a little bit of rice and beans

Personally, I love to eat. I wouldn't say I'm grossly overweight, but my enjoyment of a variety of foods in sometimes less-than-moderate quantities does adversely affect my ability to be svelte. In that regard I'm probably like many Americans. And unlike many people around the planet who hardly get enough food to rebuild or replace their current cells. And for variety? Well, for many there's very little. (Or, so I've heard and believe. I don't really have good documentation for that at hand.) In many places people only have a small portion of rice or beans, and that's what they eat whenever they eat. 

Because this is a foreign reality to me and the folks I do church with, we've decided to take a few days and try to imagine (ever so slightly) what that might be like. For five days, starting on Sunday November 2 we're going to limit our diet to rice, beans, tortillas, and maybe some oatmeal. We're not being psycho about it. There will be no official check ups, tests, or reports. We just want to show a little solidarity with our planet-mates who don't enjoy ample quantities of a variety of tasty food. 

The second step in the effort is to try to determine cost difference between five days of beans and rice and five days of what we normally eat. We'll then take that money and donate it to some worthy cause. We're thinking we'll use it to help construct wells in parts of India that struggle to have clean water. 

If you're interested, click here to see where we got the idea. And here's the info that went out to our church: 

Half the world’s population lives on $2 a day or less. As an act of solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the globe, we encourage you to eat as they do for five days, November 2-7. Set aside the money you would have spent on additional groceries to contribute to a special offering to dig wells in India.

How to join in the 5-Day Rice and Bean Challenge:

• Limit your grocery shopping to rice, beans, plain oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, and tortillas.

• For one week eat only these foods. A one-cup serving is considered generous in most parts of the world. Meat is a luxury, with the average African consuming about ¾ ounce per day—the size of a small chicken nugget.

• Set aside the money you would have spent on additional groceries and redirect it toward the special offering to dig wells in India. Over $4K for these wells has been raised recently at Union Chapel/Commonway.