A Witness who vacationed in the hot Red Sea port of Massawa contacted an interested person at the post office and began a Bible study. Other interested Ethiopians joined in, and soon a congregation was established. About this time another new congregation sprang up farther south in Aseb, Ethiopia’s other seaport.

In one area, police entered a meeting hall, confiscated 70 Bibles, and briefly detained some Witnesses. Subsequently, the Kingdom Hall in Asmara was closed, forcing the congregation to meet in small groups again. Yet the work did not slow down. In 1971, new ones baptized totaled 142, and 2,302 attended the Memorial of Christ’s death.

New groups were being formed in isolated areas, and two circuit overseers made their rounds to care for 25 congregations and groups and additional isolated interested persons.