I received a couple of comments on the blog about a water-only Lent…one from the Director of Blood:Water Mission! I will be taking the challenge and am ready to talk to people about my experience and why I’m doing this. My primary goal is to remember that there are those around the world who don’t have clean drinking water. Every time I refill my water bottle, it will remind me to pray.

A secondary goal is to provide me an opportunity to make a difference. It will be difficult to put a dollar figure on savings, since I probably only drink two pots of coffee a week and have greatly reduced my soda consumption. I’ll figure something out. Does anyone want to support me? We could call it a Drink-a-Thon. For every day I drink only water, people could pledge money. (We just need to clarify what we mean by Drink-a-Thon!)

When I started to think about thirst, I also started to think about hunger. Drinking only water seems like it will be too easy! A year ago, I thought it would be good to only eat what refugees in Darfur eat for the Lenten season. I have a diet that was given to me by some people who did it. It’s included below.

Then I thought, “Why not make it a Haiti diet?” So, I started to search for what Haitian refugees eat. One of the first things I came across was this article, “Mud cakes become staple diet as food prices soar.” When I think that back in July of 2008 already some of the people in Haiti were eating mud cakes to stave off hunger, it helps me to realize that the current crisis is huge. I don’t know that I could survive the “Haiti diet” for long.

I’ve sent you a number of times to read what Anne Jackson is experiencing on her trip to Haiti. On Monday, the situation was desperate in the community that they were in. She writes, “Supply trucks and relief organizations drive by this city every day and don’t stop. We’re about to return and are praying for a miracle.” As often happens, when we’ve tried everything we can, we pray.

I don’t have the exact sequence of events correct (just going by the dates on her blog), but what an amazing response!

I’d love to go and be a part of caring for the people of Haiti. It probably won’t happen anytime soon. In the meantime, I can eat and drink differently to help me remember their plight and to make whatever small difference I can from here. As for the Darfur Diet? I’m praying about it. Would you join me in praying?

Based on what we observed on our most recent trip to Chad, Jeremiah and Eric will try to closely match the daily rations of a Darfur refugee.

Cracked Wheat – Daily, 7 oz. (weight not volume) (686 Calories)
Farina Wheat Cereal – Daily – 1.17 oz  (weight not volume) (123 Calories)
Yellow Split Peas – Daily 1/6 Cup (82 Calories)
Oil – Daily 2.4 TSPNs (96 Calories)
Sugar – Daily 2 TSPNs (30 Calories)
Salt – Daily 1/10 Teaspoon per day.
Total of 1,017 Calories

Hello Pastor Calvin,

This is Eric, Gabriel forwarded your email to me. Thank you for your interest in our work to bring more attention to the suffering in Darfur and the camps for the displaced. I’d be happy to talk with you and offer any help I can, I will outline what I did for meal prep below, and please feel free to call me if you want.

For breakfast the Farina/cream of wheat cereal was easy to prepare. Following the directions on the box is easy, cooking on the stove with your smallest pot is the preferred way and only takes 2 or 3 minutes. It is possible to do it in the bowl using a microwave, but you have to watch it extremely closely and pause it, stir, and then resume whenever it starts to bubble up, or else it will explode in the microwave. I used 1 tablespoon of dry Farina cereal as my daily ration.

I work in an office, so I would prepare my lunch the night before or in the morning, and then put it in a Tupperware container and bring it into work, and then reheat in the microwave (this works well, and there is no exploding/mess like the Farina cereal). The total daily ration for cracked wheat is a little more than 1 cup, but I would usually just do 1/2 cup for lunch and 1/2 cup for dinner. I used Bob’s Red Mill brand cracked wheat and the box called for a 3 to 1 ratio of water to wheat, so I would boil 1 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup wheat for approximately 20 minutes (time starts when the water starts to boil). Once the water starts to boil I would lower the heat to a very low setting and then put a lid on the pot. I divided my sugar ration so that I would sprinkle 1 teaspoon on my 1/2 cup lunch serving, and 1 teaspoon on my 1/2 cup dinner serving.

For lunch, it only takes 1-3 minutes in the microwave to reheat your tupperware container (if you choose to pack your lunch into work). If you cook it in the morning and then seal it in the tupperware while still hot, it might remain hot enough so that you don’t need to reheat it much if you eat lunch early.

For dinner, your tasty treat is your split peas. I pre-soaked my peas overnight to soften them a bit, but I don’t believe Jeremiah pre-soaked his, so either way will work. I boiled the peas in water for 10-20 minutes, usually 20 minutes. Be careful to boil them at a low-boil. A few times I had too rapid of a boil, and it turned the peas into a mushy mess. After boiling, I drained them, and then put them in a small cup/bowl and topped them with the daily oil ration and salt ration. I believe Jeremiah used his oil in the cooking process, but I prefered to use the oil as a topping to make sure I didn’t lose any of it in the process. So that’s dinner, your peas and your 1/2 cup of cracked wheat.

There’s no reason why you have to follow this “menu”, this is just how I did it. I chose to stick to a regiment, and didn’t vary it from day to day. Good luck, and please let us know how it goes and if we can be of any further assistance or support.

Eric Angel