Belessa, just outside Asmara, was one of the first mission stations in the highland run by the Swedish Evangelical Mission.
Belessa is a small hill close to the mainroad to Keren. It consisted of a school, with boarding facilities and a church.
Nowadays the school is run by the government, but there is still a church in Belessa as well as a small congregation.
Belessa also has a small study centre for training in theology, something which is a great challenge for the Evangelical lutheran church to keep running, since so many students are away on military service.
The Swedish church cooperates with independent churches, Christian councils and other partners in Ethiopia, India, Malawi, the Sudan and Tanzania as well as Eritrea.