Ethiopians Proclaim the Gospel of Christ in Hell's Waiting Room

AIMS News: Posted 3/1/2004

Faced with poverty, "Desta" walked along the hot desert streets of Djibouti. Sandwiched between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, the Islam nation of Djibouti is often called "Hell's waiting room." With little water and no natural resources, over half of the population can't find enough work to provide for their families. Like many Muslim women in Djibouti, Desta did what she could do to provide for her husband and three young children: she sold her body.

One day, Desta met "Zema" who introduced her to a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. When Destaís husband learned about her conversion, he left her, taking her children with him. Exiled from her family and faced again with poverty, she turned back to the streets, not knowing where else to go. Zema found Desta and brought her into her home. For the next eight years, Desta helped Zema with odd jobs and cared for their neighbors when they were sick. Today, Desta has a burden for the Afar people, one of the largest unreached people groups in Ethiopia and Djibouti. She is studying English and the Afar language so that one day, she can be a missionary among them.

Desta and Zema are two of the few Christians left in Djibouti. Last August, the Djibouti government declared that every person without a "residency visa" would be deported on August 31st or forced to enter a refugee camp. Nearly 400,000 people evacuated, most of which were Ethiopians, leaving only 100,000 people in the country. Out of the 1,000 Christians who lived in the city of Djibouti, only twenty remained. The two remaining pastors combined the four congregations, but the Christians who were allowed to stay considered leaving the country. The church in Djibouti had lost all hope.

In October, AIMS had planned to train 250 Christian leaders in Djibouti. Instead, only fifteen participated. Desta and Zema were among the fifteen. The training meetings were held underground under the veil of night. Every day, "Priscilla" (AIMS Ethiopia Coordinator) and other team leaders were followed by agents working for the Djibouti government. Although the building where they held the training was only a couple blocks away, "Priscilla" describes how they drove around the block for twenty minutes to ensure they were not being followed. God protected them, and the trainings were never discovered.

The few who participated in the training left encouraged. They realized that they had poured their efforts into building a church among Ethiopians in Djibouti instead of planting a church that would be indigenous to Djibouti. They promised that next year, the current Ethiopian church in Djibouti would not exist. In its place would be a Djiboutian church.

Before the AIMS team returned to Ethiopia from Djibouti, Desta approached Priscilla with an encouraging word. "You cry and cry and cry for Ethiopia," she said. "Your skin may not be the color of an Ethiopian, but your blood is Ethiopian."

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