Translator Sali's amazing story

The other translator who came to my rescue at the Keswick Convention was Sali Rahmani, a Kosovo Albanian who now lives in Northamptonshire and works for the police and the NHS helping translate for his countrymen who need help and don’t speak much English.

Sali Rahmani has an amazing life story, having been healed of blindness as a baby, became a Christian by attending an open air meeting in Vienna, was interrogated by the Yugoslav police as they believed he was a CIA agent, and was one of the first missionaries in Albania after it opened its borders in 1991.

Although he hadn’t seen Berti for more than ten years, Sali had played a vital part in establishing the church in Lushnje, which Berti now leads.

But his most important role had been as the radio presenter of the European Christian Mission programme which was sent every week from the UK to Monte Carlo for Trans World Radio to beam into Albania. Sali, who used the nom de plume Luan Matteu to protect his identity, transmitted a gospel message into Albania for 24 years not knowing if anyone was listening.

It was many more years later before Sali found out he had had many secret listeners, including Berti, who as an army officer put himself at great risk by listening in secret.

It was probably the first time the two of them had ever told their story in public in England when they were interviewed at Keswick in front of 3,500 last Sunday.

Because time is of the essence in such a big convention Jo Jowett, Keswick and ECM trustee, pictured below with Berti and Sali (right), had a practice session to keep them to their allotted time of seven minutes, which they passed with flying colours.

But you can't stop Sali once he gets going, and in front of a large crowd and the bright lights of Keswick he was in his element. They made an absolute brilliant double act, but with Sali’s passion and emotion the timing went out of the window.

The interview lasted 15 minutes, but the audience absolutely loved it and gave three rounds of applause, which I am told, is unheard of at Keswick.

Berti and Sali thoroughly enjoyed speaking Albanian, reliving their memories and catching up with news from the last ten years. Sali drove Berti from Keswick to Heathrow so he could get his plane home and I am told the Albanian conversation didn’t stop all the way down the M6 and the M1.

If you would like to read Sali’s amazing story in God’s Secret Listener email me at John@jbutterworth.plus.com to buy a copy.

Translator Kerrie steps in to save the day

The Keswick Convention was nearly a disaster when Berti’s son, Dorian, who was due to accompany his dad as interpreter, was refused a visa by the Albanian authorities less than two weeks before the conference.

Where on earth was I going to find an interpreter who was in England, who could speak Albanian and who was free to come to Keswick at such short notice?

In the end I, together with the European Christian Mission, managed to find two people as neither of them could do the full week.

The first was 26-year-old Kerrie Abbott, who had been out in Albania for a year, had met Berti in Lushnje, was inspired by his story after reading God’s Secret Listener and even better was now back home living at Wigton, only 20 miles from Keswick.

Kerrie had become a Christian as a teenager, had read psychology and social work at university before working as a youth worker at her church in Carlisle and part-time for the Langham Literature programme to help provide Bible and commentaries for pastors and preachers all over the world.

Since going to the Ukraine as an 18-year-old, Kerrie pictured below with Berti at Keswick, felt God was calling her to Eastern Europe.

Last year she went to Erseka, in south eastern Albania, to study at the Bible School for a year and also to learn the language. While she was in Albania she went to Lushnje twice where she met Berti, who was so impressed with her CV, that he invited her to return to the Way of Peace Church and the Victory School to help with the children’s and young people’s work.

Now Kerrie is planning to do a three-month missionary course in the UK in the autumn before going out to Albania in January 2012 for two years, if she raises the necessary funds.

Berti said: “I was really impressed with Kerrie and thought she did an excellent job translating in front of 3,500 people after such a short time learning the language. I think she will be an excellent asset to the school and church in Lushnje.”

If you would like to support Kerrie financially contact the European Christian Mission on 01604 621092 or email the European Christian Mission at ecm.gb@ecmi.org 

£2,000 gift helps educate 80 children

I was delighted to hear from Berti Dosti that the £2,000 given to him from the profits of sales of God’s Secret Listener was being used to pay for 80 poor children to be educated at the Victory School in Lushnje, Albania (pictured below).

I was delighted to hear from Berti Dosti that the £2,000 given to him from the profits of sales of God’s Secret Listener was being used to pay for 80 poor children to be educated at the Victory School (pictured below).

Berti, who is pastor of the church and also principal of the school which teaches 700 pupils a year, said these youngsters would not have been able to afford the three-year course without this gift.

Victory School, which started in the autumn of 1997 with just eight pupils with help from the European Christian Mission, now teaches more than 700 pupils a year offering classes in English, Italian and computer studies.

Students, whose ages range from eight years to 40 plus, learn English by using the New Interchange scheme for adults and the Cambridge method for youngsters.

The scheme consists of five levels and students study each one for six months by coming three times a week for afternoon classes. The children also attend a state school in the morning.

Interestingly, the pupils do not wear a uniform, but the teachers do, all having a pink overall, some of them are pictured below.

The 80 students will also be given the chance to learn Microsoft Word be as all new students at the school are given free computer lessons for a year.

With Albania now a member of NATO and wanting to join the European Union more and more Albanian children wish to learn English to give them a better chance of a job.

“This £2,000 gift is vital as it will give children the hope of a better future, which they wouldn’t have had if they didn’t learn English,” said Pastor Dosti. Together with the teachers he will choose the 80 pupils to benefit from the gift.

If you would like to read more about the Victory School email me at John@jbutterworth.plus.com  to buy a copy of God’s Secret Listener for £7.99 plus postage or else go through Lion/Hudson.

Keswick welcomes back an incredible Christian lady

Last Thursday was an emotional night at the Keswick Convention. Not only were the 3,500 worshippers moved by Berti Dosti’s story of how the army captain became a Christian in ‘atheistic’ Albania, but they then heard the main speaker, Dr Helen Roseveare, talk on mission.

For someone who is 86 in a few weeks’ time she is an incredible woman. She first came to the Keswick Convention 65 years ago, then went to the Congo as a missionary in 1953 where she endured a civil war, was taken captive by rebels for five months and was brutally raped. But as a Christian doctor she helped build a hospital there and served the Congolese people and church for 20 years.

Since returning home in 1973 to look after her elderly mother Helen has become an international speaker and served her mission, WEC International, in the UK helping prepare young missionaries to go overseas.

During week one at Keswick she was interviewed on Tuesday for the recording of the Radio 4 service, gave an hour lecture on Wednesday and then spoke for 40 minutes on Thursday at the main evening meeting.

Before going on the stage for the big meeting she told me she still gets “very nervous speaking in public,” even though she had done it hundreds of times.

You would never think so as the audience eagerly listened to every word and gave her a huge ovation at the end.

In between all this she visited the young tent where she spoke to 350 youngsters, supposedly for only 20 minutes. Instead she spoke for 40 minutes and the teenagers wanted even more as they voted her the highlight of the week.

Helen also managed to fit in a book signing session for her classic 1960s and 1970s books,  Give me this mountain and He gave us this valley, plus her latest book Digging Ditches.

Interestingly, her first publishers decided not to reprint her old books as they thought there was now too long a time gap. But a new publisher has republished her books and they have already sold 25,000 copies.

I thought Berti, of the European Christian Mission, pictured below signing books as a queue of buyers patient wait their turn, did well selling 215 books. Helen sold more than 1,000 books in week one at Keswick.

What an amazing Christian lady.

Berti a huge hit at Keswick as book sells out

Bringing Berti Dosti to this year’s Keswick Christian Convention to tell his story and promote the book went beyond my wildest dreams.

But it was nearly a disaster as two weeks before he was due to fly in from Tirana his son Dorian, who was going to act as his dad’s interpreter, was refused a visa by the Albanian authorities.

Where do you start to try and find a person in the UK, who can speak Albanian and was free to come to Keswick at such short notice?

The first person I contacted was Sali Rahmani, a Kosovan Albanian who lives in Northamptonshire and whom I interviewed for the book. He could come for the second week of the convention, but he was in Switzerland for the first week. Half a problem solved.

Fortunately, the European Christian Mission had sent a young person out to Lushnje for a year. Kerrie Abbott could speak some Albanian, was free for week one – and even better lived in Wigton, only half an hour’s journey from Keswick.

Berti spoke at four main Keswick meetings. Last Wednesday in week one he was interviewed at the lunch book club meeting in front of 100 people by Rachel Baughen, Keswick trustee with Kerrie, who did a great job translating.

On Thursday he was interviewed for eight minutes in the main evening attended by 3,500 people by Jonathan Lamb, chairman of the Keswick Convention, who is pictured below left with translator Kerrie and Berti.

You could have heard a pin drop as Berti told his story of how he had been an army captain in Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha’s army. As a signals and radio expert his job was to listen to the airwaves to get an early warning if the three countries they feared most – Russia, the USA and the UK – were going to invade.

He never found an enemy signal, but he stumbled across a Christian radio station which had been broadcasting into Albania, the world’s ‘first atheistic state’, for 22 years not knowing if anyone was listening. Berti was intrigued and became a secret listener. If he had been caught he would have been jailed at the very least.

On Sunday in week two Berti was interviewed in the main evening meeting in front of a different 3,500 people by Jo Jowett, Keswick and ECM trustee, with Sali translating. They were scripted for seven minutes, but spoke for 15 minutes

What an absolute brilliant double act they were. Berti started by thanking all those at Keswick who had prayed for Albania and then spoke about listening to the ECM/Trans World Radio broadcast in secret.

Halfway through his story he turned to Sali and said: "This is the man whom I listened to on the radio." That brought the house down; there were gasps and then huge applause. It was pure theatre at its best. They were given three rounds of applause, which I am told is unheard of at Keswick.

People were queuing to speak to Berti afterwards and there was a long line in the bookshop waiting for him to sign their books. In a week we and the bookshop sold out of books, selling 212 in total. I wish we had brought more books.

Later at 10pm Berti and Sali were interviewed by Chris Kennedy, a Keswick youth leader and pastor from Northern Ireland, in front of 350 teenagers at their late night meeting. The interview had to be curtailed at 10.30 as security had to lock up the tent.

To say it was an amazing week is an understatement, it was absolutely brilliant.

Growing up in a country that banned God

As a journalist I have heard many fascinating stories, but Berti Dosti’s story has to be one of the most interesting.

He was born on April 11, 1957, in Korçë, the regional capital of south east Albania and not far from the Greek border and brought up without any knowledge of God whatsoever.

Since taking power in 1944, the Stalinist dictator, Enver Hoxha, had turned Albania into the world’s most isolated country, proudly declaring in 1967 that Albania was the ‘first atheist country in the world’.

All 2,169 religious establishments had been closed. Of the country’s 1,600 Orthodox churches, monasteries and cultural centres in 1967, fewer than 80 were still standing 23 years later when communism ended in 1991.

During Hoxha’s reign of terror, 335 Orthodox priests died by execution, mistreatment, untreated illnesses or exhaustion. By the time it finished, only 22 Orthodox priests were still alive.

He destroyed churches or converted them into post offices, schools, weapon depots, cafes, barns, storehouses or museums. The cathedral at Shkodra was even turned into a volleyball court and in 1972, a museum of atheism was opened in that city.

Another Hoxha decree targeted Christian names. To help parents, the government published lists with pagan names to choose from, including newly-created names such as Marenglen (a combination of Marx, Engels and Lenin). A new girl’s name, Enveriada, was invented in honour of Enver Hoxha, while his nicknames of Shpati and Tarasi also became accepted names for children.

Like most Albanians Berti joined the army becoming a captain. He is pictured below leading his men on parade.

His job as a radio specialist was to listen into the world’s airwaves during the 1980s, because his country feared they were about to be invaded by the West, and in particular, the USA, Russia and Great Britain.

One day as he idly twiddled the radio dials, he heard a voice saying: “If you want to find out more about God we will meet again tomorrow.”

Like all Albanians, 32-year-old Berti had been told God didn’t exist.

Anyone caught showing an interest in religion could expect a huge punishment to be imposed not only on him, but also on his family, his children and even his grandchildren.

However, something intrigued Berti, even though religious lessons had been banned from all schools. But how could he dare listen without anyone knowing, especially since one in two Albanians was thought to be a government spy.

How Berti did listen in I will tell in a later blog.

To buy a copy of God’s Secret Listener, price £7.99 and published by Lion/Monarch/Hudson, email me on john@jbutterworth.plus.com

Book on sale at the Shrewsbury Flower Show

I never cease to be amazed by my blogs and where in the world it reaches. Yesterday I had hits from Israel, Finland and Romania plus many others in Europe, America and Asia.

The other benefit is that it has led to many invitations to give talks on the God’s Secret Listener and The Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel books to various groups and organisations, including the prestigious Shrewsbury Flower Show.

I have always been a regular at the show, organised by the Shropshire Horticultural Society, which is one of the longest running flower shows in the country and featured in the 2005 Guinness Book of Records.

Held in the The Quarry (pictured below), the two-day show attracts thousands of visitors from all over Britain. This year it is on Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13.

By kind invitation of Tony Bywater and all at Salop Leisure I will be promoting and selling the two books on their stand for both days.

Helped by Shrewsbury Tourist Information leaflets will be given out on their stand at the entrance to the park offering visitors £2 off signed copies of the Lion Hotel book if they bring it to me on the Salop Leisure stand.

Normally I am at the show for one or two days, but this year I am breaking all records as I am there for four days.

On the Thursday evening (August 11) I am speaking to the Freemen of the Borough of Shrewsbury and the Shropshire Society in London who come up every year for the Flower Show and hold a dinner the night before in the Moser Library at Shrewsbury School. Both The Lion Hotel book and God’s Secret Listener will be on sale there.

Then on the Sunday lunchtime I am again speaking to the Mayors and council leaders from throughout Shropshire who have a lunch together in one of the marquees before the show is dismantled late in the afternoon so the Quarry Park is back to normal and open to the public again the next day.  Again both The Lion Hotel book and God’s Secret Listener will be on sale there

With talks to Rotary and Probus clubs over the next few weeks plus visits to three Christian exhibitions at the Keswick Convention, New Wine at Newark and the Gorsley Festival, near Ross-on-Wye, where both books will be on sale, it is going to be a hectic few weeks.

If you would like a signed copy of God’s Secret Listener for £6.99 or the Lion Hotel book for the special price of £5 email John@jbutterworth.plus.com

First impressions of Albania

I didn’t know what to expect when I landed in Albania in May 2009. But the first impressions were amazingly good.

A Mercedes picked  me up at a very modern and impressive airport, sped past plush car dealerships to a restaurant where I had an excellent meal of lamb, salad and chips.

It was hard to believe I was in Albania, Europe’s second poorest nations, which had opened up its borders to visitors only in 1990 after being a Communist dictatorship isolated from the rest of the world for nearly 50 years.

Since then this small country north west of Greece on the Adriatic has undergone an amazing political U-turn from an extremely left wing Socialist state to a democracy about to join the European Union and a member of NATO sending soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it’s not just a political revolution but a spiritual one that has occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean since dictator Enver Hoxha had declared his country the world’s first atheistic state.

From 1990, Christians have poured into the country to bring the Gospel to Albania and now there are more than 170 churches in the country, every town has at least one evangelical church and Albania has already sent 50 missionaries overseas.

I had joined five other supporters of the European Christian Mission to see at first hand their work in Lushnje, about an hour and a half’s drive from the capital, Tirana.

My companions were Jan King, a retired teacher from Melton Mowbray and ECM trustee; Alan Moir a retired businessman and his wife Helen from Dunfermline, Scotland; Tanya Frolova, a teaching lecturer from Riga, Latvia, and Peter Russell, ECM communications manager in Northampton.

Once we left the airport and bypassed the capital the roads and the driving standards did deteriorate but the countryside looked very lush and every hundred yards there were market stalls by the side of the road selling very tempting fruit and vegetables.

After an uneventful journey we arrived in Lushnje to meet our hosts, Berti and Tatjana Dosti who have a very pleasant apartment (pictured below) overlooking the town park. Jan and Tanya stayed in their flat while the rest of us were put up in the only hotel in the centre of Lushnje.

The difference between the UK and Albania was brought home to me by the basic hotel room with a bed which was a mattress on a concrete slab and the bathroom where I switched on the shower and water sprayed out from holes in the pipes in three different places.

If Albania does join the European Union many millions will be needed to be spent on the country’s infrastructure to attract business and tourists.

Still I slept all right and ate well thanks to Tatjana’s excellent cooking.

It was at those meals that I heard Berti’s amazing story which I will tell more about in another blog.

Berti to speak at this year's Keswick Convention

It was not only exciting interviewing Berti Dosti and writing his story, it has also been fascinating to see all the spin-offs from the book.

One of those is that Berti has been invited to attend this year’s Keswick Convention where he will be interviewed in the main evening meeting during Weeks 1 and 2.

Until last October when his story was told in my book, God’s Secret Listener, published by Monarch, few people knew about Albania and Berti’s amazing story.

Now more than 3,500 will hear him interviewed on Thursday, July 21 when the theme of the evening is Mission by whom? which will be led by the well-known missionary to the Congo, Helen Roseveare (pictured below). She was there for 20 years from 1953-73 with the Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade (WEC).

Another 3,500 people will hear Berti’s story on Sunday, July 24 when Jo Jowett (pictured below) who is a trustee for the European Christian Mission, will interview him on the main stage in an evening led by Adrian Reynolds on the theme of For what purpose?

To make sure everyone gets chance to meet Bert he will be talking to Tim Chester at a lunchtime book signing session at the convention on Wednesday, July 20 and speaking at a late-night youth event on an evening still to be decided.

There will also be the opportunity to meet Berti and talk to him on the ECM stand in the Earthworks exhibition area from 2-4pm and 8.45-10.30pm every day.

I am particularly grateful to Kerrie Abbott and Sali Rahmani who are both coming to Keswick to translate for Berti.

I am driving Berti up to Keswick next Tuesday night and he will be there until the following Monday.

If anyone would like to arrange for Berti to autograph a copy of the book, God’s Secret Listener, please email me on John@jbutterworth.plus.com

50-year wait to go to Albania

How on earth did I end up going to Albania? Most people would have difficulty pinpointing this small country on the Adriatic between the old Yugoslavia and Greece.

Yet I have always had a fascination for this former isolated Stalinist dictatorship.

It started as a youngster when I was an avid stamp collector, which was a brilliant education to learn about the history and geography of countries.

I was told then that the two countries it would be impossible for me to go to were China and Albania, both of whom had then closed their borders to visitors.

That became even more impossible when I started training as a journalist in 1972. Albania’s leader, Enver Hoxha, certainly did not want foreign journalists travelling through his country looking for stories.

When Hoxha declared his country the world’s first atheistic state and that he wanted to abolish God I became more interested in what would happen and how God would respond.

In the mid 1980s I moved to Stone where with friends, Pete and Liz Mason, we ran a youth group. While on a weekend away at Cloverley Hall in Shropshire, another group at the conference centre at the same time were praying for Albania and I joined them at one of their meetings.

I continued to follow what was happening in Albania and China in the 1980s.

Then in 1986, while I was editor of the Leek Post and Times I was invited to join five other editors on the first ever exchange between the British regional press and the Chinese press.

We had a fascinating ten days visiting Beijing, Anshan, Dalian, Shenyang, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Shanghai and then Hong Kong and the following year a group of Chinese editors visited the UK, including Leek.

One forbidden country visited, one to go.

But I had to wait another 20 years before making it to Albania. After 38 years in journalism and 12 as editor of the Shrewsbury Chronicle I was made redundant in February 2008.

What should I do next? I wrote to six missionary societies offering my services and the first one to reply was Richard Tiplady, the then chief executive of the European Christian Mission, inviting me to join a small group going out to Albania. He didn’t know of my interest in the country, and of course I jumped at the opportunity.

So in May 2008 my feet set foot on the tarmac of a very modern Tirana Airport and after more than 50 years this stamp collector from North Staffordshire had achieved his dream of travelling to China and Albania. I am pictured below in Lushnje, Albania.

Over the next few days I will continue the Albania story and report what happened next.