Ahh, I feel like so much has happened in such a short amount of time that I don’t know where to begin. I haven’t really had that much motivation to blog either, so things just kept rolling. 
I think I’ll just stick with my weekend for now because I can already tell this is going to be a long post.
Every year, my youth group at my church does this thing called the 30 Hour Famine. It’s by World Vision, and basically it’s to bring awareness about hunger and the massive problem that it creates all over the world. Each year we focus on a different country, and this year the country was Haiti. Some facts about hunger:
- 1 in 4 children don’t get the nutrition they need.
- More than 1 billion people experience hunger on a daily basis.
- A child dies from hunger-related causes every seven seconds.
- 8,000 children die every day because of hunger and hunger-related illnesses and diseases.
What we do is we go 30 hours without eating (juices are allowed!) and we raise money for it.
You might ask: how do you raise money by starving yourself? Well, we get sponsors. They can be anyone from your neighbor to your teacher to the president, and they donate money. One dollar will feed and care for a child for a day. One dollar. I think that’s so crazy. I mean, you can’t even buy a medium soda at McDonald’s or someplace similar for that much, and that’s enough to feed them!
This year we raised $990. We only had nine kids fundraising for it, and I think that’s really awesome. While it may not seem like a lot, and it’s far from banishing hunger to the history books, we’re still making a difference. We fed 990 kids, and to those specific kids, it makes all the difference.
It might sound pretty difficult to not eat for 30 hours, and in some ways it is. We do it to experience what these kids have to experience all the time, and while we know that at the end of those 30 hours there will be a nice meal prepared, these kids may not have any idea as to when there next meal will be, or if they will even live to see it. It’s something that we can’t truly grasp or understand. If we want water, we can go turn on the tap; if we want food, we can go open up the fridge and grab an apple, or simply head down to the grocery store and pick something up.
Every year, I’m constantly reminded of how blessed I am to have all these things right in front of me. Yes, my family struggles financially at times, as most do, yet our “struggling” can’t really compare to what they go through. Sometimes I wish that I had more money so I could go shopping more and get cuter clothes and all these silly things, and then I just feel really ungrateful for all the things I already am blessed with. Having what you have is not something to be ashamed of, I just think sometimes we take it for granted.
In 35 seconds, people’s lives in Haiti were completely turned around because of the earthquake. In 35 seconds, people lost homes, family, friends, and more. It’s not like they just woke up and knew their lives were going to be drastically changed today. They were just as surprised as the rest of us. It makes me really think, that could’ve happened to me. It could happen to any of us at anytime. I don’t mean to be all depressing or anything, it just gets you to think.
We also were given cards that had a child on Haiti on it. These cards had the child’s name on it and their story. Some of them were completely heart breaking. 
A lot of these kids had diseases, so to make the experience a little more real again, you would also be given the afflictions that they had. My girl, Josette, had cut her hands up really bad on glass and broken walls after the earthquake, so I had to wrap my hands up in cloth. It’s really hard to function without your hands! Andrew’s boy had malaria, so he had to wear a heavy coat (because I think fever is a side-effect. I don’t really remember why, to be honest). Some other people couldn’t talk or they would only be able to use one leg, or things of that sort. It was pretty funny to see this one girl hop around on one leg.
To keep our mind off of our growling stomachs, we kept pretty busy. We played a lot of games, learned a lot about Haiti and about hunger, and we cleaned out the youth room, which was actually pretty fun. We vacuumed out the couches and really cleaned everything, and we also got rid of a lot of clutter. It was crazy how old some of the stuff was! We found a scrapbook from the youth of 1995. It was pretty funny looking at old pictures. We also rearranged a lot of the furniture and took down some old posters and pictures. I wish I would’ve taken a before and after picture, but it was funny watching people walk into the room on Sunday morning (who weren’t there to help clean it out) and their reactions. It was like they walked into a different room. xD
All in all, it was a really fun weekend and it was awesome that we raised so much money. It’s nice to know you made a difference, no matter how small. 
If you want more information about the 30 Hour Famine or what World Vision is doing to stop hunger, you can visit worldvision.org.
I did the 40 hour famine many years ago and I was so sick after it because I did it properly I haven’t done it since. I figured if I were to starve like the people who have no choice I’ll do it well …
…We don’t have that…But that sounds so cool! And the thing about children dying from hunger…is just….sad….;-;
Well muslims have rumadum every year and that’s when they don’t eat from sunrise to sunset! ..But they aren’t even allowed to DRINK anything!!! My friend is muslim so we try not to you know….get amazingly yummy food and put it in front of her nose and stuff….
Woww!! $990!!! Good fundraising.
EPIC fundraising! I hope all those kids get un-sick after eating. |D
…My dad lost one leg…he had a bug…I have no idea how to spell it but it’s pronounced neck-ro-tie-zing fash-ee-eye-tes
But uhm yeah. 
Lol I can’t be bothered tying my hands up or anything.
Because I just can’t be bothered. :
Congratulations on the fundraiser~!!!
Oh my that is a good thing to do especially at a church! Seriously! I have never witnessed anything like that except for when my old old old pastor had us give up something for a week. I couldn’t decide upon what to give up so I didn’t do it. I feel bad that I didn’t do it. But I honestly couldn’t decide what to give up on. I am now wanting to do lent whenever it is available, and my younger sister is doing lent all the time. It’s only for a week. But still. I believe I can handle that this time around. Last time I was just to busy with school and needed everything in my house to actually use and couldn’t give up for. Which is sad. But I did try it for a few days though. I also gave up ice cream and candy. But for now I have given up junk food on a day to day basis. Used to eat candy like there was no tomorrow, and chips as well. Now I’m more cautious as to what I eat, and etc. I eat candy on occasion, but not every day. My dad always buys me ice cream which isn’t really good for my diabetes, but eh I don’t eat a lot of it anyway. I had some just now, but it was only a spoonful. But still. I shouldn’t really be doing this to my diet. I’m just now starting to drink tea and water again cause I had found my tea bags (Jasmine, Oolong, Green, Lipton Decaf, etc.etc.) and I couldn’t have been more happier. I actually got to make that steak dinner with salad and everything. I was craving salad again around 10:00 ish in the night, it’s now morning, but still I had to have ice cream around 1:00 ish a.m. But I’m not doing that again though. So yeah. That famine is awesome though. Good job!!
I hope you`ll get the motivation to blog again :)! I know for sure, I`m stuck at blogging. Bleh.
Congratulations on raising 990 dollars! I think what the fundraiser is is worth it! But wow :X 30 hours without eating must be crazy! But it isn`t compared to those who aren`t fortunate enough :/. Which is the reason why I don`t believe in wasting food. I always try to finish the plate :X.
But in reality, I usually eat a real meal once every 20 hours. Its by choice :x.
We are even lucky to even have a chance to blog! I just know, appreciate what you have because there are others that can`t have it. I learned, what ever you have, someone needs it more than you.
As long as you had fun and did what you needed to do, the mission was a success :)!
Take care (:
That is a pretty amazing charity/organization/sponsor thing?!
:3
)
(sorry I don’t have a lot to say
I know the only times I can`t blog is when I don`t know what to blog about. Which is mostly on vacations -__-! I just sit in front of my desktop or laptop for hours staring at the “New Post” page. :/.
As long as you kept yourself busy and laughing, you won`t even think about food! I know, that this mission would be a lot harder if you eat constantly. There`s too many theories about diets -__-! Bleh. If you constantly eat bits by bits, it`ll be harder to fast yourself. .__.~
For sure, I am proud of your group
You became selfless and did what you can to help others!
chips and fruits are meals :P. They have calories -__-! Oh, the darn calories!
Take care (:
(Reply to comment on my site)
But the people in the school come one with the school so yeah. C8 You are correct-tooo!!! |D
Aww…yeah….;-; Well not exactly the school that changes people but the people IN the school.
…Lol that’s pretty much what I said. :’D But yeah…you change to fit in. But you don’t change on purpose, you change naturally. o3o
Yeah….Well yeah.
Congratulations on all the fundraising again!
Its a very amazing experience! I did it last year and went without food for 40 hours… It didn’t kill me ^_^ I have linked you back good friend ^_^
That sounds really enriching and cool! I wish we have that in Singapore, it will be a very good experience and can teach us a lot of things! What those kids have gone through were really bad and…(I don’t know what words I can use to describe). Well, and $990 is a lot!
Maybe food is sold at a cheaper price to those people feeding the kids so they could afford the food with just a dollar? 
Anyway I’ really envious. 
But still I’ll have stomach problems if I don’t eat for too long(metabolism rate is too high 
).
In the end most of everyone’s food weren’t touched because we were too busy playing games. 
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Thanks so much! :DD Well, exercising is really fun, isn’t it? The satisfaction in the end is just awesome!
I think I’ve done the 30 hour famine twice and then a fast with an organization called B4 or something like that.
It’s great to talk to another veteran.
That is a good amount of money. I think instead of acting out or children we just hung their pictures around our neck.
It is a good reality check, we need every time we get comfortable or start complaining.
I like seeing people’s reactions to things like clean rooms, that is so fun!
I’m glad you made a difference.