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.