There are many times when we meet someone from a new country, and we instantly become curious with the reason they left that country. Many times we tell you of individuals from different countries, but it is also good to hear more details about why they fled that particular country. One such instance happened recently at our Coffee Bar.  

I met one man who was recently granted asylum in Austria. He is from Eritrea and is just 18 years old. Eritrea is a small country in North-East Africa next to Sudan and above Ethiopia. This man is a Christian and could no longer stay in Eritrea because of his faith. As of 2002, Evangelical Christians are no longer able to worship freely in Eritrea and they can be arrested and imprisoned for months or years. Only certain religious groups are registered, and any other worship is illegal. In a 2006 religious freedom report by the US State Department, Eritrea was named as one of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world (read the article here: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108367.htm). We are so thankful that he is now in Austria and is able to worship freely. We pray that we can continue to be an encouragement to him as he has been an encouragement to us. We pray for other Evangelical Christians in Eritrea who are being persecuted for their faith.

While we have many single guys who come through the Oasis, one group of people who come in full family groups are the Chechens. Chechnya is a war torn region in Southwest Russia. Several times over the past 100 or so years, Chechnya has tried to declare themselves independent from Russia because they are ethnically, linguistically, and religiously different from the Russians. In the 1940’s, the Chechen’s were all deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia by the Russian’s and weren’t allowed to return to their homeland until 1957. In the past two decades, there have been two wars with Russia, one starting in 1994 and the other starting in 1999. Many who come have lost family members in these wars. Many of the women who come through have lost their husbands in the wars or they are still imprisoned in Chechnya. They are left to raise their family alone in a foreign place. Read more about Chechnya on our webpage in the new “Country Profile” section. We’ve included links and more details about the refugees from Chechnya. More countries will be added soon.

As we look ahead, please keep World Refugee Day 2009 in your prayers. It is on June 20th. It is a day to remember the more than 40 million refugees and displaced people across the world. We will hold a celebration that week at the Oasis. Next month we’ll include a video from that event with our newsletter. Also coming next month, we will be releasing the new Oasis webpage that can be used to find out even more about this ministry.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. We are thankful for each one of you.

In Christ,
Dan and Regan Peterson