Date: Fri 02-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

church-eritrea-William-Kessler

Full Text:

A World Apart: Ministering In Eritrea

(with photos)

BY JAN HOWARD

A Newtown minister has returned from a three-week mission to a tiny country in

Africa that gave him an opportunity to build on work he began there two years

ago.

In 1997, the Rev William Kessler, who has been the pastor of Community

Presbyterian Church for 13 years, left his church here to answer a call to

minister to the people of Eritrea, which borders Ethiopia in Africa.

However, three months after his arrival, his hopes for a long-term ministry

there ended when Eritrea's socialist/Marxist government revoked his work

permit and changed his visa.

"That was their way of saying I couldn't stay," Rev Kessler said recently. The

actions came about after a shift in government leadership.

When he returned this year, from May 17 to June 7, Rev Kessler found himself

ministering to many Sudanese Christians, who have taken refuge in camps in

Eritrea to escape unrest and brutality in their country.

"We were primarily trying to organize caring for their material needs," he

said. While the United Nations is providing for most of the refugees' needs,

the missionaries are picking up additional needs, such as for educational

supplies.

Rev Kessler also ministered to the refugees' spiritual needs, providing the

sacraments, Bible study, and worship. He performed two weddings, provided

leadership training among ministerial candidates, and preached.

"The Sudanese are very poor," Rev Kessler said. "They are poor people taking

refuge in a poor nation.

"In Africa, all sorts of things go on. It's a human tragedy. Kosovo is a small

incident in comparison to the inhumane treatment there."

The radical Islamic government in the Sudan is ruthless, he said, and in

southern Sudan, the Christian population is being persecuted, and men are

being slaughtered.

In 1997, Rev Kessler and other missionaries involved in the medical clinic and

the church in the village of Ghinda, along with members of other

non-governmental organizations in Eritrea, had to leave the country. The

mission's property in Ghinda was confiscated and the clinic taken over by the

government.

"We were thankful for the time we had to train clinic personnel," he said.

"Those we trained were hired by the government and have continued on."

Rev Kessler said the community trusted and benefited much from the work of the

mission. "There was great sadness when the government made us leave," he said.

The recent short-term mission was "a tremendous reunion" of ministers and

clinic personnel, Rev Kessler said. "There were lots of hugs, kisses and

tears.

"It was their independence day when I was there. The celebration was like

Christmas," he said.

Good News As

A Commodity

He said church personnel can now enter Eritrea for a month or two at a time.

However, no resident visas are being issued, though they may be possible in

the future.

Rev Kessler said Eritrea wants to be a self-sufficient country. "Anyone who

comes in, the government wants them to bring something in. Bringing training

is seen as a desirable thing.

"It is our desire as a church that Christians there be strengthened in the

knowledge of the scriptures and ministry to its people. That is a valuable and

important commodity we can give, the good news of the gospel of Christ and

that they know peace through Christ.

"Our responsibility is to be faithful and, God willing, we can see a change

and be influential in the lives of people."

Eritrea, considered to be a mid-eastern nation, was an Italian colony prior to

World War II. The British took over there after the war and handed the

territory to the UN, which annexed it to its neighbor, Ethiopia.

Eritrea, seeking independence, fought a 30-year war with Ethiopia. In 1991

Eritrea gained its independence. Since then, Rev Kessler said, Eritrea is

trying to rebuild, but the two countries are currently engaged in another

conflict over a border dispute. Eritrea believes Ethiopia, which is

landlocked, is pressing for ports on the Red Sea.

"These are two poor nations. The money poured into military hardware is very

sad," Rev Kessler said.

During his stay in Ghinda in 1997, Rev Kessler and his family were Christian

in a predominantly Muslim community. He said he was once warned that a threat

had been issued against him and his family for preaching the Gospel. "I was

warned `Pastor, don't preach tomorrow because your life is in danger,'" he

said.

Despite the threat, Rev Kessler said, "The majority of the community

appreciated our ministry and our medical ministry."

However, he said, a threat against a minister can affect the congregation.

"Our presence just exacerbated the tensions between the government and the

Muslim insurgents."

An arid, barren country, Eritrea has predominantly Turkish and Arabic

architecture. Houses in the villages are small and constructed of mud, sticks

and dung, though some more modern structures are of concrete.

Ghinda was connected with other towns by buses, Rev Kessler said. Donkey-drawn

carriages serve as taxis.

"Some kids have bikes," he noted. You might see some cars, but most people

don't own one, he added. Trails connect the villages.

The temperature in Eritrea can reach as high as 120 degrees and even at night

it never cools down. "The humidity near the Red Sea is oppressive," Rev

Kessler said.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church began its work in Eritrea in 1942. However,

in the 1970s the civil war was escalating. During the conflict between two

Marxist factions, nurses at the clinic were kidnapped and one was killed. At

that time the missionary personnel left the country.

In 1991, when several of the ministers and clinic staff returned to visit

following Eritrea's independence, the government extended an invitation to

reopen the mission, which included the medical clinic and church planting, Rev

Kessler said.

The Need For Ministers

In 1992, the missionaries and clinic personnel had begun to rebuild the work

interrupted by the war, only to have their work permits revoked in 1997.

Rev Kessler became involved in Eritrea through the Presbyterian Church's

Foreign Missionary Committee. In 1996, he was part of a short-term, five-week

mission there.

"Through working closely with our foreign missionaries, I became aware of the

need for ministers to go. Not many were willing. In five weeks the Lord

blessed the work, and the staff asked me to come back," he said.

He sat down with his family, his wife Hazel, and four children, Christopher,

Jonathan, Jennifer, and Owen, and the consensus was to give the Eritrea

mission a try.

"It was a tremendous experience," Rev Kessler said. "The kids fit in and made

friends right away. The people are very hospitable and are always inviting you

to meals. It is a lovely place."

He said, however, the people live from hand to mouth. Snake bites are deadly,

polio and TB still exist, malnutrition is widespread, and every week a child

is brought into the clinic because he or she stepped on a land mine.

"In the end, it's the civilian population that gets hurt by these things," he

said of the ongoing conflict.

Rev Kessler said the experience of living in Eritrea "was great for the kids.

It was a grave disappointment when we had to leave. Governments will do what

they'll do. My responsibility falls in the people's lives and needs,

especially their spiritual needs. I try to show them there is a different

life.

"We came back in May and spent the summer in Canada at Redeemer College

campus," Rev Kessler said. "We had been invited to go to Uganda. At the same

time, this church extended a call to come back, and we felt our ministry could

continue here to benefit the church and community."

Rev Kessler and his family have warm memories of Eritrea, and often visit an

Eritrean restaurant in New Haven where they eat native food as they did in the

homes of the people they visited, with their hands.

It is the people Rev Kessler remembers the most. "Eritrea's greatest

attraction is its people. When you begin a friendship with them, there is

nothing like it."