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I'm doing the Ration Challenge to raise both money & awareness for refugees across the globe. Between the UK's ever-increasing anti-migrant rhetoric & the ongoing pandemic, now is as good a time as any to consider donating. See images for a bit more info. https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Ration Box has arrived - the equivalent of what someone in a refugee camp in Jordan would receive for 7 days:
- 420g of white, long grain rice
- 170g of red lentils
- 85g of dried chick peas
- 240g of red kidney beans
- 90g of sardines
- food vouchers for 1.5kg of rice & 400g
- 420g of white, long grain rice
- 170g of red lentils
- 85g of dried chick peas
- 240g of red kidney beans
- 90g of sardines
- food vouchers for 1.5kg of rice & 400g
Thanks to those who have helped me raise over £300 already, please read the original tweet for more info & a link if you want to chip in.
Had a wee look at putting together a meal plan for the week over the last few days & it's looking like I'll be probably need to be patching @Insanity or any other serious exercise that week. 1,700kcal a day on average probably wouldn't compliment it too well...
Some quick stats about Concern Worldwide in just the last year:
- 11.5m extremely vulnerable people supported in 82 emergencies
- 10.1m people reached through health preventions
- 28.6m people reached, in 24 of the world's poorest countries https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
- 11.5m extremely vulnerable people supported in 82 emergencies
- 10.1m people reached through health preventions
- 28.6m people reached, in 24 of the world's poorest countries https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Wee bit of info on the donating side - I didn't realise when I signed up that you unlock rewards when you hit certain amounts (spice, salt, veg etc). Given I wasn't aware of it, I've decided not to take advantage of it - so what's in the rations box is all I'm going to be eating.
That's purely a personal decision given I was prepared to do without for the week. But if you read that & think "fair play, that's a fiver", feel free to fire it the way of some of the world's most vulnerable people: https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Here's a wee insight into what will essentially make up my diet for 7 days running in mid-September.
Template meal plan for the week.
Gave some flatbread a trial run this morning ahead of Sunday's kick off as it's the one thing I would be gutted at screwing up & I never bake or use flour ever. Decent enough.
https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Kick-off tomorrow. Donate here: https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Breakfast on day one is congee - a sort of tasteless porridge made from rice & water. It's actually alright.
Lunchtime is mujadara - which is basically just rice and lentils. Already looking forward to my dinner of rice and a flatbread.
Since 2011, the war in Syria has claimed thousands of lives & left 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
More than half of the country's population has been forced to flee their homes, including 5.6 million refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries & another 6.6 million who are internally displaced inside Syria.
Making my dinner and I've had to fish a tiny dead fly out of the rice because that's technically extra flavouring.
Today's eating is brought to a close with fried rice and flatbread for dinner, while Laura sat opposite with a glass of wine and a Thai curry.
Day one done, another six to go. Feel free to donate at https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/ and thanks to all those who already have. 
Went to bed hungry & woke up hungry but can't quite face the idea of congee two days in a row. So going to try & use some of the flour to make a crepe or pancake type thing for breakfast.
Day two breakfast is indeed a crepe type thing. Probably the best tasting thing so far and it's just flour, water and oil.
Fried rice for lunch, already massively appreciating the extra flavour frying in a little oil gives it (I'm not doing the fundraising rewards of extra spice etc). Also made some rice cakes to have on hand as quick snacks.
Rohingya refugees are living in a nightmare. Most now live in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, the world's largest refugee camp, after fleeing their homes & witnessing some of the most violent atrocities imaginable.
The camp is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, with up to 90,000 people living on one square kilometre of land. Social distancing is nearly impossible. Water & soap - the most basic defences against spreading coronavirus - are in short supply.
Incredibly dry mujadara (same as yesterday's lunch) for dinner along with something in between flatbread and a crepe - I put too much water in the dough and didn't want to use up more flour so early in the week...
In the words of Robbo, we go again.
A return to congee for breakfast today. It's both an acquired taste and an acquired texture...
Just want to take a moment to thank my mates for the ongoing support through this week.
Lunch today was some pretty watery, bland lentil soup with the head of a poorly poured Tennents.
In the Ration Challenge's first year, £33,000 was raised - enough to feed 277 refugees for a year. Since then, more than 80,000 people around the world have taken part, raising over £8 million to support conflict & disaster affected communities.
Dinner tonight is a bit of flatbread and fried rice with chopped sardines through it. I don't like sardines but flavour is flavour.
I feel asleep last night fantasising about getting a secret McDonalds from the Drive Thru after 7s tonight.
I've also lost 3.8kg since the morning of Day #1.
Was planning on congee again for breakfast but had second thoughts midway through and just turned it into a breakfast of fried rice. Almost halfway through...
Plan was to finish the lentils with soup for lunch but it was so shite yesterday I tried to make lentil pancakes instead. They've wound up charred and looking dreadful but still edible which is all that really matters at this stage.
Got 7s tonight so really need some snacks to tide me over today (and the rest of the week) so I've used some rice for rice crackers & turned the chickpeas into sort-of-falafel and hummus.
Almost 270,000 people have fled their homes in Iraq & are now living in overcrowded camps. Many live in close proximity to each other with limited access to health & sanitation facilities. Social distancing is almost impossible & most have nowhere safe to go.
Working with partners, Concern is supporting almost 85,000 displace people in the camps by distributing soap, detergent & hygiene kits, and providing clean water & sanitation facilities to help prevent coronavirus from spreading.
A massive, massive thank you to everyone who has donated so far, I've just had the welcome notification that we've smashed the grand target. That will definitely make the next few days easier. Sadly I've not been able to thank everyone individually but it's massively appreciated!
Dinner is, as anyone following this will now be able to guess, rice - fried with sardines, like last night. Some flatbread on the side. Hoping this is enough to stop me from fainting at 7s tonight.
Really needing to keep an eye on the flour rations now as it's getting low with 3 days still to go. As a result, today's breakfast is a small tattie-scone-looking pancake.
Opening the tin of kidney beens with 3 days left to go so its rice & a handful of the aforementioned beans for lunch. Please consider donating if you can at https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/ - I've been overwhelmed by both the donations & messages/comments so far.
I've been pretty productive most of furlough but not this week - the diet & its impact on my sleep has me with ridiculously low concentration levels so I'm just watching 90s kids movies on Netflix. 
Pre-match pint. #COYW
Dinner was, as you can guess, rice with the last of the sardines...
Intended to make congee this morning but it's been postponed til lunchtime as I didn't have time before a work catch up in one minute. So plain boiled rice for breakfast...
Thanks to the generosity of so many, I've managed to raise over £1,200 so far. If you want to up that total in these last couple of days, please check out: https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
Sound the RICE KLAXON, it's lunchtime.
Lunch is the same as yesterday (and the same as tonight's dinner) - kidney beans and rice.
Although it doesn't make headlines, it's actually the countries next to conflict zones - not the West - that care for the vast majority of refugees. These urban refugee 'camps' are mostly concrete slums on the edges of towns.
Life here was already tough. And now, the economic crisis unfolding as a result of coronavirus has made the situation even worse. With severe work restrictions and the economic crisis, they are in desperate need of food, medical treatment and other kinds of support.
And all the while, coping with trauma and the devastating limbo of not knowing when, or if, they'll ever be home again.
Dinner tonight is, again, rice and kidney beans. I've used the last of the flour for the bread on the side - ended up putting too much water in so couldn't roll it out, more had to spoon it into the pan hence why it looks like a muffin or crumpet.
That means I go into the final day with about 300g of rice, some cooking oil, two falafel, and a few tablespoons of kidney beans.
After just six days of doing this "challenge" through choice as a privileged white male from the West, I found this short video a little emotional:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPmeodAVdn/?igshid=10if8ijrh9jln
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPmeodAVdn/?igshid=10if8ijrh9jln
Weigh-in on the last day. No idea why the scales have changed from kilograms to pounds & I have no idea how to change it back, but that's 10lbs lost in 6 days.
Last ever bowl of congee I will have in my entire life.
There yer last lunch - rice and kidney beans, with the last two falafel. Same again (minus the falafel) in the pipeline for dinner.
Meal 21 of 21.
A huge thank you to everyone who has both donated & sent wee comments or messages over this past week. It's been a tough week both mentally & physically (I've lost 10lbs since Sunday) & I've learned a fair bit in terms of gratitude & perspective, but it was never actually about
me obviously. I am a white male from the West with all the privilege that entails & this was a temporary choice that I was able to do in my own home, knowing tomorrow I can simply resort to my original diet.
In no way was this intended to somehow even come close to replicating the experience of refugees. Instead, it was about making tiny changes - raising awareness & money at a time when it feels like anti-migrant rhetoric from politicians & journalists, and on social media, is at a
high. I hope I've done a wee bit of the former & I'm delighted that, thanks to so many generous donations (and I'm sorry I haven't been able to thank everyone individually), I've managed to raise £1,286 as of just now - far beyond anything I expected.
Refugees are just human beings like you & me who simply happen to have been born somewhere else. Luck of the draw.
Fuck Farage, Yaxley-Lennon & Priti Patel - reject racism, fight fascism: choose love & solidarity.
Fuck Farage, Yaxley-Lennon & Priti Patel - reject racism, fight fascism: choose love & solidarity.
Oh, and you can still donate at: https://www.rationchallenge.org.uk/jason-henderson/
