On November 29,2010, Frank Reddy published a great article at TheLayman.org website about Ben Mathes, ROW and the Paraguay Project.
A Presbyterian Church (USA) minister’s solo journey into South America found him face-to-face with an Islamic fundamentalist leader, who was curious to see the Christian in Hezbollah territory.
The Rev. Ben Mathes of Atlanta – a Christian radio regular and missionary – went to the continent’s Tri-Border Area, home to 25,000 Hezbollah and Hamas members, who operate a variety of legal and illegal operations in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.
The meeting between Mathes and Mohammid Yusef Abdallah took place in Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay, a massive retail zone notorious for its unchecked flow of weapons, drugs, counterfeit goods and duty free items.
Muslim students at a school in the Tri-Border Area of South America connected with students at a Christian school in the United States in an effort to “build bridges” between the cultures.
Mathes told the Hezbollah leader he hoped to meet officials with the local Lebanese Central School, where 308 Muslim students studied in English, Arabic and Spanish. Introductions were made to the school’s headmaster, and an idea was born.
On Oct. 11, 2010, nearly a year later, Mathes arrived again in Paraguay with a suitcase full of gifts for the Muslim students.
