The Fasting for Change Challenge

After my last blog post on what our aspirations and goals should be over the fasting month, it occurred to me that setting some real, thinking-out-of-the-box goals for the month might be just the thing to get us in the right mood to experience a Ramadan unlike any other. So I’m challenging all my blog buddies – Hamish, Queen Lestat, Azaad, Azra, Zakiya, MJ, Saaleha One, Saaleha Two, Fatima and anyone else on Facebook and Twitter who would like to participate.

The challenge is thus: pick three tasks which have to be done during the month of Ramadan which would make a positive difference to the world, no matter how big or small. Ask friends and friends of friends to do it with you, and then blog about it or if you don’t have a blog, send me an e-mail and pictures describing what you did. I will have a link to all related posts on my blog and we will from there be able to calculate all the good that has been done.

The end result? Before Eid we will have completed a knock-on effect project that will have contributed towards making a real difference, for ourselves, for others and for the environment.

Why three tasks, you might ask? It would be the goal to do a good deed in three distinct fields to make it well-rounded: humanitarian, environmental and spiritual. It doesn’t have to cost you money or take up huge chunks of time. Just three little things that you think might make a difference for the better.

I have compiled a list of suggestions in all three categories to help get the ball rolling, but lots of heads are better than one, so add your own suggestions in the comments below for anyone to use as they wish.

Humanitarian

- Volunteer at Habitat for Humanity to build eco-friendly housing for those who need it most.

- Bake cupcakes or other edible goodies and give them to children who don’t ever get the chance to enjoy treats like this.

- Donate old clothes or toys to welfare organisation or children’s home

- Rustle up some educational toys and children’s books to a crèche or primary school

- Ask Age-in-Action if there is an old age home in your area that could benefit from a visit

- Collect teddy bears for the Teddy Bear Clinic for abused children

- For the school-kids: get people to sponsor you for each day that you fast and donate the money to your favourite charity

Environmental

- Plant your own vegetable garden in time for spring

- Plant an indigenous tree

- See how far you can cut down on your use of plastic packaging, harsh chemicals and energy in the home

- For the creative talents among us: make innovative, funky designs out of junk like this

- Boycott BP – I have said it many times on my Facebook page, but I don’t think it can be said enough – the company that is responsible for spilling five million barrels of oil since April 20th in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico and ecologically sensitive wetlands of Louisiana. Don’t buy their petrol and don’t go to the convenience stores – if the forecourt owner had half a brain, he would already have switched brands to another oil company by now.

- In addition to fasting, why not try to go vegetarian for a week? Eating beef, lamb and chicken has a high impact on global warming due to methane pollution, plus growing the amount of grains to feed these animals contributes directly to deforestation. Eating fish also has a negative impact on ocean life, as overfishing is a problem shared by just about every country in the world, including South Africa. There are plenty of tasty vegetarian dishes out there that could just make you want to give up meat forever.

- Don’t buy plastic bags when you go shopping – they are only partly biodegradable and the ink they are printed with is highly toxic to the environment. Rather invest in long-lasting material bags and take them with you every time you go shopping instead.

- Join Greenpeace and the WWF and become online activists.

*I am also waiting to hear back from Greenpeace Africa for a list of environmentally-friendly tips and possibly some field activities where we could get directly involved. When I get that I will add an update on to this section.

Spiritual

- Attend a halqa or taalim class at your local mosque. You might discover you don’t actually know everything there is to know about your religion

- Get connected to the religious leaders in your area you feel comfortable with and attend talks and lectures.

- Participate in mosque activities and think of ways to get families more involved in the masjid. I was invited to a Shia mosque in the UK during Ramadan and I was blown away by the level of spirituality, participation and togetherness enjoyed by men, women and children alike.

- Write about your spiritual thoughts and experiences during Ramadan. Use the opportunity to share positive stories. Dig deep and confront some of the big issues which are challenges to us as South African Muslims: race, caste, gender issues, extremism, societal ills, greed and wealth.

- instead of stuffing yourself at iftaar time with unhealthy fries and oily curries, why not get personally involved with distributing wholesome food to needy Muslims at iftaar time and eat with them?

For all the cynics out there (viz: those who like to crack wise-ass comments and then go back to fantasising about iftaar time), this is NOT an attempt to jump up and down and say, “look at me and how good I am!” – but rather an opportunity to start something that galvanises us as a group of people into action as opposed to inaction.

This month of fasting and prayer are only the beginnings of the realisation that we are more fortunate than others out there in this world. And yes, we can donate money to charity, something which many of us will be doing before the month is out. But throwing money at a problem can’t always be the solution – there need to be individuals behind the resources who are committed to giving their time and energy to changing the status quo.

Please put your name down in the comments to indicate your willingness to participate and tell me what you are thinking of doing. Get creative and remember it’s all for a good cause. Remember, it’s not fun unless you take pictures (and no disgusting comments from the tuppenny seats please – I know your filthy minds)! If there are enough people on board to make it interesting I will create a Facebook page and let everyone post their own pictures and links.