July 7, 2009

Greetings!

May the presence and love of our Lord Jesus Christ fill your life. I am blessed by the numerous examples of His love in my daily life. But all around me fear reigns!

Fear paralyzes and removes hope. If there reluctance and refusal to speak about sexual matters, fear takes hold. If HIV is here in Ethiopia without a cure, it is to be feared! If HIV has something to do with sex (we can’t talk about sex) then there is more fear! This fear is translated into fear of the people who are HIV positive (or are rumored to be).

How does it feel to be feared, marginalized, excluded, never invited to participate? And what are the rules that Jesus gave for reaching out to those who are marginalized, excluded, and never invited to participate? A read through Luke will give you many examples of Jesus’ love for the sick, the unloved, and the marginalized of His day. My January letter was filled with sad news of my friend, the Rev. Ayano. But God has raised him up to fulfill Ayano’s own promise, “I will never die from AIDS.” The story that he told me one day over lunch illustrates yet another form of stigma here in Ethiopia.

Selam, adopted by Ayano.

I asked Ayano to tell me the story of Selam, his “adopted” daughter, which came about when Ayano accepted the challenge in Hosea 1:2: “The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’”  So Ayano went and sat in the bars and restaurants.

Selam, appearing to be a small young girl, was one that he met. He asked her “Do you like the life of being a commercial sex worker? Is sex a good way of life?” She said, “No, but it pays the rent and buys food each month.”

Ayano said, “If I rent a room for you and buy your food, do you want to stop this life?” She said yes, so together they found a room far from the area where she was working. She moved there and never returned to her old neighborhood, as far as he knows, and every day she came to his house to clean, do laundry, or cook.

“What would you like to become?” he asked. “A hair stylist,” she replied, and so he paid tuition for her to attend a school. All of this extra expense was taking its toll, and they discussed her moving in with him. “Where will I sleep?” she asked, noting there was only one bedroom and one bed in his home. Ayano said, “I will sleep on the floor on a mattress and you can have the bed.”

"No,” said Selam, “You stay in your bed. I will sleep on the floor on a mattress.” And that is how she came to live with him, trusting each other completely that there would be no intimacy, only a friendship based on trust.

Dorothy and Rev. Ayano in June 2009 celebrating Ayano's CD4 count of 672. The CD4 count is used to to assess patients' immune systems.

As Ayano became ill, the burden on her became greater and greater. While he was in the hospital (October 2008), she stayed at his bedside day and night, providing water, bathing him, bringing food (which he couldn't eat), helping him swallow his pills, reporting to the doctor, etc. When I returned from the United States on October 31, Ayano was in the process of legally adopting Selam as his daughter. I helped print his letter and his will (leaving everything to her). As he continued to improve, they moved to a place with two bedrooms.

As he became stronger, she no longer had to spend so much time taking care of him. She took an English class and, as he wrote to a friend in the United States, “Thank you for your good thoughts about Selam. Just a few days before Easter I opened a women's beauty shop. Easter this year has brought resurrection from joblessness to Selam and healing for me. How great is His love and mercies!”

As he told me the story, his face radiated. He carried out an order from God. They have a profound love for each other based on care and respect. She is in her early 20s, and he is 38. Referring to his experience with Selam, Ayano says, “I have had to come through a torment of rumors and gossip, but I have emerged triumphant.”

What biblical commandment is yours to carry out? Upon asking a colleague for prayer regarding my work, he phoned early Sunday morning to say that he and his family were praying for me and they were shown a verse for Dorothy, Psalm 45: 10: “Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house.” And so I shall remain in Ethiopia for now!

Prayerfully,

The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 35