During our visit to Indonesia this month looking for contacts for future World Race Teams we were able to visit one of the ministries that could receive teams. Its a refugee camp for Iranians who are seeking to escape their government back at home. Its set up in an old motel; the majority of the rooms do not have air-conditioning and each family has little more than the clothes on their backs, the roof over their head, a cooking stove, and each other. We showed up not really knowing what to expect or what we would find, but what we did find will stick in my mind and my heart for the rest of my life. The first family we visited had just received their refugee status and welcomed us with open arms. They asked us to pray for them as they would be going before the embassies of each country they wanted to move to, pleading their case to be granted a Visa. We prayed with them and afterwords they escorted us to the next room where we would pray again, this time for a family who had not been granted refugee status yet.
In Indonesia you are able to apply for refugee status two times. If you are rejected twice, you are taken to a detention center. Besides the first family, most of the occupants of the camp were still trying for their refugee status. We prayed with many who had already been rejected once and were waiting to hear about their second attempt. However, this whole process comes after the hard part.
We were able to get the full story from one man who owned several businesses back in Iran. He did not associate with Christians or with muslims. He simply wanted to be a business man. Because of his status being neither religion, he had many friends in many different circles. This raised some eyebrows in the government and they began coming around asking questions. What is your association with this man? How do you know them? etc. Eventually it became so bad that he closed his shops for 10 days to lay low. When he returned to his business, the government had locked them up and taken them. They also came to his house asking about his employees: what had happened to them and where were they. The owner simply said the truth. ‘I don’t know, we are closed for 10 days and I haven’t seen them.’ The government branch doing the questioning at this point was the Iranian secret police, who are similar to the CIA in the united states. They would not let up and began making threats so our friend made the decision to flee the country. He and his two children set off to escape the Iranian governments pursuit.
His rout led him to a boat that would take him to Australia, but while out at sea, the boat was damaged and was sinking. The man recounts that a large wave was coming and he cried out to Jesus for his life. He specifically remembers crying out not to Muhammad, or any of the hindu gods, but Jesus, and his life was spared along with his kids. Another boat came along and picked them up. Now he lives in a small room in Indonesia hoping and praying for refugee status so he can pursue a better life. A life where he can have freedom to believe what he wants without persecution. He currently does not count himself as a christian but is very interested in the faith and is learning more about it every day.
This man along with the others know first hand what it means to be called a Christian and what the hard road looks like. They come from a place where claiming the Father might just mean loosing your life. But to die is gain, and this is hard truth of many places in the world still today.
