Hunger Pains

I have to admit, though at times past I would have denied it, I have never really known hunger.  I have thought I was hungry, but Lord knows, I had enough reserve that I could have survived without a meal.  I think that is mostly true of people I know.  Even when I hear – MOM, I’m starving – I know is it NOT really true.  We have food to eat, and it is rare that we don’t eat 3 meals a day.

Around here, people face hunger on a daily basis.  We are in the middle of farming season.   Farming season =hunger season.  The rice and peanuts have been planted but nothing is ready to harvest yet.  The rice from last year is long finished, and no one has money to buy what is for sale.   Any money that was around has gone to buy seed rice and peanuts, to pay for workers to go and plant it, and to feed those workers.   

Slowly, okra and cassava (a tubular root with little nutritional value – but very filling)) are starting to be harvested.   Millet is not too far behind.   But with peanut butter (a main staple in the sauce that goes over everything) being so expensive, the diets are limited to mostly empty carbs.  (The peanut harvest last year was terrible – so the cost of peanut butter is rising.)

Many people can barely eat one meal a day.  We have a friend in another village who remembers as a little boy not having food.  His mom didn’t want the kids to cry of hunger on the nights they didn’t have enough food to cook twice a day, so she would put a pot of water on the fire, like she was preparing food, and the kids would fall asleep, thinking that food was coming.  When they woke up in the morning, she would have food prepared.  I can’t even imagine.

Most people don’t complain.  I stopped by my friend Isatu’s house Sunday night.  As I sat and visited with her, I noticed that she wasn’t busy cooking anything.  I asked what they were eating that night.  She said, “I am taking a break tonight.  We will eat tomorrow.” 

I realized that she had nothing to cook.  I had brought some popcorn for her kids and watched them scramble to eat it.  I felt horrible.  I thought about the breakfast and lunch and snack we had at our house that day – and how we were heading home to eat leftovers for supper.  If I thought they would have eaten the leftover pizza, I would have taken them some.

On Wednesdays, I go and cook with Isatu.  A few months ago, her husband told me –“Don’t go and cook with her tonight.  She doesn’t have any food to make.  Come next Wednesday and she will teach you.”  I went anyway, and took most of what she needed for the meal.  I told her –“I am your student.  I need to bring the things with me to cook so I can learn.”  

 So that is what I do now.  It works out well, because I cook with her on Wednesday – the end of the week grocery wise.  Market is on Thursday – so pretty much most things that were purchased last week are gone by then.  Of course, every night we cook, she INSISTS on taking a pan of rice home for Jim to taste what I made.  I take as little as possible, seeing the MANY hungry kids they have to feed.

But other than sneaking food out the door whenever I can, I feel helpless.  I can’t feed the whole village.  And if I did have food for the whole village tonight, what would we do tomorrow night?  It is really a horrible feeling.  You want your family to be healthy and have food to eat – you know you can’t possibly feed the whole village – What do you do?

For the most part, we just try to help when we can.  I hand out leftovers, buy gifts of food when we are in CKY to gift my workers, pay for them to make a meal for me, so they can have some too, and take food when I am learning to cook. When their kids come, I give them crackers and bananas if I have them.  But those are all short term solutions.

We are also trying to look at the bigger picture.  Our team has worked to start oil palm plantations for the believers here, as well as orange trees.  We are trying to introduce the moringa tree – which is occasionally used here – as a great source of protein and nutrients.  Jim is helping the guys try to increase their honey production – both to eat –and also to use as a cash crop.

Recently I had an interesting conversation with two of the believers here in the village.  We were talking about temptation and how, as believers in Jesus, we will be tempted to sin.  But, even if we do fall, God will convict us and we will not be able to live in our sin.  Sayon said to me – “Gulunga, nothing tempts a person more to sin than being hungry.”  The people on the porch all agreed.    

We talked about how even Satan knew this, as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness – tempting him to turn a stone into bread.  That is not something I can relate to, but I can see who it might be true, especially if my kids were hungry.  I might be tempted to do all kinds of things to get food for my kids.

In the meantime, we are doing what little we can - trying not to feel helpless or overwhelmed. And trying very hard to be grateful that we have food on our table – not taking it for granted.