When trying to think up a fundraising idea one can be bogged down with the mundanely obvious events – run a marathon, lose weight bla de bla. However I recently decided to mix things up a bit by going on a basic Malawian diet for 4 days.
You may be unaware of what a Malawian diet consist of and you won’t be alone, in fact you can barley call it a diet – more so “eat what you can get your hands on”. However I have taken it as a basic breakfast of nothing, followed by an early lunch of Nsima (Corn meal & Water.) Dinner consisting of Nsima & Ndiwo (1 small onion, Cabbage, two tomatoes and 1 cup water) would be around half 5/6pm.
4 days of little food even for me, a staunch lover of a daily fry ups, regular snacks and hefty meals shouldn’t be too difficult? Oh how I was wrong.
Having a stomach accustomed to a balanced maybe slightly unhealthy diet has made adapting even more difficult. Now currently nearing the end of day 2 and things have taken a slight turn for the worse. The lack of Fibre in the diet has played havoc with my digestive system leaving me with a some what bloated feeling in the pit of my stomach. This coupled with the thought of having to stomach the same meal (which I am struggling to cook up) for a further 2 days has left me questioning my desire to continue.
The limited time I have spent on the diet has given me an even further insight into what the children of Chembe Village must have to put up with. They love this food and they are so happy when it’s put in front of them and this just shows us that as westerners we take so much for granted. So maybe the next time you have a meal take a second to really appreciate what you have in front of you.
