day 22: initial goal reached!

Well tonight things are looking up for children in the slums of Hyderabad, India. We've reached, and surpassed our goal of funding 10 scholarships for these children ($5,000). We're now at $5,100 and I say, why stop here? There are several more children on our wait list. I set the original goal of 10 scholarships never imagining that we'd get here so quickly, or at all. Hey, let's do another 10! Here's a symbolic gesture from our darling little friend of day 20, if you remember her. She now says, "Things are looking up, can I go to school too?!" How will we answer her?

Let this blog forever stand as a testament to the fact that a few people came together to overcome  indifference, stood up, became a voice and gave generously to allow several children to get out of the danger of the slums and into school! These children's lives will be forever changed!

I'll be wiring this next $1,000 over to India tomorrow, and already work is underway to gather these wait-listed children and get them enrolled at The Children's Hope Center. Our native team is really excited as they've been following this blog and are just very thankful for each of you who've shared the blog or contributed toward the goal, and I of course share their deep gratitude. I can't wait to show you the photos that our native team will capture of these new kids! You'll be able to see first-hand the difference that we made as a result of our collective effort here.

On to the recap of what I was able to prepare with just one dollar's worth of ingredients today. Overall not a bad day at all. I've really started to get into the rhythm of repeating some of my favorite dishes from earlier trial and error, and still experimenting with new creations, too. I challenge you to try this even for 5 days, it will really change your perspective on food and how much you really need to spend on it. 

Breakfast. A repeat of the oatmeal with raisins and carrots. Somehow I've had the gift of loving oatmeal since I was a young child (thanks mom!) so I never get tired of it! With the variety of carrots added in, it's really quite robust even though this is a smaller quantity than I would usually eat. The tostada recipe has really been a huge hit in the little universe of my mouth. Today I tried it with just a spread of re-fried beans and one fried egg on top. Surprisingly it was not as messy as you might imagine, and was really delicious. All for about 33 cents! Crazy! ▼

Lunch. Because I started with 48 eggs, there are 12 days where I don't get 2 eggs. Fortunately today was not one of those days. Adding a hard-boiled egg to the top of my "Southwestern Cabbage Salad" makes a huge difference in adding a true feel of substance to the meal. Here again we have the baked corn tortilla strips, rice, beans, chopped cabbage and carrots, seasoned with season-all and a few splashes of vinegar I bought with my seasonings allowance as described here. ▼

Dinner. Very carb-heavy meal, but light enough to not matter. Another preparation of the pasta/ramen noodles with a about a 1/3-cup of cubed and boiled potatoes, with two teaspoons of pasta sauce and season-all to season. Usual homemade corn chips. A fine way to wrap up day 22 for just about 33 cents! ▼

Barefoot update. Some of you have been asking about how my feet are doing. Really, not that bad. Sure, the occasional hot pavement and some painful objects I've stumbled upon here and there, dirty feet for sure (washing them much more than I usually would), but nothing much to complain about! It's definitely made me think, often, about how people live like this most of their lives and the hazards they face as a result. It's one thing to do it by choice, but to simply not have the option of shoes or even flip-flops in conditions as hazardous as the slums, where many sit on top of or on the edge of trash dumps, that's a whole different story.

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. We surpassed our initial goal of $5,000 to cover 10 scholarships, but I want to keep going to see how many more scholarships we can come up with! Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.

3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!