The Comfort of Friends

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Today was easier than other days due to the beauty of friendship. Today as I packed my lunch for the road trip to Embo with the project research assistant, I decided to pack a large container full of pap and cabbage/spinach to share with Sthe. Sthe is like a mother, a sister, a friend, and a colleague to me. Since I had the pleasure of being introduced to her, she has been an inspirational woman and my light on days when my life in this strange land seemed shrouded in darkness. When I met Sthe she was unemployed and living below the line. Nevertheless, she invited me to her home and made me feel very welcome, offering whatever she could for my comfort. In the months that followed I could barely afford to keep myself afloat, as I had no consistent funding or scholarships and just getting back and forth to South Africa was a mission as a student, so Sthe worked with me for next to nothing on the hope that my funding applications would succeed. During that time, she invited me into her home, would have me stay over, and her family cooked me many local meals without expecting anything in return.

Sthe hosts dinner for my supervisor's visit in 2013

Today Sthe is employed part time with my project and also funded for her amazing community work through the Stephen Lewis Foundation (the latter she accomplished all on her own). And today I was able to repay all of her kindness and faith in the project by sharing the food that I had for the day. I did not feel hungry, I felt Ubuntu, the Zulu philosophy of community above self.

A lovely display of spinach, cheesy pap
with vegetables, and Boer Wors sausage at Sthe's

I am also very humbled by the fact that I now have two friends who are taking the challenge with me. My friend Ish in Calgary has updated me on his first few days, and I have never felt closer to him despite the distance. He wrote of Day 2, "I've never spent so much time thinking about food in one day." There is no better way to sum up my thoughts from Day 2. As one of the lucky folk, my brain had to face a harsh reality when moving from the normal thought process of what do I feel like eating tonight? to one of can I eat tonight? Every minute I am faced with the task of ignoring or distracting myself from the hunger or simply finding a thrill in the little victories. All day long yesterday I thought about the excitement of adding a tomato to my dinner.

Today my friend Leah also signed up for the challenge. I immediately felt a warmth in my heart that trumped the hunger in my belly. I hope she also feels a new kinship with me as she goes through the challenge on Vancouver Island. This challenge has really sent me through emotions and realisations that I can't get from reading about it, but only by living through it. Small gifts that we tend to take for granted in the pace of day-to-day life. I hope others of you will consider taking the challenge at some point, even just for yourself. It really is eye-opening. Good luck Leah. Community above self.