Claire Parker is a little bit nervous.
The Howe Sound Secondary School Grade 10 student has never gone for 30 hours without food. It’s an idea that’s foreign to all the youth taking part in the leadership class’s
30-Hour Famine.
“The most eye-opening thing will be actually doing it,” Parker said. “I have never gone that long without food. I think it will be hard.”
The event, on Friday, April 25, is a fundraiser for Sustainability through Agriculture and Micro-Enterprises (SAM Project). At 6 p.m. participants will gather in the school’s gymnasium, where they will spend the night and day passing time without eating.
“I think it is a really worthy cause,” Parker said.
“To really understand what some people go through, we have to go through it ourselves.”
The leadership class was impressed by SAM Project’s dedication to sustainable solutions focusing on local resources and community oversight, she said.
The non-political organization facilitates enterprises in communities in southern Zambia that have been impacted by HIV and AIDS.
Until Thursday, April 17, students will collect pledges. So far, Parker has raised $40 worth of donations promised to her when she completes the famine. The list of students participating in the event is quickly increasing, she noted.
“We’ve got quite a few students signed up,” Parker said.
The 30-Hour Famine is the leadership class’s largest event of the year. Students have divided into different working groups to take on the project. Grade 11 students Kathleen Wick and Josie Moore are at the helm, Parker noted, adding Grade 10 student Harbir Atwal is helping her with advertising.
“It is so unfair the disadvantage some people face,” Parker said of hunger throughout the world. “You can’t work, you can’t really do anything when your hungry.”
For more information visit www.thesamproject.ca.
