Day 25: Harsh realities, but... hope!

Today I'm going to let my photos do most of the talking. I'm dedicating day 25 to the people of Manila's Payatas Landfill "Scavenger's Colony" as I call it. It's situated right beside a huge city landfill, basically, a giant mountain of trash. Child labor is rampant here, not to mention the extremely hazardous conditions for the adult laborers as well.  

Many of these children, if intervention is not successful, will end up as prostitutes among the estimated 60,000-100,000 child prostitutes in metro Manila. Hard to believe? Well, Manila has a population of over 20 million, poverty is extreme, and organized crime is pervasive. It's sadly the common recipe for such a tragedy.

Trash is everywhere. It's an ecological disaster. Many of the kids have open sores on their skin from exposure to God knows what kinds of chemicals. It's for scenes like these that I abhor plastic bags and try to avoid adding to the demand of such products myself. 

I have to tell you the bad news before you can understand that the good news is... truly good news. So bear with me, I know these are not easy images to digest. 

The good news is, there's hope. In this very colony, we've begun a new "Children's Hope Center" that is offering real hope to these kids. We're providing nutrition, hygiene support, and education opportunities through the provision of school supplies, computer classes and assistance in enrolling them in local schools. Here are a couple of shots I took at the center earlier this year.

And more good news! Donations poured in yesterday for a total of $200. This leaves us just $5 short of our 16th scholarship for these children. Please follow this link to chip in whatever you can spare! It all adds up and makes a huge difference in the life of a child.

Today was one of the more difficult days of the challenge. Here's what I came up with, using just $1 worth of food...

Breakfast. Another morning on the run, so all I had time for was oatmeal with raisins and 3 slices of banana from my weekly banana. ▼

Lunch. My first real meal failure on this challenge. Egg fried rice, but I wanted to try something to mix it up. Roasted potatoes and carrots was not the way to go. I overcooked them and the burned mushy taste was awful. Also had to throw away half of my cabbage leaf ration because it was rotten. I was reminded that there's no refrigeration in the slums and how this must be a common problem, cooking with less than fresh food but having to eat it for survival. ▼

Dinner. Potato soup, chili style. Added a tablespoon of corn meal from my seasonings allowance to add texture and it worked nicely. Chopped corn tortillas and carrots also helped. Soup, with the right seasonings, is never a bad idea when you're hungry and have little to work with. ▼

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!

Day 24: We can make a difference!

I'm dedicating day 24 to this girl I met in the Secunderabad landfill scavenger's colony of the Hyderabad, India metro area. It's India's 4th most populous city, and one of the fastest growing the world. The rapid urbanization has left the city overwhelmed with slum settlements popping up anywhere available land permits, usually near trash dumps, train tracks and other hazardous locations.

She helps her parents sift through garbage looking for redeemable materials. On this visit, I found them separating soles of shoes and sandals from the rotted fabric parts and preparing them for sale to a recycler.

She is one of the children we've not yet been able to reach, but would like to. In fact, the parents of the children in this colony are asking us to help. They've heard about our Children's Hope Center and want their sons and daughters to be able to go there, to get an education and nutritious meals. Profits from our farmland help subsidize our budget for this outreach, but it's not enough. That's where you and your friends come in.

Could you help me toward my goal of keeping that smile on her face every day? We've got a lot of work to do, and there's not any easy way to fix all the problems. But we can make a difference for her.

Great news! Yesterday someone gave a $25 donation, and that brings us just $205 shy of our 16th scholarship funded just from readers of this blog! Follow this link to learn more about what a scholarship does, and to chip in whatever amount you can afford. I strongly believe, that one day soon, because of your choice to take action, I'll be posting a follow up story of how her life was forever changed into a life full of hope and promise.

I'm faring ok with the challenge so far. There have been difficult days for sure, and hunger is there, but with your encouragement and knowing that so much awareness and funds are being raised, I'm doing fine and it's all worth it. Here's what I came up with today, using a total of just $1 worth of food... 

Breakfast. Mornings have been crazy lately, so no time for anything elaborate. I had crock-potted my 4th batch of pinto beans overnight, so they were deliciously fresh. Threw on a scrambled egg with seasoned salt and pepper, and bam, very fresh and easy breakfast. ▼

Lunch. I'm really loving the fact that I've got two eggs every day remaining on the challenge. So I went for another version of Korean bibimbap, stir fried with ramen noodles, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. With the right seasonings, this made a great little meal. ▼

Dinner. I had not thought to mix my pasta sauce with the beans and rice. Worked really well, threw on two corn tortillas for another soft taco mexican dinner rendition. ▼

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!

Day 23: Realizing abundance

Truckin' along... just a week to go now! One of the things I really value about this challenge is how it really changes all of my attitudes about food, and reminds me of how much I take for granted. Everywhere I go, I see abundance in my home country, America.

Before doing these challenges, sure, I knew we had abundance. But when you're hungry for 30 days, you seriously notice the abundance. It's everywhere. I could do another challenge called "30 days on the fat of the land" and just get by on grocery store samples and panhandling, and probably eat a lot more than I do on this challenge.

This is a stark contrast to the crowded slums in the cities of the developing world. There's no way to find such abundance. Beggars on the streets are considered the most desperate of society, because rarely does anyone have change to spare, and forget about finding free samples of food, anywhere.

So I'm dedicating day 23 to the very humble and grateful people of the Kampala, Uganda slums, where the organization I lead (Peace Gospel) is in the process of starting up a new "Children's Hope Center." Although extremely basic, the facility is in place, volunteers are enlisted from a local church, and the basic infrastructure of the program is up and running. However, we need more sponsors to cover scholarships for kids to enter the program. You can follow this link to learn more and donate toward this fund.

Some of the children I met near our new outreach:

A look at how food is prepared. The makeshift homes of course do not have kitchens. Just a few feet from this scene was an open ditch of raw sewage. Again, the things I take for granted! And how it makes my $30 worth of food and my modern kitchen seem like opulence!

Great news! Today we received $50 which raises our total to $7,770, leaving us just $230 short of our 16th scholarship! These scholarships mean hope for more kids, enabling them to enter our education programs like these below! This is a picture of what it looks like when we come together, overcome our indifference and help to make a difference! Happy kids, once before hopeless, now empowered by education and nutrition!

Here's what I was able to come up with for today's three meals, using just $1 worth of ingredients, total. It makes me realize that if I can do this with just $1, what I could do with $2 or $3! It makes me realize that simplification does not mean dull, on the contrary, it means I grow in my resourcefulness and creativity, while saving money, eating lighter and feeling better...

Breakfast. Potato/egg/raisin Pancake bliss! After a lot of oatmeal and breakfast taco burnout, this was just downright awesome. Mashed 1/3 of a boiled potato, mixed with one beaten egg, a few raisins and put on the skillet with a tiny amount of oil, voila! Beautiful! The potato and egg gave this real substance and I was surprised it held me over pretty well until lunch. ▼

Lunch. I'm calling this one "Moroccan Salad." Ingredients: 1/3 carrot stick boiled, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 corn tortilla boiled/disintegrated, 1/3 boiled potato (cubed), 1/3 cup brown rice, 1/4 cup pinto beans, 1/4 cup cooked pasta noodles, 1 leaf raw cabbage, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon vinegar, dash of seasoned salt and pepper. Chilled in freezer for 10 minutes. Refreshing and filling! Cost: about 30-35 cents.▼

Dinner. Was tired and didn't want to do anything elaborate, so just went with some vegetarian soft tacos. Back to my standard re-fried pinto bean & brown rice mix, with roasted potato wedges, topped with a couple teaspoons of pasta sauce. Nothing spectacular, but good enough for what I estimate cost about 25 cents to make. ▼

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!

Day 22: If we work together

As I round the corner into the final week, I'm feeling relatively strong and definitely grateful for all of your support. Thanks to many of you overcoming indifference, to believe that even a small donation can make a big difference, we've surpassed the $7,500 mark! This means 15 children's lives forever changed, with a scholarship that gets them their first pair of shoes, a uniform, book bag, school supplies and access to daily nutrition and tutoring at one of our "Children's Hope Centers"! This is fantastic and I couldn't be happier with your participation and support!

With donations totaling $200 today, we're just $280 away from our 16th scholarship being met through readers of this blog! Would you consider chipping in whatever you can afford, even if it's just $5? It all adds up. Please follow this link to learn more and give today, to be a part of the solution. Thanks to our farmland enterprises multiplying our funds and providing nutritious ingredients for our program meals, it's a sustainable solution. A solution to rescue children from child labor and keep them away from the traffickers.

I'm dedicating day 22 to these girls in the Secunderabad landfill "scavenger's colony" as I call it, in metro Hyderabad, India. A lesser-known city globally, but at 8 million residents, it's among the 40 most populated cities in the world—and among those, one of the fastest growing. The overload in urbanization has spawned 1,400 make-shift slum settlements, mostly around the edges of the city. In these colonies, thousands survive from what averages out to be about $1 a day scavenging for redeemable materials such as metals, plastic and anything that the recyclers can imagine refurbishing or melting down to resell. 

Desperate to make ends meet, often times parents take their children along to help, in very hazardous conditions. Several scavengers have died in this landfill, from landslides on the side of the mountain of trash. Education is not an option because there's simply no way to imagine buying the supplies, shoes, or uniform necessary to enroll.

I always enjoy the hospitality of these humble people, as they invite me into their pieced-together homes for a simple cup of tea or whatever snack they might offer me. I spoke with this lady in what little broken Telugu I know, and with the help of my interpreter, we discussed her challenges living in the colony. I felt a desperation in her tone as she wonders what will become of her children.

But there's hope! As evidenced from my photos of children who have benefited from our programs, there's a way out, and it's bringing hope to those who were previously hopeless. It only requires everyone stepping up to play whatever small part they can. And there's hope for this woman, who knows that her children have a chance to enroll at our education center just a few minutes walk from her settlement. I know it sounds overly idealistic of me, but I really, really believe it's true that together, if we overcome indifference, we can make a difference, one child at a time!

Here's my effort to empathize with those trying to make a lot out of a little. My 3 meals today, prepared with just $1 worth of food...

Breakfast. Nothing too spectacular here, but quite a tasty breakfast taco! Simple re-fried beans and brown rice mixture with a fried egg and seasonings on a corn tortilla. ▼

Lunch. In a hurry, sometimes stir-fry is the best solution. A simple egg fried rice preparation with cabbage, carrots and seasonings. ▼

Dinner. I know I'm definitely lacking in the variety department the past two days, but this potato/bean/tortilla pasta noodle "chili" combo (which includes shredded carrots) really wins for heartiness, so you can't complain! ▼

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!

Day 21: Extreme poverty

I'm dedicating day 21 to this little boy I met in the Thapathali slum settlement of Kathmandu, Nepal. I've made a few visits to this colony where we're in the process of launching a new "Children's Hope Center" to reach the 200+ kids who live here. My meals look gourmet compared to what they eat. Here he stands in front of his makeshift home that has no electricity, no latrine and certainly no running water. It's a crude form of a shelter, hardly enough to protect him from the Himalayan winter's cold spells and the rains of the monsoons.

Many will ask, so what's the difference between this and the problems of the homeless of my (Western) country? My answer is generally that we're dealing with a different kind of poverty in the developing world. We call it "extreme poverty" because of the extreme risks such a population is exposed to, especially among the children and women of such populations, and even more so among orphans, widows and single mothers.

A shocking statistic that puts things into quick perspective is that every day 33 Nepalese children, mostly girls, become human trafficking victims. Often times relatives are lured with an attractive "advance" and tricked into thinking the child will be working in a domestic servant or nanny role, or some similar alleged respectable job. But in reality they are taken across the Indian border, mostly to brothels, where they're forced to become prostitutes, and some to hazardous labor situations where they are never to be heard from again.

In almost all cases, the children targeted are from among the poorest, such as these of the slums, where parents or relatives of orphans are most susceptible to believe in the schemes of the traffickers. This is a young girl I met in the same colony—she was showing me a small meal she had prepared for herself while her parents were away looking for day labor jobs. She's on our list of children we'd like to serve through the Children's Hope Center we're the process of launching in her community.

To learn more about the realities of human trafficking, child labor and the orphan crisis, please read this report I've put together for Peace Gospel International.

However, to build on last night's post, I want to add that the solution is not simply more funding. It's more funding for sustainable, empowering solutions to extreme poverty. That's why we've equipped our native team in Nepal with a farmland, where they raise goats and grow organic crops to help keep our program's pantries well-stocked with nutritious foods, and to provide additional funding from sales of excess yields.

And here's a result. Orphan girls once trapped in child labor, at extreme risk of being trafficked, now happy, safe and receiving proper nutrition and education at our orphanage home in Kathmandu. They have great hope and their future is looking very bright.

Great news! Today we received $525 in donations toward our scholarship fund for children of the slums, bringing our total up to 15 scholarships funded, just from readers of this blog! Thank you! And we're just $480 away from our 16th! Please follow this link to learn more about the program and give anything you can afford to chip in—it all makes a difference!

Here's a look at what I was able to prepare today using a total of just $1 worth of food...

Breakfast. I've been experimenting with a new style of re-fried beans by mashing in brown rice with the beans before simmering in water and a tablespoon of canola oil. Works well in the breakfast taco. In the same oil I first lightly fried the potato strips and carrot slices you can see in the photo. Anything for variety's sake. A very delicious and satisfying breakfast, all things considered! My guess is that this cost under 30 cents. ▼

Lunch. I wasn't feeling very creative and didn't have much time on my hands. I needed something simple to throw together. I realized I've been going really light on my raisin rations and have what looks like plenty for the remaining days of the challenge. So I added some extra raisins in with my oatmeal ration, along with four slices of frozen banana, added a dash of cinnamon, and this was really fine for what I needed until dinner. ▼

Dinner. I've really been enjoying the "filling feeling" of these potato/tortilla/bean soup varieties I've been coming up with, so I decided to try yet another version tonight. I finely shredded 1/3 of a carrot and let that boil with the potatoes, 1/4 cup of pasta noodles, 1 cup of cooked beans, and half of a ramen noodle brick. Also added two chopped corn tortillas and a variety of seasonings (cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, ramen spices) to create a very hearty soup. Best part is these are so easy to make! Total prep time was about 10 minutes! ▼

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!

Day 20: Within reach

I'm dedicating day 20 to these amazing kids I've spent some time with in the Secunderabad landfill scavenger's colony of metro Hyderabad, India, one of the most populated cities on the planet. This is in the colony directly adjacent to the colony where our "Children's Hope Center" is located, and we'd like to expand our reach to help the few dozen children who live here. They do not attend school, instead working to help their parents sift through the garbage looking for redeemable materials like plastics, metals or even rubber shoe soles. It's a hazardous life.

I was happy that we were able to distribute some food and some soccer balls from One World Futbol, and this brought them some temporary joy. However, I know we (you and I) can, and must do more. They're within easy reach—the parents are interested in enrolling them in our education center, but the honest truth is, all that's standing in between them and a bright future is... adequate funding.

More accurately, all that's standing in between them and hope is us overcoming indifference. I cannot stress enough the truth that if we come together and overcome this feeling that our contribution is not going to make difference, then we can actually, in fact... make a real difference!

Part of my goal with this challenge is to raise awareness of extreme poverty. But not only awareness, action also. Thus I've set a goal to raise enough funds through this blog to put 20 children through our Children's Hope programs for one year—and we're getting close!

We're just $5 short of our 14th scholarship—a scholarship that will help us rescue another child trapped in child labor in one of the communities where we serve. Please follow this link to learn more and make a donation toward our scholarship fund, for children of the slums—children who are trapped in dead-end lives with no chance of education, at extremely high risk of being trafficked into prostitution or even, God forbid, organ harvesting. It sounds unbelievable but it's true, it's a simple reality in the developing world, a reality that must be made known. My personal exposure to these realities is one of the compelling factors in me taking this challenge so seriously.

The result is radically altered life-paths: education, mentorship, nutrition, security... leading to hope, opportunity, growth, and healthy balanced lives, like theirs in this photo at our India girl's home!

Here's what I was able to cook up today using a total of just $1 worth of ingredients for three meals...

Breakfast. Yet another variation of the versatile breakfast taco, this time, a few strips of lightly fried potatoes, re-fried beans and a scrambled egg (all thrown together in the same skillet), plus a small portion of oatmeal with raisins and a few slices of banana. ▼

Lunch. This was a very basic version of a cabbage salad with baked ramen noodles, carrots, a hard-boiled egg, a few pieces of boiled potatoes, raisins and pinto beans. Seasoned with salt and vinegar. Hearty and pure! ▼

Dinner. All I had remaining in my rations for today was part of a small potato, pinto beans, pasta and two corn tortillas. So I made an improvised potato soup with a bean base and chopped up corn tortillas with some basic seasonings like chili powder, it was really quite good actually! ▼

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!

Day 19: The benefits

There is something very physically cleansing about doing this challenge. Little ailments and things that usually bother me faded away after the first two weeks. There must be so many things we are putting into our bodies from processed foods and preservatives, unaware. Although hungry, I feel "cleaner" and more focused, if that makes any sense. I think the steady dose of fiber from the beans, oatmeal and brown rice definitely helps. And another side benefit—I'm losing some unneeded pounds, which is probably helping with the sensation of feeling "cleaner" and "clearer" minded.

For anyone out there looking for a challenge to cleanse and shed a few pounds, the blueprint I've established with this 30 day "route" might be somewhere to start. You might adapt to offer a bit more variety, but the premise of buying a set amount of healthful foods to last you X number of days, and then figuring out how to live from that alone, is a good way to set boundaries and follow a plan. The bonus to me is, the plan must be improvised and draw heavily from your own creativity, thus exercising not only self-discipline but also stretching your resourcefulness. You'll feel quite surprised by what you come up with as you push yourself to persevere and adapt!

Another positive outcome of doing the 30 day challenge is the huge reminder it brings, of what I take for granted. A significant part of my focus here is to empathize with those wrestling with extreme poverty every day of their lives, these who have no day 31. Many of them are praying that they could someday have an electric stove like mine (or electricity at all), running water, or just a roof over their heads that does not leak when the rains come. They're praying for their kids to be able to attend school, for an indoors job that takes them out of the heat... just basic things you and I take for granted.

Here's what I was blessed with today, using an extravagant $1 worth of food...

Breakfast. "Hash browns" breakfast taco with beans underneath the fried egg. Really satisfying! Just wish there was enough to make one more! ▼

Lunch. My own version of Korean Bibimbap (비빔밥), one of my favorite dishes ever. ▼

Dinner. This was a real unexpected blessing tonight! Had a bit of an inspiration! The usual tostada recipe with re-fried beans, but a twist: lightly pan-fried potatoes, carrots and brown rice, with a bit of pasta sauce! A wonderful treat! For about 35 cents! ▼

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!