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Meal Twelve - Ethiopia

Spotlight on Ethiopia

Region: Africa
Population: 90,873,739 (July 2011 estimate)
Literacy Rate: total population: 42.7%
Urban Population: 17% of total population (2010)

Printable Table Tent

Download and print this table tent, designed for the Ethiopia meal. This table tent includes conversation starters and information about your gifts to ELCA World Hunger in action.
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Placemats

Download, print and use different placemats during your Lenten meals to raise awareness about hunger, poverty and related issues.

Program

This 30-minute program, specifically designed for the Ethiopia meal, contains a reading, litany, monologue, prayers and discussion questions.

Table Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the food which is prepared for us and we kindly ask you to bless it for us. Amen.

We thank you, Jesus, for you gave us this food, and we pray that you help us share the heavenly table.

(Prayers from Food for Life: Recipes and Stories on the Right to Food.)

Story: Luku

Farming is the primary way to make a living in the Abaya district of Eastern Ethiopia. It’s always been a challenge for crop production to support the entire community, but in recent years, unpredictable weather and changing rainfall patterns have led to extreme drought and food shortage...

Read the full story.

Download and share this bulletin insert.

Local Recipes

Popular foods in Ethiopia include injera (Ethiopian bread), doro wat (chicken stew with hard-boiled eggs), alecha (vegetable stew), dabo kolo (fried cookies) and coffee. Find more recipes at http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Cookbook/Ethiopia.html.

Skip the Coffee. Feed the Hungry.

Many are familiar with the tradition of giving something up during Lent. Last year, Pastor Steve Biegner of Zion Lutheran Church in Clarence Center, N.Y., decided to add something to his Lenten tradition. For 40 days, he stopped drinking coffee. And in its place, he gave whatever money he normally spent to support ELCA World Hunger.

“What does giving up coffee have to do with my relationship with God?” Pastor Steve asked. “Nothing. But focusing on the problem of hunger does. It helps ‘enlighten my eye’ to the ongoing problem.”

He placed a large, empty pickle jar outside the sanctuary of his church and asked others to join him. Each day, members of the congregation would sacrifice their favorite morning beverage and save the money they would have spent. By Easter Sunday, the pickle jar was full of donations to help end hunger and poverty.