Roll-on End of the Week

Yesterday, Day One, the effects were largely psychological (especially after my big dinner on Friday night). It was raining, so before walking to the shop to buy my food for the week I got out my raincoat and found a serviette in the pocket from my recent trip to the Royal National Park for a bush walk and picnic with friends. Mmmm, zucchini slice, I reminisced. On the way to the shop I saw a discarded coffee cup (takeaway coffee is most definitely the new McDonalds in the litter department) - mmm coffee. Everywhere I looked people seemed to be eating or drinking! And walking through the supermarket and maintaining my focus was a real challenge too. I've never been known for my will power when it comes to food. Today, Day Two, I'm starting to feel more of a physical effect.

First, must confess, I broke the budget and spent $8.78. I figure with the Australian dollar the way it is currently I've still spent less than $1.25 US per day. My rations for the week consist of:

• a loaf of nasty sliced white No Frills bread
• 125g butter
• 1 litre of No Frills longlife milk
• 1 kilo of long grain rice
• 250g sugar
• a carrot and a leek
• 400g dried soup mix
• vegetable stock cube

You certainly don't need to buy low fat versions of things when you eat like this- I need every bit of nourishment I can get from the milk and butter!

I then prepared my meals for the week and divided them up so I wouldn't be tempted to over eat. I can't be too hungry yet, because although the soup tastes better than I thought it would, I'm not particularly excited by any of it. I had toast for breakfast, rice for lunch, and soup for dinner. I'll probably do the same today.

What I'm missing most so far is fresh fruit (especially because I have a chest infection at the moment and am craving something healthy), cups of tea in the morning and snacks between meals. Coffee at work in the morning will be the next big hurdle!!!

Three and a bit days to go

Well, I've just spent Easter working on my fat stores, and they're looking pretty good! I have my wonderful cook-extraordinaire Aunt with whom I spent Easter, coupled with a tendency towards gluttony, to thank for the extra centimetres around the middle.

Thanks to those of you have offerred ideas for how I might spend my $8.75 for the week of my challenge (beginning Saturday 30th April). I've spent some time scouring the supermarket shelves and talking to people and have pretty much worked out what I'll eat. I'm going to buy: a cheap loaf of bread and some butter to make toast; a packet of 'soup mix' (you know, that delightful mix of dried, shrivelled, spilt peas, lentils and barley) and hopefully an onion and a carrot to make a soup for lunch; and rice, milk and sugar to make a sweet rice dish. This way I'll get 3 meals a day and won't have to deal with withdrawal symptoms from my sugar addiction as well as my tea and coffee addiction. I may also discover I have a salt addiction. I'm certainly going to miss fresh fruit and vegies, and meat (sorry vegos). I'll publish the list of what I actually buy and cook next Saturday. Thanks also for the offers of free food, and skip-dipping lessons, but it kind of defeats the purpose if I don't suffer a bit!

So far I've had $1075 pledged, which is really exciting. I think the Umoja Centre should offer a prize to the one who raises the most money from a 3030 Challenge...perhaps a large block of chocolate, or a pizza, or a roast with all the trimmings...

Until next time...

A Little Bit About the Umoja Centre

In my last post I put in a link to the Umoja page for the 3030 Challenges. You can click through from there to the homepage to find out more about the Centre.

My involvement with the Centre began in 2010 when I decided to sponsor a student. The sponsorship coordinator offerred to send me some student profiles so I could pick one, but I asked her to just pick the most needy one. Having now visited the Umoja Centre I am a little less naive- these guys are all in enormous need of support in ways that most of us in the wealthy developed world can barely comprehend. I remember the day I learnt, while scoffing down a huge bowl of cornflakes, that the students turning up for school that day had probably never had the luxury of breakfast. Getting one meal a day, usually an evening meal, was about as much as most them could hope for. Me, I turn into psycho woman if I don't get food every three hours!!! Pity the people who encounter me the week of the challenge... (you have been warned).

The student I sponsor is a charming young man called Albert. We write letters to each other every now and again, and got to meet each other when I visited Tanzania towards the end of last year (he's the guy going around Arusha in the NSW NPWS t-shirt- shhh don't tell my Director)! All of the students were, in fact, delightful. They were polite, friendly, punctual, courteous- and these are teenagers! Clearly the negative stereotypes we have of teenagers in the West can't be applied universally. These guys turn up to school early, smile broadly and say 'good morning' without prompting, and when asked how they are, respond enthusiastically with words like 'tremendous' or 'marvelous'! They also stay back after school and help to clean up. They clearly love being there, and wholeheartedly embrace the opportunity of attending the Umoja Centre.

The students (50% female 50% male) are among the most impoverished young people in Arusha and most have barely completed primary school when they start at the Centre. They spend a year at the Centre learning the essentials (see the website) before being placed either back into the mainstream education system, into vocational training, or into the workforce. The sponsor is encouraged to keep sponsoring them given that they need ongoing financial support to cover the costs of attending mainstream schools or training centres (poverty is the reason they weren't studying in the first place- only primary school is subsidised in Tanzania). Most impressive is the 100% success rate the Centre has had to date in securing either a placement or a job for the students.

Needless to say, I loved the place and the students, and was really impressed with the work Programme Manager Caroline, the Tanzanian staff, and the volunteers, are all doing. And I've been driving everyone around me nuts with my enthusiasm since I returned (actually I have calmed down a bit). So this is why I decided to throw my hat into the ring and do a '3030 Challenge'!

My friends are fabulous!

I've started (with some trepidation) fundraising for my 'Umoja 3030' challenge. It's been a long time since I've done anything that required asking people to sponsor me and I must say it's a bit odd. There's a kind of tension between wanting someone to sponsor me, and putting them in an awkward positon so that they feel obligated. I hope I'm not doing too much of the latter. I'm so impressed with the genersoity of my friends and work colleagues so far. What a fabulous bunch!

The challenge is a personal one- my 'extreme poverty' challenge. The current 'extreme poverty line' is set at $1.25 (US) per day. 1.4 billion people live on less than this per day. And don't kid yourself that this is actually a lot of money in a developing country- this is the adjusted amount. But don't feel too sorry for me- I'm only going to do it for a week. Having been born into a wealthy society I'm priveliged enough to be able to chose poverty for a week and then go back to my nice life.

This isn't the case for the young people that will benefit from my week-long challenge. They are the students of the Umoja Centre. I'll write more about this wonderful place next week, including about my time there last year.