Mark

New Hampshire

I am from Africa. I fled my country because of persecution. I left my entire life behind and fled  with just the clothes on my back. I lost everything I had ever known, and I am unable to even  return to my country. It is like running away from a lion that is trying to eat me up. I came running  here for protection and safety. I came here with the hope of starting all over again. But what do I  get? Instead of protecting me, ICE is pushing me back, to go get eaten up by that same lion that's  chasing me. By putting me on a plane and deporting me, is tantamount to death. That is sending  me to the same danger I'm running away from. 

I went through several and enormous risks to get here to seek protection for myself and for my  wife and children. As soon as I arrived here, I surrendered myself to officers at the port of entry. I was disappointed and frightened when I was met by officers who shackled, cuffed and threw me in an underground cold cell for a week where the temperature was like 40 degrees. I had no access  to a shower or even a toothbrush to brush my teeth. I was told I would be assigned a deportation  officer and I asked, “Who told you I want to be deported? I am here to seek protection and already  you're giving me an officer who oversees deporting me? It doesn't make sense to me.”  

I didn't know what to expect when I got here. When someone explained to me that I would have  to get a lawyer to help me with my case, that was then I realized I was in for more trouble than I  had anticipated. I had to go to court, and I needed someone to represent me. I didn’t have a lawyer. I didn't know how the immigration system here works, I didn't know the process, I didn't know  what they expect of me. I needed someone to help me out. While still in detention, I was being  required to provide and present lots of evidence in court. To get these evidences, I needed to make  calls back to Africa. I didn't have money. So, it was not possible for me to make these calls. I had 

nobody here who could put money in my account. How was I going to get these evidences they're  asking for? 

Eventually, I lost my asylum case. I was very disappointed and scared because I didn't know what  was going to happen to me next. I've got several warrants of arrest issued for me in my country,  just for participating in a peaceful protest calling for a change in the way we are being treated. The  same people who are trying to kill me are still there, and if I get deported from here, I would just  be walking straight into the lion's den and they will rip me apart. I fear for my family, I fear for  my life, I fear for the lives of my wife and kids, who are still very young. It hurts me so badly to  think of what will happen to them if I am killed. 

I have been in detention for two years here in the United States. Two years of stress and depression.  For what crime? Just for coming and asking for protection. Just for asking to be protected. 

I felt very afraid when ICE came to deport me. I didn't know what else to do. I was very, very  afraid and very felt very vulnerable before them. I was in their hands and they could do whatever  they want with me. So, I said to myself, okay, this is it. This is the end of me. 

They took me to the airport to deport me with a few other guys from my country. It happened that  all the other guys were put on the plane, and for some reason, I didn't get on that plane. I don't  know what happened. I just believed it was God’s miracle happening. I was later taken back to the  detention center.

I am a very Christian person and I believe very much in my faith. When I was in detention, I was  the only African guy in my dorm. Every other person, in the dorm, spoke only Spanish. I could  not understand anything they would say. In that dorm, I would see a few Spanish guys, about seven  of them, group themselves every evening in one corner of the dorm to make a prayer. I would sit  in my bunk and look at them. I would say, Oh! How I would love to join them. They stand there and sing and talk only in Spanish and I cannot understand what they're saying. Anyway, I said to  myself that the Bible I read tells me that when two or three people are gathered in God's name, He  is right there with them. When I thought of that, I said, okay, I would not care what language they 

speak, all I know is that if they are gathered in God's name, then God is right there. I better get  close to them so that I will get close to God, and then, I can be able to tell God my own thing. 

I joined these guys. They would speak and sing in Spanish and I would not understand. Eventually,  as time went by, I learned their songs and could also start speaking a few words in Spanish. They  embraced me as their brother and would ask me to preach in the group. I said, "Wow, I speak only  English, and you guys don’t speak English. How would you be able to understand what I would  say?" They told me, "Don't worry brother. We will find an interpreter.” 

I this prayer group, we were just eight out of about a hundred of us in the dorm. The rest of the  guys never cared to join us. When we would gather, I would preach. I would tell them lots of Bible  stories, relating these stories to our everyday life and our struggling circumstances. Behold, as I  preached more people would listen and the number of attendees started to increase. By the time I  was transferred from that detention center, some months after, the number of people attending the  prayer sessions had increased to 45.  

I would say that as we prayed and lots of miracles would happen. There were many guys in our group who we would pray for, who will be going to court in the next morning, and they would go  and some would win their asylum, others would get a bond and others would win their release. Many people we prayed for came back with encouraging results. We came to realize that It was  more rewarding praying together as a group. In that way, God listens and when He grants His  blessing, it just pours on us like rays of sunlight and we get more blessings, unlike when someone  prays alone. When you pray alone and God grants His blessings, it comes to you just like one single ray of sunlight and you get less blessings.  

I believed that God was working, and miracles were happening to us. I had faith that God was  going to do something for me as well, no matter what. I wouldn't fear an ICE officer and I wouldn't  fear anybody else because I knew that my God is with me. A testimony to this is the fact that they  have tried three times to deport me and each time, a miracle would happen, and I wouldn't be 

deported. 

I have that very strong faith in me, and I pray always. In every jail or detention center I went, I  would gather more Spanish guys and teach them some of the songs I learned, and we would sing  and pray together. It used to be so beautiful.  

One thing I strongly believe in is the saying that “In every dark cloud, there is a silver lining”.  I always focus on looking for that silver lining and hanging on to it rather than the dark cloud.