Written by John Campbell-Nelson
October 18, 2005

In August 1999, when the Rev. John Campbell-Nelson knew that the citizens of East Timor finally were going to get a chance to vote on whether to remain part of Indonesia, he knew he would have to be there. What he didn’t know were the consequences of his going. John and Karen Campbell-Nelson have been Global Ministries missionaries of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since 1981, and have been serving in West Timor, Indonesia, since 1983. Ten years ago they built their own home near Kupang, which they share with their Timorese extended family. While their primary appointment over the years has been at either the Synod office of the Evangelical Christian Church of Timor (GMIT) or Artha Wacana Christian University, they also have been involved in other activities, among them advocating for the rights of the East Timorese to determine their own future. East Timor’s past has been bleak. After more than 400 years as a colony of far-distant Portugal, it then suffered 24 years of repression under Indonesian occupation. The fight for independence and the right to a referendum had been hard won, costing the East Timorese more than 200,000 lives since 1975. In volunteering to go to East Timor as a translator and election observer in 1999, John was responding to a call from the Protestant Church of East Timor. Along with three others, he was assigned to the coffee-growing region of Ermera, in the mountains south of Dili, the capital. They made their base in a Protestant church midway between the two polling stations they were to monitor. They were constantly aware that pro-Indonesian militia were all around, preying upon those they suspected of supporting independence. One Sunday, after John’s team attended worship, a woman told the pastor, “Thank God they are here; maybe now we won’t be killed.” When John awoke on election day at 5 o’clock, already hundreds were lined up, waiting for the polls to open at 6:30. Voter turnout throughout the country averaged 98 percent, with nearly 80 percent voting for independence. In response to their overwhelming defeat, the militia began systematic raping, looting, burning and killing. During much of the following day John sat roasting in the sun in a UN car, waiting for a chance to be driven to safety. At one point the woman sitting next to him panicked as militia approached their vehicle. She told John she had been saved from the army the night before, and was fearful of being caught now. Quickly, she pretended to be John’s girlfriend – and the militia passed them by. Several years later, Karen Campbell-Nelson was seconded from her work at the Christian University to work with the East Timor Reception, Truth-Seeking and Reconciliation Commission, which organized a process based on South Africa’s experience. Karen’s role was to coordinate the women’s research team that collected testimonies from women about their experiences of violence during the Indonesian occupation and the East Timor inter-party conflict prior to it. At one point, as Karen was reading one woman’s testimony, what she read brought her up short. It was an account by a mother of her daughter’s kidnapping, rape and murder. Her daughter had been the woman in the UN car with John. Nearly 1,500 pro-independence supporters were sought out and killed during the months following announcement of the election results in September 1999, and Dili, the capital, was burned. These events personally affected the Campbell-Nelson family. For weeks they hid refugees in their home, sometimes a dozen at a time. When they learned that John’s name was on a list to be killed, the whole family spent the night outdoors, sleeping on a distant hillside. Following the murder of three UN workers in West Timor in 2001, they left their home and spent nearly two months in a Christian hotel in Bali. Their feelings were mixed: guilt over leaving behind their extended Timorese family, but relief that their son would be safe. Ministry in such circumstances does not leave one unscarred. “I was scared,” says Karen. “When John’s name was on the list, I was scared. And when the militia were prowling around in the fields by our house, I was scared.” Since that period, their respective assignments have changed. No longer at the Christian University, in part because of their human rights activities, they have returned to work at the Synod office of GMIT. With a membership of 1.4 million members it is the second largest Protestant church in Indonesia. But this change is a mixed blessing. “I do enjoy my work,” says John. “I have a network of former students who are now pastors, I have lots of local knowledge, and I have commitments, especially to the people of Timor—on both sides of the border.” Karen’s situation is different. A local woman’s health network that once thrived is falling apart. The rejection by the university still hurts. Some of the current GMIT leadership ignores the work of the research and development commission that she staffs. And the women’s testimonies from Timor Leste still haunt her. On the positive side, “Being here, being from one part of the world and doing ministry in another part of the world, is the best part of globalization,” says Karen. “It gives us a chance to humanize the issues that so many in the United States fear.” “Among the really fundamental values that we need to nurture is our common humanity,” adds John. “Labeling people as ‘not like us’ just makes it easier to kill them.” In March, the Campbell-Nelsons will return to the United States. They will meet with Global Ministries officials about their future. What will they decide? They will visit local churches in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and Pennsylvania. What will they say? “I like to thank U.S. congregations for making it possible for us to be here,” says John. “And that’s a sincere gratitude.”

For More Information
James Vijayakumar
Area Executive
Southern Asia
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland,Ohio 44115

216-736-3228
Phone: 866-822-8224 ext. 3228
Fax: 216-736-3203
vijayj@ucc.org