Learn about our Guests and Friends

We are blessed to become friends with our guests who survive harrowing journeys before finally experiencing safety at The Lighthouse. Strong bonds are created through the sharing of stories, cultural traditions, religions, foods, and so much more. Below are some of the countries that have visited us.

MESFIN'S STORY

My friend Mesfin Wondmagegenhu fled Ethiopia in 2014 after years of persecution for criticizing a tyrannical government.  As a teacher, journalist, and member of Ethiopian Human Rights Watch, he voiced dissent against unfair treatment of large groups of citizens who are out of favor with the ruling political party.  He suffered arrests, torture, imprisonment, even a near-fatal assassination attempt.  Through it all, he continued to write and speak in defense of equal rights for all Ethiopians. 

In 2005, he participated in a rally protesting the results of the national election that occurred in that year.  While he filmed the rally, Government troops fired on him with automatic weapons, wounding him severely in his left arm and shoulder.  Recovery from his wounds required a month’s hospitalization.  Rather than falling silent, he began writing a series of articles in national news periodicals describing land grabs, ethnic cleansings, and other human rights violations occurring throughout the country. 

The articles led to more arrests, beatings and torture.  Not until government agents closed his business and hunted him with a clear intention of killing him did he flee the country and begin a year-long journey halfway around the world.  While traveling across Africa and through South and Central America, he was denied residence by more than a dozen countries.  Arriving at the U.S./Mexican border in late 2016, he voluntarily surrendered to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The international press has since documented that the current regime in Ethiopia has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands more.  This information, plus Mesfin’s personal suffering and the visible scars he bears, gained him political asylum in the U.S.  His wife and two children remain in Ethiopia, enduring persecution and economic hardship.  From his minimum-wage jobs, he sends a share of his income to his family to assist in their support.  His goal now is to bring them to America.

Paul Denk

6/30/18

Guests from all over have visited us.