What?! No food for 30 hours?? You can imagine the response you would hear from middle schoolers when approached about participating in a 30-Hour Famine. Not so with the confirmation class at Trinity Lutheran Church in Boulder, Colorado! Although maybe not thrilled with the hunger pains they knew would gnaw at their stomachs, they jumped in and accepted the challenge. Here’s how it works:
The purpose of the 30 Hour Famine is to learn about the causes and effects of hunger, to experience hunger firsthand, to help fight hunger, to participate in a service project, to join in worship, fellowship, fun, and – here’s where the Kuwaa Mission comes in – to gather funds for a selected cause. I presented a slide show to the class that introduced them to the Mission and its goal of providing clean drinking water for the Kuwaa people. The class decided that this was indeed a worthy cause. They set a goal of $2500 toward a well in Liberia.
The next step was to enlist sponsors for their 30 hours of fasting. The sponsors pledged various amounts toward the goal of $2500, payable when the class successfully completed their task.
Then the famine began. The class gathered with their sleeping bags in tow in the church basement on a Friday at 7 o’clock. Lunch that day had been their last meal. They were allowed to drink fruit juice and Gatorade and chew gum. Their first full glass of juice/Gatorade was “free” but after that they had to carry 2 gallons of water around the room 4 times to get a refill for one glass, illustrating how not everyone in the world has a tap handy with fresh clean water, and that many people have to walk miles to get their water. The class kept a journal to record how they were feeling at various times of the famine, and what it must be like for others to live with hunger. They made a trip to Costco to buy supplies for their service project – no free food samples allowed! They filled the basement with the aromas of bread and chocolate chip cookies baking – no sampling allowed!
