Students fast for 30 hours

By Stephen Brooks | Originally Published: 11/20/11 8:37pm | No comments

After fasting for more than an entire day for charity, kinesiology freshman Rachel Osborn recovered the best way she knew how.

“A couple of us met at (Brody Square),” Osborn said. “I went there and loaded up my plate and ate a lot, probably too much.”

Osborn just had finished participating in the MSU 30-Hour Fast to Fight Famine from noon last Thursday until 6 p.m. Friday. The event was organized by international relations sophomore Justine Brunett with the help of the” African Studies Center”:http://africa.isp.msu.edu/.

Participants fasted for the 30-hour period and were asked to donate the amount of money they typically would have spent on food during that time to the World Food Programme, based in Italy, to help fight famine in the Horn of Africa.

Brunett did not give a final estimate on the amount of money raised. aspeople still can donate to the cause until Nov. 23 at the African Studies Center.

“I actually have done something similar before with my church. … So I kind of stole their idea,” Brunett said. “(The purpose is) just to help people … that are in need.”

The World Food Programme is a nonprofit organization that has a strong philanthropic presence in Africa, said Isaac Kalumbu, assistant to the director at the MSU African Studies Center.

“This is the most urgent food-related crisis in the world today,” he said. “It is the worst drought that has taken place in that area in 60 years. It’s affecting more than 10 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.”

Malnutrition, disease and lack of resources are other negative factors that plague the area, Kalumbu said.

There was no monetary goal for the event, and there was no way to know how many people participated in the fast other than a Facebook event page, where nearly 200 people said they were attending.

The key to fasting was keeping her mind occupied with other things, Osborn said.

“It was a little bit rough, especially because eating is such an integral part of your schedule,” she said.

Osborn said the event was a creative way for students to show support for people suffering around the world.

“To some extent, we kind of understand how rough it is being hungry,” she said.