Week 6- 30 Hour Famine

This week I got to do something I have been waiting to do for a while now. I got to do the 30 Hour Famine. For those of you who have not heard of the 30 Hour Famine, it is a weekend when youth groups around the country go 30 hours without eating to raise awareness and money to fight world hunger.

It started on Friday at 12:00 p.m. and went to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.  At 6:30 on Friday I met up with my youth group for the rally. At the rally we sang songs and watched a movie called Journey to Jamaa. The award-winning short film, "Jamaa" is inspired by the real life story of Margaret and Derick, two orphaned children from Uganda who make the journey from Kampala to Kasangombe in a heartbreaking bid to overcome poverty and experience hope. The movie touched my heart and I’m sure it touched the heart of everyone there that night.

After the rally, the girls went back to Gwen’s house, and the boys back to Jon’s house.  Gwen and Jon are two of the leaders. At Gwen’s house really all we did was get out our sleeping bags and go to bed, but the next morning was more fun. Instead off eating breakfast we just had orange juice because you can have juice and water, but that’s it. Then the guys came over. We talked a lot about the famine and the video we had watched the night before. That’s truthfully when I started to feel hungry, but like last yearI just have to get through it. You forget about it and before you realize it, you don’t even realize you’re hungry. 

Later, we went to collect cans for the local food pantry. We froze out there, but by the time we were done we had collected over 200 pounds of food.

Then… we went to the food court. It always amazes me how your sense of smell seems to be so much stronger when you’re hungry. The food smelled amazing! But of course, we couldn’t eat it. When we looked around we say how much people had piled on their plates. They probably had enough food to feed three people and then through out half of it! It makes me feel so guilty whenever I throw out even just a little food.

The final thing we did, eat tacos. Every year now, when the famine is over we eat tacos. I’ve never had tacos that were so good.  When we were done we had collected over $1,600 and over 200 pounds of food. This money will feed over 127 kids and their families for a year in Africa.  I love how much I learn from the famine every year, and every year it touches my heart. I’m so glad for all the people who participate every year and make the famine possible.

http://jamaa.worldvision.org/about/the-film.html- Description of "Journey to Jamma"