp, though the outside community is not good for us, life is better. We worship the Lord, gather together, and hear the Word of God. I serve the Lord in the church which is here in the refugee camp. My main service is finding lost ones and comforting Christians in life when they go through different challenges.
