The world population stands at about 6.7 billion people.
1.4 billion (20+%) of those people live below the international poverty level of earning less than $1.25/day.
923 million people worldwide are undernourished or hungry.
6 million children under the age of 5 die every year due to hunger or malnutrition.
Our church embarked on a five day beans and rice challenge in an effort to understand the effects of hunger in the world. We purchased 'kits' that contained enough beans, rice, and oatmeal for five days. We could add spices (mainly chili powder, cumin, cinnamon), sugar, and flour. We also made homemade flour tortillas and a fry bread to go with our meals.
Our school aged children were allowed to eat school lunches but had to stick to the rice, beans, and oatmeal at home. I heard the children comment on how good the school lunches were every day. They found a new appreciation for those hot lunches they would normally complain about.
My husband and I really began to understand the variety and choices we Americans have become accustomed. We didn't like the pinto beans supplied in our kit so we went and bought black beans. It was amazing to just see the amount of choices we have in beans alone at the grocery store. Watching TV was hard too because of all of the commercials for McDonald's and other restaurants. Billboards too. Do you realize how many billboards you pass while driving that advertise for fast food or restaurants? It's no wonder we eat out so often! It was little things like that we noticed. Things normally taken for granted.
I thought these simple meals were more time consuming to make. The flour tortillas took over an hour to mix, roll out, and fry one at a time. It took more planning. It wasn't like popping a pizza in the oven and doing ten other chores while it bakes. You had to stay with these. I over boiled every batch of rice, to the point I had to buy new metal drip pans for my stove. The beans, too, overflowed from the crock pot overnight, making a huge mess. Oh, and every bowl of oatmeal exploded in the microwave, too. I was really humbled though when I began to consider a mother in sub-Sahara Africa having first to go to a well to get water, then gather firewood to start a fire, then pound the rice off the plant, etc. in order to make her family a meal. I may have considered it an inconvenience but for most mothers it's a way of life.
We were tired most of the day and it really took a lot to adjust to the portion sizes which were much smaller than we were use to. The kids had to give up after school snacks so there were lots of complaints about that. How do mothers who experience this every day deal with the complaints and real concern of their children's hunger when they too are hungry and tired. I imagine a very hopeless, frustrating situation.
We had over 600 families participate in this challenge. We were asked to calculate our savings for the week from groceries we normally would have purchased and then donate that savings to Stock the Storehouse. Stock the Storehouse is the name we gave the fund for our church. Our donations will be divided among 3 groups of people (local food pantry's, Saharwi refugees, and Haiti). In the first weekend alone we raised over $19,000 and donations are still coming in. My husband calculated that $19K can provide 190,000 meals of rice and beans to others around the world. Awesome!
The idea has caught on in the area in which we live in. Many other churches in the community are starting their own challenges. A local Catholic high school had 200 students agree to participate in a challenge, too. They may even convince the cafeteria to make the beans and rice for them. Isn't that cool? In a day and age with many people worried about their own finances, I think it's extra special that so many are taking the time to consider someone who has it worse then them and to give what they can to help!
There are lots of blog stories posted on our church website at Christtherock.org if you're interested in reading more about the challenge. You may even be moved to start your own challenge. Don't be afraid to do it!
Through prayer ask God to give us his eyes and heart for his people so that we will be moved to help!
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2 comments:
For me to do a challenge like this will take me back to when I was little and we had no choice but to eat beans and rice and tortillas for breakfast lunch and dinner because we were that poor. sometimes my mother will mix it up and we would would have eggs mixed with rice and tortillas for a week! So, I'm not doing this challenge, I just don't buy junk for my house because I feel I am truly wasting my money on junk food, I just buy what we need and that's that. I will take my daughter when she gets older to my country of origin so that she may see how good she has it here and how I grew up and by the Mercy of the Lord my family was able to survive. -sandra
mind you, back home there is no govertment help..so how do poor people survive without food stamps and governtment involvement? only by the grace of God. Instead of whining that the government is not doing enough for the poor like here, poor people overthere find work and do the necessary best to feed their children. That's why I don't pity the poor people in this country because they really have it better here than any other country outside of the U.S.
I know what poor is because we lived it, and my mother was a great example of working as hard as she could to feed 4 children all own her own with God's help. I'm sorry, but this really striked a chord with me and I feel hurt that people are trying to figure what poor is. Nothing against you, is just that I have been there before. Still love your blog!
-sandra
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