DAY 11

Day 11 of the equALL Food Fast for GEF! Halfway there.

The fast hasn't been as bad as I expected. Day 5 was the only day I really felt it, no energy, tired, confused, feeling sick. The couple of days around that I would fall asleep for hours finding it hard to wake up. In general I just feel lethargic. I haven't actually experienced much hunger pains. My body on the outside has reacted quite well so far (apart from bags under my eyes!).

I have been keeping to the 300kcal limit so far by cooking small portions of things like quinoa, lentils, cous cous or mixed beans as my bigger meal of the day. My other is normally something like celery, hummus or courgette. Meals have been quite bland and boring although I've added spices to a lot. I miss alcohol and social eating the most.

http://gathimbaedwardsfoundation.org/kevin-monster-ekele/

However, the bigger picture is this...
Every day I fast I encourage people to donate. In Kenya a little can go a long way. If we raise £300 which is our target then that means a village of kids can be fed. It costs approx £20 to feed all 22 children in the Pavilion Village (children's home - GEF first project) breakfast, lunch and dinner per day.

The fast also helps to spread the word out about The Gathimba Edwards Foundation! The foundation depend of volunteers and donations so it is important that we try and help advertise the great work that they do. With yearly volunteer trips to Kenya to help build houses etc, to their Sponsor a child programme, I am glad our fast can introduce new people to this charity.

This fast has also helped me to further realise the importance of food and how lucky we are. After this fast I will focus more heavily on how much I eat, what I eat and cut down on food waste. Local food banks, food sharing apps such as OLIO and buying local are all very important ways that you can make a difference to the insane food waste problems we face as a society.

Please continue your support! gofundme.com/equallfast

The GEF equALL food fast

On the 20th equALL took on it's second fundraising challenge.

Disadvantaged children across the world suffer from the harsh effects of malnutrition, abuse, neglect, abandonment and disease. I met Myles Edwards at a networking meeting through my job in 2015, his positive and motivated outlook made me more determined to start something up to help causes I believe in, which resulted in the creation of equALL along with Joe earlier this year. 

Myles runs the charity The Gathimba Edwards Foundation (click the name to find out more). His charity has made a significant difference to the lives of many children in the Iten, Chaka, Karatina, Eldoret and Kitale regions of Kenya. GEF gives kids in Kenya a true chance to live their lives as children but also to develop as adults. 

GEF pay for food for the kids as a short term support before investing in sustainable solutions, for them to support themselves. Which I think is great. They also, with the help of volunteers, sponsorship's and donations, have completely transformed a children's home, put children back into education, support 230 children with shelter, clothing and food and hold educational seminars discussing topics such as gender equality, self esteem and sexual health. 

So to our fast...

I am consuming no more than 300 calories a day for 3 weeks, Joe is on 600 for 2 weeks (still significantly less than his usual intake. He is currently training Muay Thai so can't do less). We also have interest from other people to take part in the last week or 2. All money raised from our fast will be donated to The Gathimba Edwards Foundation. 

It's day 3 and I feel fine right now, not sure I'll be saying the same in a week time, but we are aware of the dangers to our bodies. The way I see it, 3 weeks is nothing to make a difference to those who suffer hunger/malnutrition for a lifetime. £5 can feed a child 3 times a day for a week which is crazy! It's hard with a 300kcal limit, measuring everything out and eating tiny portions, but I'll do it! 

Please donate if you can, even a £! Thank you to our donations so far, very much appreciated from us all. Keep up with my blog to find out how it goes & please share!  

gofundme.com/equallfast

equALL is born!

It has been just over a year since my last blog & since my time at Soi Dog. crazy. Soi was an experience which has stayed with me ever since and I think about my time there almost every day. I have been thinking a lot in the past year about how I could continue to pursue my passion of animal welfare causes and how I could turn my passion into real life change. I don't want to work any old job to save money to come back from volunteering after a few months skint, unemployed and with nowhere to live again and again and again. Instead, I have created equALL along with my friend Joe Espindola. The name meaning 'all equal' was thought up by my friend Emma Booth. Clever.

equALL is already gathering momentum since we discussed starting it up back in January. A summary: We are equALL. With the positive use of art, music and by building up a network of passionate people we aim to raise awareness for important worldwide causes focusing on humanitarian crisis, animal welfare and environmental issues.

We wanted to create something to bring people together. A range of different events.. community projects.. demonstrations.. The goal? To raise awareness of important worldwide causes! One of my blog posts was titled 'The Hidden Secrets of Paradise'. This is similar. There is so much going on in the world - environmental destruction, the results from war and human conflict, animal exploitation, the list goes on. We want to highlight and help the organisations, charities and individuals who are fighting in their (people, animals and our planets')(!) corners. with ALL profits we make going straight to them. Obviously, nobody is a super hero but everyone can take responsibility and make a stand for something that they believe in.

Artwork by Alice Brown http://www.alicesillustrations.com

Our launch night was on 26th April. It was amazing and we were extremely proud. We held a night of music at Downstairs, on Holburn Street Aberdeen. We raised £437.35 for The Bristol Skipchen. Read about these guys HERE, a anti food waste campaign with aims & they are making a real difference to the lives of hundreds of refugees.

Photography by Rob Phillips http://iconosquare.com/robp787

We already have so much planned for the rest of this year.

THIS MONTH A sponsored fast to raise money for villages throughout Africa including funds for The Gathimba Edwards Foundation.

JULY Our next big event. Still in talks with the council for this but if it goes to plan, its going to be good. Without giving too much away - climate change demonstration followed by one big party. In aid of 10:10 (solar schools!).

AUGUST We are teaming up with Aberboomtique for another big event. Bringing attention to the very important but taboo subject of woman and child trafficking in Nepal and the organisation set up to help these victims, MaitiNepal.

Everything is still in the planning stages of course, and we are discussing new ideas all the time. I would love to organise an art event for this summer too (artists please get in touch :)). This week is the last week I will be working 50hrs in my two jobs too, I have decided to cut my hours and concentrate on building equALL. A massive thank you to our friends who have helped us so far, graphic designers, artists, creatives, photographers, musicians, venues, cafes and the growing number of equALL followers! If you would like to help us out, please drop me an email at equallmovement@gmail.com. Keep up to date on Facebook and Instagram!