What Examples of Integrity!

Hundreds in the audience had experienced imprisonment and torture under previous governments. Mandefro Yifru looks back on five such years in prison, but now he enjoys serving in Addis Ababa in the newly established office, which cares for translation, printing, and shipping. Another young man serving with him, Zecarias Eshetu, did not veer from his integrity eight years ago when his father was murdered for maintaining Christian neutrality during three years of imprisonment. Zecarias, one of five children, was ten years old when his father went to jail. Meswat Girma and his sister, Yoalan, now in their late teens and still in school, remember their father only from pictures, as they were very small when he was suddenly executed for his neutrality. His loyalty inspired them, and both are serving as regular pioneers, as their father was doing at the time of his death.

Another integrity keeper was Tamirat Yadette, now serving as a special pioneer in a beautiful region of the Rift Valley. Because of his Christian neutrality, he spent three years in seven different prisons, at times in chains and subjected to severe beatings. Yet, in prison he helped over a dozen people to take their stand for God’s Kingdom.

Tesfu Temelso, now serving as a circuit overseer, was imprisoned 17 times during his years as a special pioneer. He has scars from the beatings, but he is thrilled to see congregations in his former assignments. Dozens of brothers and sisters from the Akaki Congregation suffered imprisonment and cruelty, yet the congregation has grown to over a hundred publishers. They have built the first Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ethiopia. From Dese, a town in a picturesque setting about 200 miles [300 km] north of the capital, came a group of five who faced death and saw a local brother die from the torture he had been subjected to. One elder among them, Maseresha Kasa, explained that he persevered during six years’ imprisonment, not because he was special in any way, but merely because he learned to rely on Jehovah.​—Romans 8:35-39; compare Acts 8:1.

Even recently, others have demonstrated their faithfulness under test. A large group came to the convention from a nearby country where, because of their neutrality, Witnesses had been denied police protection, travel documents, marriage certificates, hospital treatment, and jobs. When war was raging near Mesewa, an Eritrean port on the Red Sea, the whole congregation, 39 in all, including children, lived for about four months under a low bridge in the desert to escape the bombardment of their homes by the former government. In this setting of heat and deprivation, their daily text discussions and other meetings gave them great strength and a close attachment to Jehovah as well as to one another. Two special-pioneer sisters serving near the source of the Blue Nile endured mob threats and harassment instigated by the Orthodox Church, but the two persevered and saw several Bible students symbolize their dedication by baptism at this convention.

Another fine example of integrity keeping was a special pioneer in Addis Ababa who, in 1992, was brutally beaten and left for dead by a mob incited by Orthodox priests. Happily, he recovered and continues serving in the same territory. The radiant smile on his face reveals no trace of bitterness. For him, as for all the other tested ones and newer ones, this “Divine Teaching” Convention was a festival of joy.