I was born into a well-to-do family, but never ever knew love or affection from my parents. They said I was ugly, that the hospital must have given them the wrong baby, and that I was not one of theirs. They disowned me and treated me as a house servant. I was excluded from the family photos, beaten, and when the rest of the family went for outings, I would be left at home and told to clean up the mess. I became bitter, confused and angry. In my darkest times I would retreat to my room where I found consolation by absorbing myself in my favourite school subject. This was my way out of anger. I also had a vague awareness that there was a God who loved and cared for me, and I believe this saved me from turning to violence like many other youth in my country. I often cried out to God in my desperation.

When I was fourteen my father said I didn’t belong in the family and expelled me from home. For two weeks I slept on the streets at night while attending school by day. When a school friend discovered I had nowhere to live, he arranged with his parents for me to stay in their home in the country. I lived there for the next four years until I finished high school. We belonged to an ethnic minority that was often harassed by the military, so we rode our bikes to school by devious byways to avoid the army patrolling the main routes. Soldiers killed my friend a couple of years later, after which his family treated me as their son.

One day during my first year at university I was riding my bike along a country road when a military helicopter flew overhead and started firing in my direction. I leapt from my bike and took refuge behind a tree, but the helicopter began to circle the tree firing at me. The soldiers evidently enjoyed using me as target practice, because they kept circling and firing at me for over an hour. I could hear the bullets thudding against the tree and ripping through the foliage as I dodged in terror around the trunk, praying “God save me!” Finally they flew off, leaving me shaking and traumatised.

Soldiers beat me up several times while I was at university. Once a group of soldiers mistook me for a terrorist, took my ID (which they later returned), and attacked me with their batons and rifle butts.

One day I was standing with my best friend at the university gates when an army truck stopped and a soldier jumped out and accused us of being anti-government partisans. We showed our ID, explaining that we were law abiding university students. The soldier responded by shooting my friend dead on the spot. The soldier then thrust his pistol into my mouth and started questioning me. I was speechless with fear. Just as I thought my last moment had come, the soldier unaccountably took the gun out of my mouth and returned to his truck, which drove off. I firmly believe God saved me from these situations for a purpose – though at times the memory of these experiences still gives me trauma.

I graduated with first class honours and was appointed to a teaching position at the university. But the violence everywhere and the continuing danger to my life were such that I longed for a more stable environment. I prayed earnestly and applied to several countries for a scholarship to enable me to study in safety; and I was blessed with a scholarship offer from a very desirable country.

I now faced a dangerous journey to a city with an international airport. I travelled secretly, by devious routes, my modes of transport including a bicycle, a farm tractor, a bus and a boat. An unexpected delay saved me from travelling part of the way on transport that was shot up by the military.

To get a visa for my new country I had to obtain police clearance in my home country. For this I was subjected to a three-hour police cross-examination while two other police kept hitting me from behind. The interviewing officer refused to give me clearance without a bribe equivalent to a year’s wages. I didn’t have that much money. In the end I was able to find someone who knew a person who had a contact who knew a very senior officer who was able to give me a reference enabling me to obtain police clearance and a visa.

At last I was on my way to the airport. As I walked with the other passengers across the tarmac to board the aircraft a security officer recognised me as a member of an ethnic minority, pulled me from the line and demanded a very large sum of money, almost all I had, as a condition for boarding the plane. I handed over the money and was waved on, with only a few coins left and a small amount of foreign currency to start life in a new country. I cannot describe the relief and gratitude I felt as the plane took off.

I completed a postgraduate degree in my new country and took a job as a high school teacher. I was so grateful to God for looking after me and bringing me to a safe country where I could live in peace and relative comfort. How different from my student days in my home country, where my only clothes for the whole time I was studying at university were two shirts and two pairs of trousers, and my bed was a bare plank.

My gratitude to God was such that I now felt a desire to go to church. One day as I was driving I passed a small church and felt impressed to stop. The sign advertised services on Saturday, which surprised me. That weekend I returned for the 11 am service.

The deacon welcomed me warmly and came to sit with me in church. He explained that the church was celebrating the Lord’s supper that day and invited me to observe the footwashing service. He then asked if I would like him to wash my feet, as Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. Here was I, who had been disowned by my family and threatened as a member of a despised ethnic group, being accepted by a total stranger who was kneeling to wash my feet. It brought tears to my eyes. The other church members also received me warmly, and I continued to attend. Not long after this I migrated to Australia, where I had Bible studies and was baptised.

Today I rejoice that I have experienced such a loving, generous God, who says, “When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble” (Psalm 91:15 NRSV). “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7 NRSV). My favourite text is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV).