Saturday, June 20, 2009

Once Today

When I was in Africa this spring I kept track of how many times I ate. Not precise math but close. We ate well and often whenever my team was more on our own than with our African leader-friends. Three square meals plus some extras. African tea in the afternoon - delightful!

Having said that, when we were mostly in the company of our African friends our food consumption decreased notably. We'd have a simple breakfast of fruit, usually banana and pineapple. And always that lovely chai-tea done the African way. Then we'd eat later in the day, usually quite late, perhaps around 7pm or more. At dinner we would eat well but simply on some combination of rice, cabbage salad and some delicious meat and gravy combo.

When I returned home from Africa I was surprised with how good I felt. I had lost weight yes, but it had more to do with how I felt inside. My skin was clear, my system free of the North American toxins and anything else that had normally been in my diet. I had energy and felt rested and relaxed. Africa will do that to you and I believe my overall consumption aided that also.

We all know about the lack of food in the world. How that there are now over 1 billion living beneath their required caloric intake levels (according to WHO standards). I'm not part of that billion by a long shot. And since returning home I've been bothered by the obscene amount of food and drink I've consumed. I'm embarrassed. I promised my African friends that I wouldn't forget them. I assured them that my time with them would realize a long-term change in both my perspective and my performance.

It is one thing to learn and understand about the hunger and need. But it is something else entirely to translate those lessons into personal change.

I asked myself, "How can I connect myself to their reality? How could I share in their sufferings where I am? How could I begin to understand their needs and daily experience?" The answer that came in the past two weeks had to do with food. In a number of conversations with co-workers and friends I discussed the possibility of eating like my African friends do - once a day. Period.

To eat once a day is to stay alive in most of the African places I visited. That will be enough for me too. So on this Saturday, I will eat once today.