Diocese of Evansville
30-hour famine: Gibson County youth learn about hardships through fasting
By Mary Ann Hughes (Message staff writer)
When Ryan Null is asked if he is hungry, he smiles and nods yes.
“I’m like starving,” he admits. “It’s been rough – especially with all the activities.”
Ryan is one of 30 teenagers in Gibson County who recently participated in a 30-hour famine at Holy Cross Church in Fort Branch.
Benedictine Sister Teresa “Sister T” Gunter is the youth minister at Holy Cross and at nearby Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Haubstadt. This is the sixth year that the parish youth have been invited to participate in the 30-hour famine.
This is the first year that the youth have prepared a “meal of rice” for their fellow parishioners. About 50 attended the Friday evening meal. When they arrived they each received a slip of paper indicating what they were eligible for: rice, water, bread, a plate and a fork. Some people received all five. Others only received rice on bread.
As they ate, they were invited to “learn about the 29,000 children who die every day because of the lack of food,” Sister T said.
Ryan said the meal – which he didn’t eat -- “makes you think what other people are going through. We are pretty blessed, while some people die looking for food or they go miles for water.”
Later that night, the 30 teens participated in “drive-by prayer.” They split into small groups and drove to homes in the area. When they arrived, they sat in their cars and said a prayer.
Jacob Ziliak, a parishioner at St. Bernard Church, Snake Run, said, “There is a piece of paper and you sign your name. It says that you said a prayer for this person. You tape it to their door.”
Jessica Tenbarge, a parishioner at Sts. Peter and Paul, said, “Each person picks a person to pray for. Friends and family, people that needed prayer, people who are sick.”
The group then went to Sts. Peter and Paul Church to join other parishioners during Eucharistic adoration.
During the 30-hour famine each participant also received a card with a photo and information about someone in Indonesia provided by World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization.
Often the person had a disability such as blindness, or a limb had been amputated, or they had lockjaw. “Some were weak and tired,” Sister T said. The teens were asked to pray for that person during the fast and also to assume their handicap.
One of the activities was a relay race. “They have to run toward a water source and then carry water back to their tribe,” Sister T said. “If the person is blind, then someone else had to lead them.”
She said after the race “we talked about water, and about how these people have no options.” She also asked the group to look at their cards to see who has diseases from drinking unpurified water.
The Bible study that accompanied the relay race reminded the teens that “Jesus is the living water and we can’t live without water.”
There was also a “food hunt."
“One person in the tribe is blindfolded,” she said. “I blow up balloons and put a banana in the middle of the floor. Five people are looking for that one banana. If they hit a balloon, it’s a landmine, and they die.
“It is dangerous. People are trying to grow things in the field but mines have been put there years ago.”
After the food hunt, the group listened to the story of Jesus providing the multitudes with the loaves and fish. “It reminds them that God can multiply what we are doing,” Sister T said.
She told them that the drive by prayer they had done and the Eucharistic adoration were given to God. She asked, “What can God do with that prayer?” She answered, “He can multiply it.”
This is the sixth year Sister T has coordinated the 30-hour famine in Gibson County. “I’ve never had anyone get sick, but they drink lots of water and juice.” During the course of the 30-hours, “kids leave and go to play practice and basketball practice, and then they come back. That’s how important this is.”
Alexa Will is a parishioner at St. James Church in Haubstadt. By mid-morning – about half-way through the 30 hours – she said she was “a little hungry.”
She said that the experience “shows you how things are in the world and how lucky we are here.” Alexa was given a World Vision card of a girl named Glenna. “She’s not allowed to go to school because her parents can’t afford it. Only her brother goes to school. It’s really sad.”
Alexa said she planned to take a cell phone picture of Glenna, and continue to pray for her.
(Go to the website of the Diocese of Evansville) †