Day 13: Out of the trash heap

I'm dedicating day 13 of the challenge to this boy I met in the Secunderabad landfill scavenger's colony of the metro Hyderabad area of India. It's a metropolitan area that ranks among the 40 most populous cities in the world, and one of the fastest growing of those 40. The alarming urbanization rate has spawned over 1,400 slum settlements across the city. Here he and his parents sift through raw garbage at the edge of the landfill looking for plastics, vinyl, metals, shoe soles, and anything else they can find that might be of some value to the recyclers.

However, there's great hope for him and the other children of this colony. Why? Because just down the road, just a 10 minute walk over to the next colony, is our Children's Hope Center, where kids his age are getting an education, clean water, hygiene supplies and access to wholesome nutrition they would otherwise never have had. And because readers like yourself have chipped in whatever you can afford toward scholarships for these kids to enroll in the program! Many are giving $5, $10, $25 or whatever they can spare, and it's all starting to add up!

Please follow this link to donate any amount, no matter how small, toward my goal for 20 scholarships. We're just $110 away from changing the life of a 4th child!

These kids and their families make about 4 cents per kilo of redeemable materials they can gather. All told, it's very true that they are earning about $1 per day, per family member. This is just enough to scrape by. My challenge is by no means any kind of challenge compared to theirs.

On a happier note, here's the result, at our Children's Hope Center in Hyderabad, just minutes from where I shot the above photo... girls rescued from a life of child labor, now receiving nutritious meals and a great education!

Here's what I was able to prepare using just $1 worth of food today, in my attempt to relate to the extreme challenges that the world's poorest face daily...

Breakfast. Breakfast taco with hard boiled egg, re-fried beans & rice, chopped carrots on a corn tortilla. It was enough to get me to lunch, for about 30 cents! ▼

Lunch. Potato Salad. Thanks to the suggestion of a reader, I was inspired to make my own home-made "mayonaise" from an egg yolk, vinegar, salt and a bit of canola oil. Fried the egg white to add some protein to the boiled potatoes, chopped half a leaf of cabbage to add texture. Chilled for a few minutes in the freezer and although it left me hungry, it was really tasty! ▼

Dinner. A slight variation on the usual tostada. Re-fried the beans with the rice together, steamed the cabbage and topped with two tablespoons of the pasta sauce. Not a bad dinner for about 30-35 cents! Imagine what you could do with 60 cents! ▼

As always, thank you for your encouragement and for taking the time to read this far. I did not see any donations come in today toward the goal, but that's ok--it's the weekend and I know it will pick back up soon!

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward scholarships for children of the slums. Our goal is to cover a scholarship for 20 kids to get an education this next year. Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.

3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!