My name is Selamawit Adeda.  I am a US citizen.  I came to this country as a refugee from Ethiopia.  My whole family faced persecution under the communists because of our faith.  It took 26 years for our family to be reunited, for the circle to be completed.  My younger brother was the first to flee Ethiopia.  He refused to convert youth in his church to communism.  He fled without documents.  He had to travel among other kids of 16 to 19 years old during the night time, playing hide and seek with the soldiers of the communist government.  After reaching the border of Sudan, he was hidden in the trunk of a missionary’s car to come to the capital city, where he would have a better chance of applying for asylum.  Others including myself later followed, because we are falling from the hands of one dictator to the other.  Along that long journey, I and my family received support from so many people and organizations.  They helped when visas ran out, gave us food and shelter, worshipped with us, and supported us when we had no one else to turn to for help.

In Ethiopia, when the communists came to power, they took our churches, they threw our leaders in prison.  To maintain the faith, we had to worship in secret.  When my brother fled, we were not able to mention his name even in our own home.  We had to pretend not to know him.  When he contacted us from a neighboring country asking for help getting identity documents, we could not go to the government for a birth certificate.  The church was fearful of even issuing a baptismal certificate.

We came to America to get away from a government that persecuted faith communities for living out their beliefs. 

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