A Leader for his community

Araya Zekerias, formerly a prosecutor of the high court in Eritrea, could hardly believe it when he found himself living in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Due to war, political unrest, the establishment of indefinite involuntary military service, and persecution of Christians, many thousands of Eritreans, just like Araya, had fled to Ethiopia where they lived as refugees.

The depressing and overcrowded facility where Araya came to stay was home to 18,000 people, 6,000 of whom were Kunamas. The camp was isolated from the rest of Ethiopia; the nearest town an hour away. Permission had to be obtained for anyone to leave the camp no matter what the reason. “We were all desperate,” Araya recalled. “No one knew what was going to happen. We were all stressed out. There were no jobs, and not much to do. We all shared one thing: a hope that we would be able to go to another country to work, go to school and follow our dreams.”

Araya, stunned though he was at this unforeseen turn of events, soon became a camp leader and interpreter providing crucial help with medical and immigration needs for his fellow Kunamas. Because of his language acuity and law experience, he became a sort of intermediary between them and the camp authorities. He helped in organizing monthly rations, and communicating important messages and information. This was crucial since most Kunamas spoke only Kunama while the camp authorities spoke English, or Amharic, or Tigrinya. “My community needed help and I was glad to be able to help them,” Araya confided.  He spent three years in this camp.

Araya had grown up in a Christian family in Eritrea.  His parents attended the Swedish Baptist church in the city of Barentou.  In 1999, he had been one of the very first children to leave his town to attend college.  He studied law, and graduated with a law degree in 2005.  He then returned to Barentou where he worked as a prosecutor in the high court of the region.  He never foresaw the bleak turn of events which would cause him to take a different path to serve his people. 

While living in the refugee camp in Ethiopia, Araya encountered the power of God in a new way.  The Kunama church in his homeland was conservative, and oppressed by the government. In the camp, there was religious freedom and three churches of a more pentecostal persuasion were meeting. He saw pastors care for the physical and spiritual needs of the refugees with obvious signs of God’s Spirit at work. “There I saw God’s power through physical healings, and people being delivered of demon possession,” Araya recalled.  Araya started reading the Bible more, and through this, developed a deeper internal commitment to his own faith in Jesus.

The Kunamas in the camp did have Scripture of sorts. They had access to a 60 year old New Testament translation which was still helpful to them. However, most Kunamas could not obtain those Scriptures, so the ones who could read, used English or Amharic Bibles, and interpreted for others. Araya observed that in whatever language, the Scriptures were very important in the camp. 

In 2010, Araya came to the US to stay.  He now lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota along with two thousand other Kunama people.  Because of his past experience as an interpreter, the Sioux Falls Community Church chose Araya to be one of three translators to produce the Kunama Jesus Film translation. 

The impact of the Jesus Film contributed to a growing interest in carrying out a new Bible translation in the standard Kunama Itana dialect. The Itana dialect is used for government, school grades 1-5, radio, church, etc. The existing Kunama Bible, translated completely by only one individual, is in a different dialect and contains numerous errors.  Both the Kunamas in the diaspora and those in the homeland voiced their desire for a new Bible in the standard dialect. 

Araya was again selected by a fellowship of Kunama church leaders to work on this new enterprise in partnership with Wycliffe USA.   When asked what his goal was for being a part of this project, Araya replied, “To provide my people with a well-translated, simple, understandable, and mistake-free translation of God’s word.” He added, “The largest population of Kunamas is still in Eritrea. Everything we do has the homeland in mind. We look forward to shipping new Bibles to that community someday.”

Araya continues to be very involved in church activities and in the larger diaspora community.  The local church relies on him for all things “writing”.  He has written church policies, church teachings for new members, and other items.  In the larger community, he helps with English, job applications, green cards, and the naturalization process, basically whatever anyone needs.

Araya says that God works in mysterious ways.  He explained to us that he never imagined that he would leave his hometown and country, or give up his profession. He still greatly misses his family and calls his mother in Eritrea frequently.  He misses the weather and the beautiful agricultural fields that make up his homeland. However, it is apparent that Araya has a servant’s heart, and his motivation was and continues to be to serve God and his community.  

As Araya stated, God works in mysterious ways.  We often don’t know His plans for us.  But God has a purpose for us.  He seems to have raised up Araya with special skills and knowledge to help his community with exactly the things they need.

Click this link to hear Araya reading newly translated Ephesians 1:13 in Kunama.