You have the power to fight hunger, poverty and injustice. When you participate in the Famine, you make a difference in the lives of children and communities around the world. It’s only 30 hours. You can show your friends, parents and people in your community that committing a bit of time or making a donation can change lives. Participants collect donations, then go 30 hours without eating to experience hunger first-hand. During the Famine, your group will take part in a variety of activities – some of them small, some of them involving participants from across your country – to help you learn about hunger and to have fun while you do. In 2010, the money you raise will help improve child nutrition, provide improved health care, and help put an end to child exploitation. As well, due to the to the recent earthquake that has struck Haiti, the money you raise will also go towards supporting the relief efforts that are needed in Haiti. It's my third time participating in the 30 Hour Famine. It starts tomorrow at my school. Has anyone else participated in the 30 Hour Famine before?
This is the first time I heard of this. Seeing as I am too late, I might consider doing this next year.
A lot of my friends have done this in the past but they failed to get any donations. They sit up tables and everything and no one really cared enough. :/ It's sad. I'd participate maybe if someone told me more than a day in advance. xD Most of the time people tell me while it's going on and I'm in a "it's too late" situation.
There is no set date for when it takes place; it differs depending on what group you're doing it with. If your school hasn't participated yet you could bring it up with a teacher and see if they could organize it. (:
My school actually had this two weeks ago and I helped organize it. We didn't make much money through donations, but we still had an amazing time. It was great to see how many kids were dedicated in trying to help raise money for people all around the world. Our school, being Christian, also used this time of fasting to acknowledge God more, which had strengthened a lot of the teens there.
...If you're trying to experience famine as the poor experience it, then why are you going to do fun activities at the same time? :/
What else would you do? o.O Having fun doesn't make you any less hungry, it's just something to do to socialize and pass the time. If you just sit watching tv or something you'd be more likely to want to eat not only because you're hungry but also because you're bored. The main point of not eating for the 30 hours is to experience such hunger and have empathy for those who wake up with it, live with it, fall asleep with it everyday.
I'd consider looking up if my campus did anything of the sort. But due to health problems, not eating for 30 hours would land me in the hospital. And I understand what Umiyuri is saying. The poor don't have fun while they starve so you're not getting the full effect. It kind of seems a little weird, "Hey, we can go this long without eating and have fun at it! Poverty isn't that big a deal."
It wasn't like "let's go kill zombies on Xbox lulz" kind of activities. They were associated with hunger or poverty somehow. The movies playing were Blood Diamond and Slumdog Millionaire, there was a mural being painted that the artsy students could participate in, there was a coin drive to raise more money for Haiti, among others.
