day 24: excited about an extra egg

Today I caught myself really excited about the extra egg I have allotted in my rationing plan. It makes a huge difference in the way I feel, with that additional protein really carrying me further. I thought, wow, this is a glimpse into what it's like to live from meal to meal. That I would be sitting at my refrigerator this morning (which, granted, slum dwellers do not have refrigerators, nor electricity in many cases), and realize it's "double egg day" and get really excited about that.

That may sound foreign to you, but let me tell you, it's a beautiful thing to have that extra protein in your diet when you're really hungry. The price of one egg? 11 cents. Daily wage in the slums of South Asia? About $1. Assuming a 10 hour workday, my extra egg represents about 10% of their daily income. I'm just trying to put things into perspective for you, from the vantage point of where I stand and from where I've walked.

I'm dedicating day 24 to this young girl I met in the slums of Hyderabad, India. I press on for her sake, and for the countless others like her who now sleep under makeshift tents in the slums, during the rainy season. The mosquitoes are bad right now, and rain leaks through her roof in the middle of the night. For the chance that I might change even one of their realities, to improve their lives, makes it worth it for me. To make a difference. You can be a part of this, too. Read on.

Would you join me in being a part of the solution to extreme poverty? Would you make the choice today to reject indifference, to say no to apathy? If we all decide to do a little something, we can create a radical life-changing difference in their lives. But, if we just sit around and wait for governments and the rich to take care of her problems, it's never going to happen. This has to be a popular uprising of individuals who want to make a difference in these children's lives, a grassroots effort all of us will need to embark upon together.

I'm really regretting not setting my initial goal higher. I started out with a goal of 10 scholarships (total of $5,000). I thought that was an ambitious goal and really was not sure we'd make it.

Now, since we reached my original goal, we've stalled out at $5,100. The excitement everyone felt in trying to rally friends to reach the goal has now passed because, well, the goal was reached, and everyone felt great, including myself.

But I'm determined to make up for my lack of faith by appealing to you to reach out again to friends, and share the link (30d.ch). I'm appealing to you to consider how you might chip in personally, in order that we might reach more children, to enroll them at The Children's Hope Center. Would you be willing to chip in a little toward one of their scholarships? We just need $400 more to bring in another child.

For just $500 (a little over $1/day) we're able to a provide a well-rounded education including a computer lab, hot meals, hygiene supplies and medical care for the new students brought in! Thank you for considering how you might be a part of the solution, for considering how to overcome indifference, to really make a difference!

On to what I was able to cook up today with just $1.

Breakfast. Oatmeal with raisins and season-all, can't go wrong here. I'm really into the tostada thing. Here's one with re-fried beans, brown rice and one scrambled egg on top. See previous posts for instructions on how to bake a corn tortilla. It becomes one huge corn chip, and amazingly, it doesn't crumbled to pieces when you bight into it. Delicious, and a huge boost to the variety factor. ▼

Lunch. Went a little lighter on lunch today since I had the extra egg, to make a decent portion of egg fried rice with carrots and cabbage. I've been a little conservative on my carrot rationing lately, so today I had 1/3 of a pretty big carrot to work with. It made a substantial difference. ▼

Dinner. Since I skipped using a corn tortilla at lunch, I had an extra one to work with at dinner. Hey, it's the little things when you're living on $1 of food per day! So I had enough to make two tostadas with re-fried beans, brown rice and boiled potato cubes, and a small serving of pasta with a two teaspoons of pasta sauce. It felt like a lot of food, all things considered. ▼

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!

day 23: reminding myself

Tonight I'm exhausted and hungry. So I need to remind myself why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because I know we can make a difference. We just need someone to show us the way. In my own little way, the best I know how, I'm trying to do that here. I'm trying to say, there's a way, I've seen it, we're making progress, follow me. And with this little blog and a challenge to eat on just $1/day for 30 days, going barefoot all the while, I'm getting your attention a little bit. And with that attention, we've already raised $5,100 for these kids. This has really blown me away. With these funds, 10 children previously sifting through the trash looking for recyclables will embark on a new journey of hope, at The Children's Hope Center in the slums of Hyderabad, India.

This is all wonderful news. But as I look into the eyes of the children in the below photo, I'm motivated to ask us to consider that surely we can do more. If we've rescued 10 children in the first 23 days of this challenge, could we not rescue at least one more, two more, hey, why not 10 more? It's my passion to do as much as I possibly can through rallying a movement of concerned individuals like yourself, challenging us to rise up, to resist our own indifference, to be a part of the solution for extreme poverty. And here, we have a very tangible way to achieve victory in this battle, one child at a time! Come on, let's go!

Judging from my previous 2 challenges, this last week will be the hardest part of the 30 days. Supplies are starting to run thin, and the taste of the same list of 12 ingredients is starting to get a little monotonous. But for me, it would be all worth it if we see just one more child beyond this 10 rescued by way of another scholarship. Would you consider chipping in just whatever you can afford? We've had several smaller donations come in that have all added up and made a difference!

So what's stopping you from chipping in even $1, $5, or $10? If you think it cannot make a difference, just think about what I'm achieving for $1/day. Imagine the impact even a dollar would have in conditions like you've seen in my photos, then imagine $5, or imagine what $10 could do... each dollar representing about a day's earnings among them! Imagine the joy of a parent in the slums who has learned that their child has been chosen for a scholarship worth 500 days' wages!

On to the daily recap of what I was able to cook up with $1. Settling in to some favorite recipes while getting a few inspirations here and there for new creations. My strategy is to trick my taste buds into thinking they're getting something different, when in fact is just another combination of the same 12 ingredients.

Breakfast. Tried the carrot & raisin oatmeal again and, thanks to a little season-all, it was a pretty solid option as usual. I warmed some beans and rice, seasoned and threw on a fried egg--with the homemade corn chips, not bad. A little dry but it was enough to get the day started. ▼

Lunch. Fried rice with cabbage, carrots and ramen noodles. Tostada with refried beans. A good and filling lunch for about 33 cents. All things considered, not bad at all. ▼

Dinner. Had to think in terms of variety, so I went with the re-fried beans and rice combo, with homemade corn chips. Had a little pasta with light sauce, and four slices of potato lightly fried and seasoned. It was very tasty! ▼

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!

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!

day 21: for the elderly caregivers

Tonight I dedicate day 21 to the elderly caregivers of the slums. These women, like the ones pictured below, are suffering from various health issues but are expected to care for their grandchildren as the parents work long hours in hazardous conditions, and even as they themselves work sifting through the trash searching for recyclables. Many of them are also widows which, in India, brings its own set of challenges due to cultural stigmas associated with them. Sadly, blame is often placed on the widow for her husband's death.

They love their grandchildren, but the obvious concern is that they're not in a stable enough condition to care for them properly. This is one of the reasons you will often see children wandering around barefoot in the slums. That's where a solution like The Children's Hope Center comes in with an effective approach: preparing children for everything they need to enroll at local schools we're partnered with, caring for the children before and after school, offering tutoring, computer lessons, and a warm meal before departing for home. This gets them out of the slums and out of danger when their parents are away during working hours, into a program that's allowing them to advance and develop at an accelerated pace.

Yesterday I promised you that I would update you on some exciting developments at the Hope Center. The project began as a humble effort to do something--again, reflecting our theme throughout this blog--to overcome indifference, to defeat that feeling of "oh well, the problem is far too big, so what can we possibly do to solve it?" At first it was just a tiny rental property with a very small building. It was just enough for the computer lab and some storage. The children met outdoors on mats under a tent awning.

But then, thanks to some concerned individuals who all pitched in (much like is happening here), we were able to buy that same property, which had come up for sale. And then money was raised for the new building, which is just a couple of weeks away from being completed! And at the same time a clean water well is being installed. We will share this water well with the local slum community--this will make a huge impact among the colony.

We've already discussed on this blog that many of the illnesses in the slums, and deaths of the children, are caused by the consumption of contaminated water. So just right there, with the addition of clean water at the Center, we're going to be solving a lot of the health problems of the local colony where we work! Here's a photo of the new building in progress, where the water well will be located also.

Fundraising update! A great little story to share with you. A friend who has been to these places with me and her husband had a great idea today. She's pregnant and they recently found out the gender of their baby. She told her Facebook friends that she would announce the gender only after her friends went to this blog and contributed a total of least $250 toward my goal. Well, guess what? She raised not $250, not $500, but $735! I was stunned! This puts us just a few dollars shy of the $5,000 goal to sponsor 10 of these kids' scholarships and bring them into the program! Now the total stands at $4,888!

I never imagined we would get this close to the goal on day 21. This is extremely encouraging, and making my hunger seem very bearable, even dare I say, enjoyable! Thank you for the amazing outpouring of support!

But we're not quite there yet! Would anyone want to do the honor of bringing in the 10th child for just $122, or at least chip in what you can toward this amount? You can donate here.

On to what I was able to cook up for $1 today with these limited ingredients. My strategy lately has been going heavier on breakfast and lunch, and ending with a lighter dinner most nights. This seems to be working really well in keeping me sustained more evenly through the day. I'm running low on some supplies, and had to throw out one rotting potato. But I've been diligent to ration everything and I should be ok right up through day 30. Again, please remember that one of the main points of this blog is to demonstrate to you that, while hunger does play some role in this challenge, it is completely possible to find nourishment and substance from $30 of food. The point being, how much more could you find it from $60 of food for 30 days, or even $90 for 30 days? Time to simplify?

Breakfast. I followed the tostada recipe for baking a corn tortilla and served a fried egg on top of that, and ate it together to create a new sense of variety--sensational! Another small portion of hash browns--these are delicious. Standard oatmeal and raisins seasoned with season-all--can't go wrong here. ▼

Lunch. This was a definite winner. A friend from Instagram again had a brilliant idea. (Annetta, you saved me so many times with your amazing brainstorms!) I've already done egg fried rice, but she had the stroke of genius to add cooked ramen noodles to the egg fried rice. Oh my, this was delicious and felt like a real meal. Then, bonus, I had enough for a re-fried bean taquito, baked in the oven at 500F/260C for 8 minutes. This was a serious meal, for about 33 cents! ▼

Dinner. Again I was down to soup ingredients by dinner. Did a kind of potato & rice minestrone soup. I had been saving up my potato skin shavings from the past few days, and added this to the soup to give it a lot of extra texture and nutrients. Also included toasted corn tortilla strips. ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. So far we've raised $4,888 of my $5,000 goal to cover 10 scholarships. 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!

day 20: why i cannot be silent

Why cannot I not be silent? Why not just go on about my life? Why not just have a normal life like everyone else? I cannot. It is simply an impossibility. After what I have seen, I cannot remain silent on the subject of children suffering. We must do something. Or else all seems meaningless, and life, this world we live in, a total irony and contradiction to what we know about how we should live.

We must unite and overcome what the world has done to them. Myself and anyone who would care to take their time to read such a blog as this (you), we're a minority, but a passionate minority, and there's something unstoppable about those with passionate voices and convictions. So let me be a little fan to your flame, and just say, all hope is not lost, we can do this, and we are doing it. There are little girls in our education center near this slum colony who have hope, who's lives have been changed. That's progress, that's light, that's hope in the darkness.

I'm dedicating day 20 to this little girl who recently followed me around in this slum colony in Hyderabad, India. At one particular moment she started spontaneously posing for me, and she really responded to seeing herself after showing her what she looked like on the screen. Here she symbolically posed with the "keep silent" gesture. To me, it says "I cannot speak" which for her is true. She cannot speak up for herself. She has no platform, no voice by which she can express her struggles, her burdens, her dreams, her hopes. So here, sweetheart, I'm speaking up for you. This is what it's all about. We must tell their story. We must not remain silent.

Today we received another $100 toward our goal putting us up to $4,153 of the $5,000 goal. This is incredibly encouraging to me. Today I sent over the first $4,000 and instructed our native team to let the families or guardians of the next 8 children on the wait list to get ready to enroll at The Children's Hope Center in Hyderabad.

There, they will receive new uniforms, their first pair of shoes, hygiene items, and everything they need to enroll in a local school we're partnered with. Then, when we bring them back to the center from their school day, they will get daily help with homework and additional tutoring, time in our computer lab, and a fresh-cooked meal before we take them home. I cannot wait to post the photos our team will capture of these newly enrolled kids embarking on their new journey of hope. Here are a couple of the bright scenes of hope from our program there.

Our momentum on reaching the $5,000 goal has slowed a bit. Would you consider chipping in even a small amount, just $1, $5 or $10 toward the goal? Let that be your way of saying you want to overcome indifference, to do something, even though you often feel you cannot do anything with as little as you can afford to give. I just want to challenge you in your thinking--what you feel is nothing, is huge to these kids. Let them hear your voice, give something, however small it is.

If you cannot give, that's ok, then be a voice for them. Share with friends your concerns, your burdens, tweet about it, post about it on Facebook, Pinterest, wherever you're plugged in. Do something!

Oh, I'm so excited, I almost forgot to tell you! The Children's Hope Center is in the midst of a huge upgrade with a brand-new building and a new clean water well going in as I type this! I'll write more about it tomorrow. I can't wait to share with you what a difference this is going to make. And, a little breaking news--that new center I wrote about, the one we hope to launch soon (where I shared about the lady making chai tea for us), it looks like we're going to be taking the first steps to start that very soon!

For those of you who enjoy taking a look at what I've managed to cook up for just $1, here's the recap from today. I felt somehow inspired again by all of your support, and overall this was a good day. Hunger? Yes. Cravings? Definitely. But, sustained and thankful.

Breakfast. I did the carrot and raisin oatmeal again. It's amazing what a little natural sweetener like raisins and carrots will do to give you an added boost. It really fortifies the oatmeal. Breakfast taco with one scrambled egg, rice, beans. I rationed my tortillas conservatively at the front end of the challenge so that now, I have one tortilla for each meal for the remainder of the challenge! It's the little things that make a big difference! ▼

Lunch. I'm calling this one the Southwestern Cabbage Salad. Let me just say, that for about 33 cents, you can't go wrong with this. This is a very tasty salad. I seasoned and toasted a corn tortilla I had cut into little strips, mixed with one leaf of chopped cabbage, half a cup of cold pinto beans, half cup of cold brown rice, 1/3 of a chopped carrot, tossed with maybe about 1/8 cup of vinegar, seasoned with season-all. Boom! I'd eat this any day, you really should try it. The beans and rice create a complete protein, so this is a very healthy meal. ▼

Snack. Snack? What? Yes, you read that right, I tried baking a little granola treat type of snack today, to tide me over, thanks to a suggestion from a comment on last night's blog entry (thanks Annetta). Just a tiny bit of oatmeal, raisins, a splash of canola oil and sesame seeds, and a half teaspoon of sugar, mixed and pinched into a little ball, baked at 400F/205C for 10 minutes. Explosion of flavor and massive addition to the variety chart. ▼

Dinner. This one was really good, folks. I'm not patting myself on the back, but just saying, you really should try these recipes. You'll be so surprised at what you can do with so little. I had enjoyed the potato/pasta combination so much the other night that I decided to give that another twist. This time, I just added a 1/3 of a brick of ramen noodles with the same previous small amount (half of a small potato) cubed and boiled with the pasta for 9 minutes, mixed with two teaspoons of pasta sauce, and seasoned with season-all. Delicious combination of textures and flavor. Also went for a new variation on the re-fried beans--simply added a half-cup of brown rice to the recipe, mashed together with a half-cup of pinto beans! With the homemade corn chips, this was an amazing addition to my meal, and another complete protein! All for about 33 cents! ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. So far we've raised $4,153 of my $5,000 goal to cover 10 scholarships. 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!

day 19: the simple truth

On day 10 I tried to answer the question "why simplify?" Tonight, I'd like to take another look at that topic, but with a little more simplified approach.

Definition of simplify:
sim·pli·fy /ˈsɪmpləˌfaɪ/

To make simple or simpler, as:

a. To reduce in complexity or extent.
b. To reduce to fundamental parts.
c. To make easier to understand.

Why I think we should simplify our lives:

• We'll be happier. The opposite of simplification is complication. Who wants that?
• By eating eating less, we'll feel healthier, and we'll save a lot of money.
• By purging junk sitting around the house that we don't need, we'll feel freedom. 
• By shedding overcommitments, we'll find peace.

In summary: we save money, we feel freedom and we find peace. With this extra money, freedom and peace, we can take better care of ourselves and those we love. With this extra money, we can also be more generous to those truly in need.

When these principles are put into action, everyone wins, including these girls I met in the slums of India (because of the generosity they could feel from those living the simplified life). They don't go to school so that they can help their parents sift through the trash to find recyclable materials to earn about $1/day.

Recent donations totaling $353 have come in to bring us up to $4,053 of my $5,000 goal. This is amazing news! This means we already have enough scholarship money in place to rescue 8 of these children from the trash heaps to enroll them at The Children's Hope Center in the slums of Hyderabad, India.

Peace Gospel is going ahead and wiring this initial amount to India tomorrow, and I really look forward to reporting back to you with the images of these children coming into the education center, getting their new uniforms, shoes and supplies--embarking on their new journey of hope!

Sure, you might argue that 8 or 10 children is just a tiny number in a sea of millions and doesn't seem like much progress. But to those 8 or 10 kids, it means the world to them. Their lives will be forever changed. Thank you for supporting this amazing cause, it's very dear to my heart.

If you'd like to chip in whatever amount you can afford, just know that every single dollar, pound, yen or euro makes a huge difference. It certainly has made a difference for these two girls at The Children's Hope Center.

For those of you who enjoy following along on what I'm managing to cook up for $1/day, here's the daily recap. Overall faring pretty well and adjusting to barefoot life. Sticker burrs are my new worst enemy. Oh, what we take for granted.

Breakfast. Standard 1/3 cup oatmeal & raisins preparation, lightly seasoned. Cabbage omelette which I rolled up in a corn tortilla to invent a new variety of breakfast taco! Not bad at all for about 33 cents! ▼

Lunch. Now this was really good! Seasoned beans and rice topped with a chopped hard boiled egg. Cubed and boiled potato & carrot mix, lightly seasoned. With a side of homemade corn chips, perfect! ▼

Dinner. My evening schedule was full so I ended up eating pretty late. Since there was no good light for photography, I just decided to have a candlelight dinner with my daughter. We shared this pasta/ramen noodle bean and rice tortilla soup. She said it was really good! I agreed! ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. So far we've raised $4,053 of my $5,000 goal to cover 10 scholarships. 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!

day 18: a picture is worth 1000 words

I'm dedicating day 18 to this barefoot mother and child in the slums of Hyderabad, India. They had come across a small bunch of grapes which are grown in this region. You take what you can get. I'll let the photo do the talking tonight.

I'm tired and feeling a little weak but my spirit is strong thanks to the progress we've made toward the $5,000 goal. Currently at $3,700 with 12 days to go. Today was another $0 day but that's ok, we press on! I appreciate all of your facebook shares, retweets, instagram mentions, and amazon link usage!

Would you consider helping us maintain our pace toward the goal by giving toward scholarships for children of these slums, even if it's what you think is just a small amount?

It all makes a difference, and with your help, they'll be able to attend The Children's Hope Center, where they'll get everything they need to attend a local school, plus hygiene items, daily fresh meals, after school care and tutoring, access to our computer lab and medical attention when needed!

Somehow I'm finding sudden gusts of creativity as I sit and stare at my remaining ingredients before each meal. Here's what I came up with today...

Breakfast. Tostada time! Baked a corn tortilla in the oven- 400 degrees. 5 min one side, flip and baked for 3 min other side (basted both sides with a bit of canola oil first). Then made re-fried beans, spread that on top, added shredded cabbage, chopped carrots, one scrambled egg on top! Usual 1/3 cup of oatmeal and raisins, seasoned with what other than... season-all. Not bad for a 33-cent breakfast! ▼

Lunch. A little more re-fried bean love with homemade corn chips, and a ramen noodle soup with one cup of brown rice and a bit of shredded cabbage mixed in. Thanks to the spicy ramen seasoning packet, the soup was really delicious! Rainy day lunch! ▼

Dinner. I had not tried potatoes and pasta (I thought, gnocchi is potatoes and pasta, right?) So I cubed 1/3 of a small potato and boiled that with the pasta. Mixed with a touch of pasta sauce and seasonings. With some corn chips, wow, this was really good. Just a little light, but that's ok, I don't need a heavy meal at the end of the day. ▼

Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. So far we've raised $3,700 of my $5,000 goal to cover 10 scholarships. 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!