TheBanyanTree: Weight Loss Schemes

[Theta Brentnall]

Our church sponsors a school in Kenya called Children First. We provide tuition, uniforms, food and supplies for the children who go there. Usually the meal they get in the middle of the day is the only food they have. The son of the amazing woman who founded Children First so her children could go to school came to thank us for our support and tell us about the success stories of the children who have benefited by the school. He told us when he was a little boy his mother scraped together enough money to send him to school but there was no money for anything else. He and his older brothers would try to find work, but it was scarce. He would come home from school and his mother would have a big pot of water boiling on the fire and he'd be happy because maybe that meant there would be something to put in the pot. She would tell him to do his homework and later maybe his brothers would bring something. And when it was dark and there was still nothing in the pot but water, she would tell them to close their eyes and sleep a little and she'd wake them up for dinner later.  Often they would wake up in the morning and there was still nothing but water in the pot. So they would drink the water and go to school, with the hope that today there would be something in the pot besides water when they got home. 

The young man has a college degrees in finance and education and works in the Kenyan equivalent of the Dept of Education and he said that because of his mother's unfailing lesson of hope, he's determined to make sure as many children as possible have something besides water in the pot. 

I think about my children and wonder if I could constantly encourage them to believe in the full pot if time and again there was nothing to feed them. We are so, so lucky. 

Theta

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 6, 2014, at 1:20 PM, "Teague,  Julie Anna" <jateague at indiana.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> You have spoken directly to me with this one, Monique.  I say this quite often, "I'm starving!"  And when I hear that phrase come out of my mouth in a moment of being ever so slightly uncomfortable because I haven't eaten IN A FEW HOURS, then I remember that I have never experienced starvation a day in my life. Not one single day.  I've felt hungry, but not hunger.  It makes me think deeply on this situation.  It makes me want to do something, anything, to fix the broken world in which I always have plenty and someone else never has enough, and we are both human beings deserving of food and water and warmth and safety.  I have no answers here.  I just echo your thoughts.  Thanks for sharing them.
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>:
> 
>> At a time when I'm concerned about the bigger picture, which is access to
>> good food for people everywhere, since a lot of people, a lot of Americans
>> too, don't have access, I'm also finding myself focusing on what I eat, or
>> don't eat, and this is with a fridge full of food.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We've got everything in there.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> My most hungry moment has been when I've forgotten to eat, and I say
>> something like, "I'm starving!" to my long suffering husband, when the
>> truth is, I wouldn't have a clue what that's like. And I know it, but we
>> all use terms hyperbolically, at least most of us, if you'd like to be left
>> out of that statement.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." That's just wrong, unless you're into
>> that. I try to be inclusive.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "I'm starving." Are you really? Probably not. If you were, I'd be happy to
>> get you something, so just let me know.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> But many people are starving, or are eating a diet without nutrients,
>> because that's what they have available. I am not one of those people. I
>> never have been. I doubt I will ever be because I have a level of luck that
>> follows me around like a bright shiny cloud.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> And many of us who are not in those situations want to lose just a few
>> pounds, or many pounds. It's like the work thing, except worse. The work
>> thing is that so many people are unemployed, and yet many people I know
>> work all the time, they work constantly, they do the work of several people
>> because of cuts in staffing, they do the work of several because they're
>> trying to provide a living for their families and feed them.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I don't know what to do with these disparities.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In the past few months I lost close to ten pounds, mostly because I was
>> eating less.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Actually, all because I was eating less. It certainly wasn't my increased
>> level of exercise, because there wasn't any. But eating could be
>> problematic, so I cut down, and weight went away.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Last week I had an organ removed. A small insignificant organ, but still,
>> it was a whole one. Yesterday I got on the scale for the first time since
>> then and found another five pounds had gone away since Friday.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> FIVE POUNDS! And all I've been doing is laying around being useless.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I'm thinking my little gall bladder was bigger than I had suspected.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Of course, I haven't been eating much, because I don't want to upset the
>> delicate balance my digestive system is striving to attain. Sometimes when
>> I eat I have discomfort.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> And still, my fridge is full of food. Today I received a gift of fruit,
>> which was awesome, even with all the food in the fridge, because fresh
>> fruit is not something we currently have on hand.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> So 15 pounds down, no signs of starvation in my future, a fridge full of
>> food, and I'll eat because I get hungry, and I'll mostly eat well, and if I
>> don't, it's my own fault. It's not because I don't have access to good
>> food, it's because I don't make good decisions.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I have access to great food and I don't want it because I might have
>> discomfort.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> And that's my first world problem. I don't know what it's like to be hungry
>> with no chance of food, so this is all I have to talk about. An ache in my
>> stomach that will likely go away any time now.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Needed weight loss, because let's face it, I was too fat anyway.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> A life of privilege.
> 
> 
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