ration challenge notes for next year

[tielan]

It's only my second time doing this, but I noticed a few things while undertaking the challenge last year:

ONE: IT’S A CHALLENGE, NOT A PUNISHMENT

If you forget and eat something you shouldn’t, that’s okay. Pay the fine and keep going. Don’t beat yourself about the head with guilt. Don’t scream at yourself how you’re a failure. You tripped and fell? Oops! Now get up, dab a bit of betadine on the scrapes, and keep going.

TWO: YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH COMES FIRST

Too many people were asking about their medications or painkillers last year. If you have regular medications, TAKE THEM. For your sake and the sake of people around you, don’t play Russian roulette with your brain chemistry!

If you have psychological or health issues, then keep an eye on your state of mind and your state of body, and be aware of how things can go south.

THREE: IF YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DONATE TO YOUR CHALLENGE, YOU HAVE TO SEE THE REFUGEES AS PEOPLE, TOO

So. Here’s the thing.

One of the things I noticed last year was a distinct correlation between the people who said they couldn’t get any donations, and the people who spoke longingly about “going back to real food” or making snide comments about rice, beans, lentils, and chickpeas.

If you don’t see people who live on congee or lentil soup or cans of beans as “real people” who eat “real food” then chances are neither will the people who you are expecting to support you. When you say lol this stuff tastes awful who even eats this then you’re basically dismissing and making small the people who do eat that – a great many of whom don’t have a choice, and ignoring many of the people who do have a choice and still eat these core foods as their ‘real meals’ with all the richness of spices, vegetables, and meats.

Look, we all know the emotive difference between ‘refugees’ and ‘queue jumpers’, don’t we? We know the kind of people who use the tactics of ‘asylum seekers’ vs. ‘economic refugees’, yes? Language matters. The fact that you’re casually sneering at this food links up to a mentality of casually sneering at the people who eat it – and then you expect your friends to donate to people who don’t even eat real food?

Your friends are far more likely to notice the way you think about this challenge and the kind of people you're doing it for than they are likely to be impressed that you're doing it at all. So make sure that you're not inadvertantly hamstringing yourself and your fundraising efforts.


So, that’s my advice for those of us doing the Ration Challenge this year. Good luck in your fundraising and in your week on rations.