dog food

I spent most of this week thinking that I was having one of the worst weeks of my life. Teachers were sick, I was getting called at 5am and I had to fire a teacher that I just hired last week. Then on Thursday I spent about a half hour talking to Ayedefer Teshome. Ayedefer is the father of Ruhama Ayedefer, a four-year-old girl who attends the daycare. Her classmates affectionately know Ruhama as “Ruhamama Mama”. Ayedefer, his wife and daughter moved to the United States about three years ago from Ethiopia. We talked about Africa and he told me that he had been a teacher in Ethiopia and with his salary was able to afford three meals a day and rent an apartment with electricity, but no running water, for his family. He said that 70% of the people of his country eat one meal a day, which consist of some fried grains. They get their water from holes they dig in the ground that collect rainwater. He said that usually he was drinking after dogs and cows and that they also cleaned their clothes with this water. Ayedefer works hard and sends much of his money back to support a minister who would not eat without the money he sends. He said that one US dollar a day would make for a very good life for an Ethiopian. I asked Ayedefer if life in this country is one of constant frustration for him. He clutched his chest and said, “yes”. I told him that within the last year I have become very aware of the tragic circumstances in Africa with poverty, hunger and AIDS. I told him that I try to tell others and help them realize that when Christ told us to love our neighbor he intended no geographical limits on that love. He told me that when he moved here he began working at a PetsMart. He said that in his time there he realized that Americans spend millions of dollars on dog food for their pets. Ayedefer told me that he would look at the pet food and think that it would be a nourishing meal for people in his country who were dying of hunger. He said that when I talk top people about Africa tell them the story about him working at PetsMart and then tell them the story of Lazarus the beggar. Here it is.

“ There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during you lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

--Luke 16:19-31
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Praise to you Lord Christ