First of all, the Ration Challenge week is over, and so is the challenge. However, the sufferings of the refugees in Syria is not, and therefore, the fundraising effort continues. Here’s the funding info: #RationChallengeUK, @ConcernUK. Here is the link to the donations: Subhadeep’s Ration Challenge UK 2021
This is my last post regarding the Ration challenge for this year. I ought to have finished on day seven, but thought it would be interesting to share the aftermath of the challenge on our daily life.
As it is Father’s Day, we generally have McDonald’s breakfast. That would have been my first meal following the ration challenge. However, I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating a greasy meal and settled with juice along with the lovely handmade pickle and crackers my daughters bought as part of Father’s Day present. At lunchtime, we planned to have subway since we didn’t have the morning meal. I had a 6” sub and some nachos and it filled me right up to the point I was uncomfortable and felt like being sick. I could not get around to eat anything else for the rest of the day. So, that’s how ended the day back to normality, eating no more than what I ate during the challenge week. The only difference was that I ate junk food, spending probably three times the ration box cost. I probably had some protein I needed, but apart from that, it pointed out the diet we call normal has nothing normal about it.
As for my feelings on eating regular portions and diet again, I felt guilty and not so enthralled at the prospect. I switched on to a way that I found less wasteful, healthy if we add a little protein and variety to the diet, and adequate. I found that not only my mind, but my body resisted the change as well, more so than it did when I started the challenge and ate smaller portions. A new donation lifted my spirit somewhat and I felt resolute working towards my pledges.
Apart from Father’s Day, today is also world refugee day. The two days coinciding makes a poignant realisation that there are thousands of children who are separated from their parents and fathers who’ll never see their children, fathers who witnessed their children pass away. Being a father, this thought is so distressing that it’s beyond my imagination how it feels for those who experienced the separation. I wish nobody in this world would have to go through such situation. This makes me more willing to try my best to improve the lives of those people; lives that were torn apart by the ghost of war.
In order to help the refugees in Syria and elsewhere, we need to believe in ourselves. Sometimes I lack conviction whether what I’m doing is going to change anything. But then I tell myself, I’m not even trying to make that change, by not doing anything. I have recently come across a story — the starfish tale, that perfectly explains it. It also reinforced by a song I love by the French singer Patrick Bruel called Alors Regarde, and the gist of it is that we cannot keep quiet because people around us are blind, and by joining hands, we can achieve incredible things. We will have moments of doubt, but we need to stay focussed to continue making a difference to the world we live and our children will live in.
Why not try this quiz to understand the rights and choices for the refugees, which will help debunk some of the myths fabricated by the media, making refugees scapegoat for all the problems arising from inefficiency of the government?
So, time to close this series of blogs, and an immense thanks to my family and friends and the RC community for their support and all the sponsors. I am happy with the £285 sponsorship I managed as opposed to a target of £100. Equally proud of our team We’re In This Together, who went well past the initial target of £1250 and presently stands at >£2050. You all made a difference. See your next year. #wevegotthis
Meanwhile, here are some resources related to Syrian refugee crisis, which you can go through to understand the extent of the problem –
- Forced to flee, by UNHCR, about experiences of Syrian children refugees expressed in pictures
- Lightless sky by Gulwali Passarlay, Atlantic Books about a boy fleeing Afghanistan and his experiences with people smugglers
- Born in Syria, a Netflix documentary about a group of Syrian children refugees settling in a foreign land
- India today short video about the worst five refugee crises in the world
- Worldvision update on Syrian crisis
- UNHCR update on Syrian refugee crisis
- The New European article on Syrian refugee crisis and Europe
- Save The Children stories about children refugees
- Unicef update on Syrian refugee crisis
Pensées...Rêves...Cauchemars...Éspoirs 