Muserology Cafe

Going Hungry (May/June 2010)

by Caitlin Fellows, age 15, Salt Lake City, Utah

As most kids have heard over and over, there are starving children in Africa--and, in fact, all over the world. But most kids don't know what it's like to be hungry. I do.

Last year, my church youth group participated in an event called the 30-Hour Famine. The purpose was to raise money for starving children through a group called World Vision. I raised $360. Then it was time for the actual fast. It's pretty self-explanatory: We all went without food for 30 hours. You might think you could never do that, but in actuality, it's not that hard.

Our youth group did it over the weekend, and all slept over at the church. We started fasting on Friday at 3:00, and went to church later that evening. I was terrified; I thought I would never be able to do it.

That night, before I went to church, my dad was cooking dinner. That was hard, because I saw the food and smelled it, but I knew I couldn't eat it. It was the first time that weekend that I felt hungry. When I got to church, everybody was there with their drinks. (We were allowed to have drinks such as water and juice. I don't think I could have done it otherwise.)

That night it was difficult to get to sleep. Because of all the water and juice, at least one person got up to go to the bathroom every hour. Besides, I'm not used to going to bed with an empty stomach. You don't have any distractions, and all you can think about is how hungry you are. The hunger is a very hollow feeling, like you are totally empty, which you are. Our stomachs growled a lot, and loudly. 

Eventually, I was able to sleep, which helped to pass the time. But in the morning, I was really hungry. I was also worried that I might faint, because I have hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is a condition that's like the opposite of diabetes--your blood sugar gets too low. I get dizzy and my vision goes fuzzy. One time I even fainted. It only happens in the morning, before I eat. But I drank some apple juice when I got up, and then I felt fine. That was a relief. 

For most of the day, I was busy. We were put into tribes representing different countries (I was from Bolivia), and we had all sorts of competitions among the tribes. The games were fun, but they were also ment to show us the difficulties some people face besides hunger. In one game, we linked arms with our teammates and tried to take bags of pasta from the other teams, to show how hard it is for some people to even get food. 

We also played a game that was like hide and seek, except that our whole team of five or six people had to hide together. That gave us a taste of what it would be like if our country were at war and we had to hide to avoid being killed. 

Since we were busy the whole day, we weren't really thinking about how hungry we were. I wanted to eat, but I know that even if there had been food around, I never would have snuck any. It would have made me feel really bad about myself, and then I wouldn't feel the real hunger like everyone else did. For the most part, there was no food around us anyway. But on Saturday morning we did a service project collecting canned food to donate to starving people. That was hard because we saw all the food and really wanted some. 

When evening came, I was starving! We got to break our fast at 9:00. We'd ordered Chinese food. While we waited, my friends and I played cards and read, but we weren't really distracted--we were counting the minutes until we could eat. Nine o'clock came and went without the food arriving. Finally, the shout of "THE FOOD'S HERE!" came, and we all rushed to the Social Hall. Our youth leader Esther stopped us. We said a prayer, and then attacked the food. I think that was the meal that I have most appreciated.

Though the games and activities distracted me, there were times when I couldn't think of anything else but how hungry I was. I could not have done the fast on my own. I needed the support of my youth group, and the knowledge that I wasn't the only hungry one. And I know this was different from the experience of someone who's actually starving. For instance, a person who is usually well-fed and suddenly stops eating for 30 hours (like me) doesn't get all of the feelings that come with being really hungry, like exhaustion and dizziness. Even so, we still got pretty tired. Though I can barely imagine what it's like to be truly hungry, fasting for 30 hours gave me a small hint of what starving kids feel.

The money we raised for World Vision was sent all over the world, to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They also use some of their funds to help poverty-stricken and low-income children in the United States. Our youth group raised over $5,000.

Before the 30-hour Famine, I would say, "Mom, I'm starving! Can we have dinner?" But now I have a better idea of what it's really like to be starving, and I feel for the kids who are hungry all the time. The 30-Hour Famine changed me, and I haven't said "I'm starving" since.