Charlotte & Laura's Fortnight Fast WEEK 1

Good morning Friends of Chintsa!

This morning's blog is a short diary written by Charlotte Whitehead, the volunteer co-ordinator who works next door, who has taken on the Friends Fortnight Fast along with co-co-ordinator Laura Hogbin.  In it she shares her experience of the first few days of eating only cold food, and what was on her menu.  There is also a short video blog taken shortly after.  Charlotte's most interesting finding so far is that her dreams are completely taken up by food.  Have a read:  

"It is day 3 and I have already dreamt of eating one of Kwezi and Owethu’s (cooks at the volunteer house) burgers with melted cheese on top. I woke up so disappointed and a bit hungry! Everyone knows how much I love my food, whatever the weather or day... so it is a commitment for me to actually not eat anything hot. Having worked at Chintsa East school so often, we get to see the positive impact that just one hot lunch has for each student who goes to the school. With around 180 students, it means 400,000 meals a year.

Last night we actually made ourselves a cracking cold pizza... tinned tomatoes and onion, cucumber, onions, cheese, lettuce on a thick burger bun! It didn’t stop the volunteers teasing us with their tasty home-made burgers or wedges.

Laura is taking to the Fortnight Fast pretty well, but I seem to forget that we can’t eat hot food. I have stopped to think twice, a fair few times already: Toast? Porridge? Eggs? That’s the problem when I first wake up and I haven’t had any coffee!

I remember the weekend before we started our Fast and we went to town.  We started with a tasty fry-up at Lynne’s Village Bistro, lunch burger at The Barefoot Cafe, followed up a favourite of mine, Spag Bol!! 

Nine days to go. The children’s smiles keep us going every day."

Day 1

B/fast: Oats and Branflakes. Banana. Two coffees.

Apple

Lunch: Cheese/marmite/salad on white bread. Half a peanut butter sandwich. A few cheese crackers.

Dinner: Tuna salad/cornflakes and a biscuit.

Day 2

B/fast: Oats and Branflakes. Banana. Two coffees.

Lunch: Half a slice of Lou Billet’s carrot cake! Cheese and salad sandwich, half a peanut butter sandwich. Strawberry yoghurt.

Dinner: Big white bap with tomato and onion mix, cucmber, onion, tomato, lettuce and cheese. Chocolate cupcake and a cracker!

Day 3:

B/fast: Branflakes and Weet-bix. Two coffees.

Apple

 short video of Charlotte, taken by Laura

Charlotte and Laura have raised R3,500 (SA Rand) towards the Feeding Scheme in just a few short days.  They made a point of going to local businesses, talking to local residents, informing friends and family and co-workers of their intention to do the Fortnight Fast to raise funds for the Friends Feeding Scheme at Chintsa East Primary.  This is no small feat!  They are partaking in the 'Difficult Fast', which means they have to consciously go without any hot food for the entire duration.  Though there are guidelines and instructions within the Fortnight Fast fundraiser packs that are handed out before commencement of the Fast, there are often moments in a daily eating ritual in which the participant has to literally interpret the meaning of 'No Hot Food' for themselves.  This can mean no pre-cooked food at all, as this aids in prohibiting the participant from, say, simply waiting an hour for a hot meal to become cold.

Since the start of the Friends Fortnight Fast it has been so incredibly interesting for me to see the change a fast can make on an individual.  In the tradition of the Islamic Ramadan, or the Christian Lent, the ideal of the fast is to create a moment of awareness and shift the everyday consciousness of the faster into a place where gratitude for one's food and even one's very existence can be more clearly and concretely felt.  This is done by physically depriving oneself in many ways of the things one is used to, or takes for granted, for e.g. a full three meals a day, in an attempt to experience what it may be like for those less fortunate - in other words, trying to mimic the everyday existence of those less privileged in order to feel closer to them, or create a feeling of solidarity and unity with them.  Every single local participant I have spoken to here has conveyed the astounding alteration in thinking, planning and outlook that they have experienced through the Fortnight Fast.  Quite a spiritual undertaking! What better way to raise awareness of a people's plight, and raise funds towards an initiative to help provide proper nutrition to them!

Well done Charlotte and Laura - just one more week to go!

Please follow our blog next week for more personal updates and insights from these two ladies.