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Seriously injured Ethiopian evangelist.
The desire to help and speak up for persecuted Christians led to the founding of the AVC.
Even back then, in the days of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain, much aid had to be done in secret. Otherwise it could not have been carried out at all and would have subjected both the helpers and the persecuted to additional dangers. We are still faced with the same problems today. Part of our work is done in public, part of it in secret. For this reason, we can only report on such work in brief, or in some cases not at all.
Help for the persecuted primarily takes the form of
• prayer
• visiting and encouraging the persecuted
• financial help for the persecuted
• public relations work
• dialog with the persecutors
Eritrea – an example
Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskei, imprisoned since May 2004. We have known him since 1986 as a faithful and reliable brother and partner.
The persecution of Christians in Eritrea has been on the increase for years. So in 2006 we carried out a campaign in Berlin over several days, in order to raise public awareness and to collect signatures. Beforehand we also informed the press, radio, television, politicians, the Commission for Human Rights in the Bundestag and the Department for Foreign Affairs. By means of discussions with the Department for Foreign Affairs and the ambassador of Eritrea we attempted to bring about a change in the situation. So far sadly without any visible success.
Parallel to our public activities we have also been at work underground and were thereby able to provide help to the families of our imprisoned brothers and sisters.
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