Pastor Aklilu Zerihun Belay is a man of remarkable stories. A life lived on the razor’s edge of disaster time
and again. Born in Eritrea, he survived several wars that created countless Refugees. His “home”
has been wherever he laid his head, year after year. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya
have been signposts along the way. A man without a country. A typical man of our chaotic 21st century: an
itinerant Refugee. The stories are deep and wide, with equal parts horror and heroics. Conversations with
him recount monumental tragedies as if mere potholes on a rural road…to nowhere. Perhaps best summed
up by his casual comment…
“I’ve been through so many Checkpoints, I can’t count them.”
“Checkpoints” means heart-stopping encounters with corrupt and vicious border bullies of the worst
kind. The ones from which many are never heard of again. One such encounter in a lifetime would earn
anyone a PTSD scar. He lost count after the first 25. His body bears the scars, his face the weariness.
Weathered well beyond his 43 years of age
The traumatic exodus triggered a severe reaction in Pastor Aklilu. He succumbed to epilepsy.
"I didn’t know what was happening. I'd wake up in strange places. On streets, in fields, in houses, not knowing what had happened. This continued for years as I moved from country to country. I had lost my country, my wife and my children. People called me the 'man who lost his mind.'
…I just carried on. Trusting God."
Sounds simple enough: "I just carried on. Trusting God." The words of a simple man…with a profound view of God. Like a child… implicitly and unreservedly trusting his father.
"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
Mat 18:3
His family equally bore the burden of being unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary and unimportant by this world. Years spent in chronic apprehension. Not knowing where Aklilu was, or if he was even alive. Unmitigated "family-size" emotional trauma…matched only by the physical destitution and degradation of being long term Refugees. His wife Ruta stood with faithful Endurance and Perseverance beyond description.
When Aklilu crossed into Kenya 10 years ago, he calmly recounts his condition…
"I arrived with one thing. One thing only. I carry it with me to this day."
He lifts up a tattered Bible, more worn out than him. They never took that from him at any Checkpoint. It was considered worthless by the world. Priceless to him. His passion for the Word is exceeded only by His passion for Christ.
His Bible is in the Tigrigna dialect. One of five languages he speaks, reads and writes fluently (Tigrigna, Amharic, Kiswahili, English and Italian). Pastor Aklilu is a man of this world…but a Citizen of no country on this earth. At the age of 12, he placed his life and loyalty in the hands of a peculiar King, and Kingdom. We’ve heard of this metaphorically, but Aklilu lives it literally…
"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow Citizens with the saints and members of the Household of God."
Eph 2:19
Against all odds, Ruta and their 2 boys were reunited with Aklilu many years later. In Kenya. The interim events deserve honorable mention in Hebrews 11. I asked Pastor Aklilu what it was like the day they were reunited. It was not what I expected…
"My wife knew something was very wrong the moment she saw me. She could see my troubled look. It was not merely what I had gone through. Then I explained the epilepsy. The effects of years of seizures had taken itstoll. I had never been able to get medication. She had me sit down. She prayed over me. It left me. Never to return. To God be the glory."
Life in Kenya has not been easy. People rightly pity the life of aliens, migrants and Refugees in Europe and N. America. But words are simply inadequate to describe life as a Refugee in Africa. As bad as you may imagine it to be… it’s infinitely worse than that. Without any exaggeration. Although free to practice his faith, he is not free from discrimination, oppression, injustice and extortion. Things common to Refugees. He works as a free-lance electrician and plumber. Simple trade skills. Much like Jacob the sheep herder, he is never paid fairly. And often not at all. But he Perseveres.
"Wherever I go, I speak about Jesus. I never, never stop. That’s why people don’t like me. I never hide Jesus. Many customers never call me again. But I am compelled. It’s like an addiction."
He continues, "I could preach Jesus, but I couldn’t disciple people. Because I didn’t know the Bible. And I was never discipled myself." And that is where the real breakthrough came…
Just a seat at the Lord’s table….partaking
of His Word, sitting at His feet, being
discipled by the Word of God and
ministry of the Holy Spirit.
As much as it is an Honor and Privilege to
minister to such a man-of-God, it is even more
so to serve his God. A God Who counts our
tears. The Tears of His People. All of us Aliens,
Pilgrims, Refugees…in this fallen world. Waiting
to come home.
"Indeed we count them blessed who Endure.
You have heard of the Perseverance of Job
(and Pastor Aklilu)
and seen the end intended by the Lord
--that the Lord is very
Compassionate and Merciful."
Jas 5:11
Four words…that should be our
Checkpoints. Until we arrive home.