Beans and Rice – 2008

The beans and rice challenge has been interesting. My teenagers were vocal about not seeing why we had to do this. Now these are kids that participate in 30 Hour Famine (World Vision) every year!!! Go figure-Teenagers!

We have been creative, remembering how my friend Pat said how her people foraged for leaves and such to add to their rice. We even had Spanish rice with Swiss Chard in it! It was good enough I will repeat it! The bacon in that was the only meat we took all week, except when we had to get breakfast out one day while traveling. I’m glad we did this. We had plenty to eat, but it was a constant reminder that many people do not even have the extras to make the beans and rice more interesting, if they do have enough it is not the same as us having enough with our wonderful variety available fairly cheaply.

It also reminded me strongly of a missionary we had a few years ago. She was a Missionary church missionary from Africa. She works in relief, especially displaced persons. She showed a bag about the size of a pillowcase. That bag would hold everything necessary for a person’s life. And the food they were given would be, for the Africans, some wheat flour. Not rice. She said whatever diet they were used to, they would be given the opposite basic food. Displaced people in Europe would be given rice. This was so they would as soon as possible try to support themselves and not become dependent on the relief food. Eating beans and rice for a week made me share in their upheaval. Not even to have the kind of food to prepare that one is used to is hard. We need to help the poor not just by giving food, but by helping them get on their feet.

Thanks for challenging us with this. I’m wondering if by fixing a couple of such meals a week, our family could support one of the children through World Vision or some such group. I’m going to check into it.