Ramadan karim

Ramadan is coming to a close for this year. 'Ok...so what?' you might be thinking. Well, I decided that since most of the staff are Muslim and would be observing Ramadan that I would do it too so that I would know what they are going through.

For those of you who don't really know what Ramadan is - it is a month of torture! Just kidding...(sort of). So from the day the first sliver of the crescent moon is sighted by three people until the moon completes a full cycle those who are following Ramadan abstain from food, drink, and other fun things from dawn until dusk.

Not so bad, right? Unfortunately you have to be up at 4:30am in order to have your meal before dawn and you can't eat or drink until 6:30pm. This is especially hard when you are out all day in the hot sun doing field work. You have daydreams, no...make that fantasies...about cold drinks. The prohibition of drinking is by far and away the hardest part, especially since there is only so much you can drink at 4am without feeling like you are going to vomit. Plus it makes you really grumpy...

One of the reasons for it all is to serve as a mental challenge more than a physical one (which is certainly is!) as well as to gain a greater compassion for those who regularly experience denial of basic human needs. I suppose that since I'm working for a humanitarian organization that fights hunger and malnutrition, it's somehow fitting that I have a very small idea of what it's like to be chronically hungry. I guess the major (and important) difference is that I know when it will end.

Now there are less than 10 days to go and I'm definitely looking forward to the end (as are my housemates who have had to put up with me over the last 20 days, I'm sure!).

So wish me luck on the home stretch!