What is it like to REALLY be hungry?

I sat and listened to a young 27-year old Malawian talk about the Hungry Season. His home is a short walk from our home, but a world away. He lives with his wife, his mom, and 5 younger siblings in a small 20’x20’ mud home.  He has a job where he earns about $38 U.S. per month, considered a higher than average wage in the village. Still, it’s not enough to feed his family of 8.  Last month, 50% of his pay went to his younger brother’s school fees and exam fees.  He said the family went without food for most of the last 2 weeks of February.

This man and young boy also shared with me that they've gone hungry many days. The father told me their family of 5 ate nothing but bananas from a friend's tree for a week in January.  We provided them a bag of maize to help them just a little bit ... to get through the Hungry Season.

“Tell me what this Hungry Season is like for your family,” I asked my Malawian neighbor. He knows me well, and trusted me – I hoped – to know I wasn’t exploiting him but truly cared about this part of Malawian life. Everyone seems to accept that this is the Hungry Season.  He was thoughtful, looking at the ground as he spoke quietly.

“There are so many days we are hungry and do not eat for a whole day, but usually we will find something to eat the next day. On a hungry day, we wake up with no breakfast and do not eat until the next day at lunch, when, by God’s grace, my mom or wife will find piecework to buy a little food.  On the days we don’t have food, the children cry, but we cannot make them feel better. It’s hard for my brothers and sisters to concentrate at school. It’s difficult for me to work hard at my job. Sometimes I am so hungry I feel sick. I get a lunch break, so I go home to rest. There is no food for lunch. When we get a little money, we buy maize for nsima (the corn flour staple). We search in the bush for wild okra leaves and cook them in water, or a little baking soda if we can find some, to eat with the nsima. We usually eat the wild okra leaves every day.”

Seeing the little hungry children is the hardest part.

“Do you ever buy dried fish, beans, eggs, goat, or chicken?” I asked, since those are the most common sources of protein I see for sale in the village markets.

“Two months ago I had enough money to buy beans, and they lasted a week for our family. We have not had anything since then, except for the wild okra leaves.”

Is he unique? I asked two more villagers the same questions. They said they are hungry at least 6 – 10 days per month, but have smaller families of 5 and 6.  They also only eat the okra leaves collected in the bush.  They said they’ve learned to be numb when their children cry from hunger. “What can we do for them? Nothing.”

They told me this was common place for everyone in their village. Our village. Right outside our door.

The families who live right outside our door are some of the hungriest around.
We help where/how/when we can....