As I wrote in my previous blog post I intended to fast one day in solidarity with the people in Zimbabwe, but mostly by accident, I actually fasted for two days.
First things first. I fasted for Zimbabwe, because it’s a great cause in my eyes. The South African hunger strikers were strengthened and fortified in the knowledge that they were backed, through action, by 35,000 people from over 190 different countries. I talked about why I was fasting to friends and I pointed their attention towards the disastrous situation in Zimbabwe. Yesterday, Kumi Naidoo, a South African activist and the ‘face’ of this protest shared:
“We are stunned by the response of Avaaz members around the world. I have not eaten a bite of food for eleven days, but when I speak to the African Union summit tomorrow, I will be fortified by your hope and energy. The press and leaders I address will know that they are contending with a serious global movement that will not settle for anything less than bold action. You are making a difference for millions of Zimbabweans. Thank you.”
I ended up following Avaaz’ fasting rules of not eating between sun up and sun down, but just drinking water for two days. The first day since I woke up quite late and had a hangover, so when I felt like eating, I figured I’d wait until it was dark – half an hour / one hour. Today, I fasted again… I didn’t eat anything after going to bed on Saturday and didn’t drink any water either until after dark on Sunday. It wasn’t so tough. Although the dehydration started to get the best of me and left me very exhausted after dinner, but it’s nothing compared to what the people in Zimbabwe are going through. My girlfriend stayed with me all day, as I was told in Turkey that if you’re participating in the Ramadan fast, it’s important to be with a friend if you can… The support makes fasting easier.
Now I’d like to say why I fasted and why fasting works, but be sure to have a look at how Gandhi achieved his goals 5 times through fasting!
Someone left a critical comment in the StumbleUpon reviews of the last blog post. I really wish they had left it as a comment, so I could reply directly to it, but let me do it now. They said:
“And that will help how exactly? I’m all for helping and charity, but I loathe people doing stuff only so they could say “I did something” (meaningless) and now I’ve done my part. If you’re going to do something, do it right you conformist bitch.” (Moorwind)
I’ve heard this view a lot in the past years. My view is the following… If everyone did the least they could do, to change this world in a positive way, to fight injustice, then this world would be a lot better place. Alas, not everybody does even the least they could do, but I will not be a hypocrite, so I will do the least I can do – and if I can I will do a little more. If you want to change the world, start with yourself – it’s the easiest thing that you can change RIGHT NOW.
Secondly, I wanted to fast for more reasons. No action exists by itself and any action’s vibrations will spread. I hope through fasting, I have encouraged others or at least informed others. Secondly, fasting is an important spiritual practice. I’ve never fasted and decided that now that the call for a fast was there, why not. Thirdly, I’ve always been curious what Muslims have to go through during their holy month of Ramadan (or Ramazan in some languages). I cannot imagine what it’s like to do this for a full month, but at least I got closer to understanding – and I have a lot more respect for it now. Finally, unlike the critical commenter, I do believe these small acts make a difference. How about you?
Can small acts have great impacts? Do you have examples from your own life? Have you ever fasted? Why? Did you fast in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe? How was your fast?
Photo by centralsq, shared under a Creative Commons license.
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.
