Hunger

I am living in the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. Along with poverty comes hunger, extreme hunger in many cases. In the summer when groups are here, we, literally, distribute tons of food. Other groups and organizations do, too. There are feeding centers operated by churches and other humanitarians that make sure children are fed one meal each day. In spite of all these efforts, thousands upon thousands of people in Honduras are hungry every day and no resources with which to buy food. We go in houses where there is no food or a few corn tortillas.

I don't think I have ever been hungry. Really hungry. Sure, I have done stupid things when I was much younger and wanted to lose weight. And then there has been medical fasts, where I thought I was starving to death ten minutes after the fast began. I have fasted and spent time in prayer instead of eating; admittedly, I have not done this near enough. But I have never known true hunger.

After thinking long and hard, I decided to find out about hunger. I want to have more compassion as I attempt to minister to the Honduran people. I decided that for five days that I would eat nothing but lunch. Of course, I could have one cup of coffee of a morning, but no breakfast, supper, snacks, desserts or cokes. I tried to maintain my normal activities and walked Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings, as well as many other things during the week. I did not eat extra at lunch, just what I normally do and I did not load up on Sunday night. When I ate my lunch every day, I ate slower than I normally do and enjoyed every bite.

Day 1 Monday. This was so easy. I did not get hungry at all. I had my coffee after walking and then ate lunch around noon. I was trying to do this without telling anyone. We stopped for fuel and Marc bought me some M&Ms. For those who know me really well, you know that was quite a test. I opened my backpack and dropped them. In fact, I still have those M&Ms.

Day 2 Tuesday. I was hungry by lunchtime, but not as much as I thought I would be.

Day 3 Wednesday. This was the hardest day. I woke up hungry. I had rice and beans for lunch and rather small portions, at that. I was still hungry after I finished lunch. I went to bed hungry. At times, I thought this was stupid and was tempted to forget about this and eat. I remembered those M&Ms in my backpack.

Day 4 Thursday. Since I went to bed hungry, I expected to wake up hungry, but I was pleasantly surprised. The hunger I was feeling was not near as bad as when I went to bed the previous night. Again I was ready for lunch and didn't feel quite satisfied. We had somewhere to be at 4:30 and had some time to spare. We stopped at Wendy's for a drink . Marc had a coke and I had water. There was a popcorn machine and they started popping popcorn, one of my favorite foods. The smell was overpowering. There was no choice but to get up and leave. That very pleasant odor lingered in my mind for sometime, leaving me with the desire to eat something. I didn't.

Day 5 Friday. I did get up and walk for 45 minutes. Again, I was really ready for lunch and was thinking how good breakfast was going to taste this morning. I was so busy this morning getting that last room ready to paint, that I forgot to eat this morning. I did eat a nice lunch.

Yes, I was hungry at times, but I was playing a game. A game for which I made all the rules. I still don't know true hunger. I could have eaten anytime I desired. On Monday, when I ate lunch, I knew I would be eating lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I did not have to ration my food because I did not know when I would see food again. I once saw people rationing their food here in Honduras. It was about a jar lid full. I did not have to get up every morning and look into the eyes of my hungry children and know I could not feed them. Again.
We regularly see people going through the dumpsters trying to find anything to eat. Sometimes the food is rotten, but it is all they can find. I never once thought about crawling in a dumpster trying find something to eat. People sniff glue to kill the hunger pains. That thought never entered my mind either. The combination of malnutrition and sniffing glue leave people with the inability to learn anything.

The times this week that I was hungry, I know I was not as hungry as I could have been. I don't know how people sleep or work or take care of their kids or go about daily life when they haven't had food for days. Yet, they do manage to go on. They spend most of their waking moments trying to find food.

I do hope I learned more compassion this week, but lets all be thankful we have food to eat and have it aplenty.

Terri