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Flight to Freedom: One Immigrant's Story
MERCER ISLAND, WA (March 31, 2006) - Ruta Gebrekidan doesn't remember her
pregnant mother's trek north across three countries to escape the
murders, kidnappings and rapes in Ethiopia. She doesn't recall the
relative safety of a refugee camp in Sudan. And she cannot remember
leaving Africa as a toddler to immigrate to the United States -
destination unknown.
Yet when Gebrekidan told her story to 223 women from eight Christian
congregations during a recent World Day of Prayer event at Covenant
Shores Retirement Community, every woman in the room could sense the
fear and anxiety as well as the determination and strength that
accompanied the journey. The lone testimony in the one-hour event,
Gebrekidan's words captured both the theme of the day and the hearts of
attendees.
The women at Covenant Shores joined women from 170 countries during the
worldwide World Day of Prayer event on March 3. Together with the World
Day of Prayer Committee of South Africa, they prayed for understanding
and support in redressing the consequences of 40 years of apartheid.
They also prayed for a social and economic transformation that is being
impeded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Planned in just three weeks at the suggestion of a Covenant Shores
resident, the Covenant Shores event began with prayers offered in four
languages by staff members from the United States, Philippines,
Guatemala, and Ethiopia.
Speaking in the third person, 20-year-old Gebrekidan, a dining room
hostess at Covenant Shores, chronicled the journey of a mother and her
three children from Africa to a host family in Seattle. She explained
how the mother of that white family accepted the young black daughter as
her own granddaughter, helping her excel in school and become strong in
her Christian faith.
She explained how the girl had gone on to win a full scholarship from
the Gates Millennium Scholars program and will pursue a psychology
degree at Seattle Central Community College. Then she stunned the
predominantly white, upper class assembly with a simple question. "What
if I told you, I am that girl?"
"I wanted to capture their attention with a picture," Gebrekidan
explains. "All I wanted was to open just one person's eyes to living
outside the U.S. If they could just wear someone else's clothing, see
who they are.
"We worry too much about the present and ourselves," she continued.
"There are so many things outside of Seattle, outside of Washington
State, outside the U.S. that we should pray for."
Following Gebrekidan's testimony, facilitators from the retirement
community gathered around 42 tables to discuss potential worldwide and
personal prayer intentions, how to ask for God's leadership and
assistance, and how to listen for and recognize a reply.
"In planning the event, we tried to stay focused on the issue raised by
the WDP Committee of South Africa," explains Anne Arakaki-Lock, campus
administrator of Covenant Shores. "We concentrated on world issues -
genocide, bigotry, political and religious persecution - rather than the
microcosm of our needs."
One of the ways the planners worked to retain that focus was to select
presenters reflecting a rainbow of ethnicities. The selection reinforced
the diversity initiative of the community's corporate parent, Covenant
Retirement Communities, which is to help employees and residents connect
across class and racial boundaries.
An unprecedented ecumenical outreach to the 22,000 Mercer Island
residents, the event far exceeded its planners' expectations. "You
couldn't hide from Christ that day," recalls William Swearingen,
Covenant Shores marketing director and event organizer. "We saw fellow
Christians with a single purpose. It has started a fervor on our campus,
with people asking questions about prayer and asking for leadership in
intercessory prayer."
Attendees said they want to make the day of prayer an annual event. The
Covenant Shores team also is discussing possible events that would
include men.
(Editor's note: Pictured in the accompanying photo are, from right:
Ruta Gebrekidan, her adopted grandmother Ellen Bossart, and Gebrekidan's
mother, Elsa Tewoldmedin, as they encourage prayer for social and
economic transformation in South Africa during a World Day of Prayer
event at Covenant Shores Retirement Community.)
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
