You and your group have been hungry for 30 very fun (and challenging) hours. Now it’s time to break the fast.
This is a time for your group to celebrate what they’ve accomplished. But remember, this meal is also another opportunity to remember those who are hungry. Here are a few creative ways to break your fast . . .
ad lib some Mad Libs™
Write a short summary of your Famine adventure, but leave out key nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Leave slips of paper on each plate that read: “Write what the Famine meant to you in one word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.).” Plug in the student responses and read it back to your group before you eat.
making bread
Search online for an easy bread recipe and help your students bake the bread in the morning. Use the fresh bread for communion, then eat the rest with your meal.
Items needed:
Depends on the recipe.
rice and bean meal
Have students prepare their own breaking-the-fast meal . . . without eating during preparation! Have them cook rice, black beans, and cornbread together. This meal symbolizes what much of the world lives on.
Items needed:
• Rice, black beans, corn bread ingredients.
worldly income
Research the average daily wage in countries all over the world, and randomly assign a country to each of your students, giving each one play money in the amount corresponding to the wage in their assigned country. Then “sell” a variety of food items like water, juice, chicken, bread, pasta, and dessert. Hand out dirty water for free (but don’t let anyone drink it!).
Many students will only be able to afford bread and water. Some will have nothing but the dirty water you handed out. Others will be able to sample the more nutritious foods, while a few (from the U.S. and Europe) will get to buy whatever they want.
Before anyone eats, talk about everyone’s reaction, from the “rich” to the “poor.” How is this different from the real world?
After everyone starts eating, your point has been made; allow the whole group to eat their fill.
serving others first
Set up three ground rules before your “the break-your-fast” meal:
1. You have to serve someone else before you eat. Serve someone you don’t normally hang out with, who isn’t in your grade, or who doesn’t go to your school.
2. After serving one person, you must wait for someone else to serve you.
3. You can’t choose what food the person puts on your plate; you have to take what you are given.
Have a few leaders be the first to serve a meal to a few students to get things going. The effect will be noticeable as students wait, helpless and hungry, for someone else to bring them food.
garbage breakfast
Prepare a meal of sandwiches, chips, carrots, sliced apples, and cookies for each participant. Throw all the lunch elements into a clean garbage bag with clean napkins and pieces of clean, crumpled paper. Shake up and serve. Let the kids dig through the garbage for their meal. Remind them of how others share a similar but harsher way of finding their food daily.
recipe for solidarity: emergency therapeutic foods
World Vision emergency feeding centers use therapeutic super-foods like corn-soy blend (CSB) and Plumpy’nut™ to treat severely malnourished kids. Plumpy’nut is especially valuable in drought-prone areas because it doesn’t require any water. Whether or not they taste yummy isn’t the point — these two recipes are meant to literally save the lives of starving children.
make-your-own “CSB”
Ingredients
• 2 cups cornmeal • 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour • 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil • 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
Combine cornmeal, flour, vegetable oil, and salt. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, then add water and stir well. Bring to a boil and cook for 3-5 more minutes.
make-your-own “Plumpy’nut”
Allergy alert: contains peanuts!
Ingredients
• 4 cups peanut butter • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 4 cups powdered (dry) milk • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Mix well with an electric hand blender.
a Matthew 20:16 meal: trading places
Combine a community service activity with breaking your fast by serving at a shelter or recue mission. It’s especially hard-hitting if your hungry students serve others before their own meal, giving them a real-life example of Jesus’ words “the first will be last.”
ticket to eat: write something to eat something
Ask students to write something—two sentences or two pages — about the past 30 hours. Their words are their ticket to eat. It could be a prayer, a symbolic note to the kids they’re helping, or a reflection on their feelings. Have volunteers read their “tickets” aloud during your meal or in front of the congregation.
the friendly feast: one big, happy family
Have church members bring tummy-friendly food, potluck style, to break your fast. It’s a great way for them to support what you’re doing. Fundraising twist: Host the feast yourself, then invite the whole church and anyone from your community that has supported your cause. Suggest a “cover charge” at the door to raise more funds.
