Day-long fast to raise hunger awareness
The Newman Center is hosting
a fast starting on Friday
to increase understanding
of global hunger issues
Aimee Rudin
Family/Health/Education Reporter
“The first freedom of man, I
contend, is the freedom to eat,”
Eleanor Roosevelt said.
Every day, about 24,000 people
around the world die from hunger and
related causes, according to a Stanford
University report on worldwide
hunger. On Friday, University students
and members of the community will
have an opportunity to gain first-hand
experience with hunger and how it
affects the body and mind.
The St. Thomas More Newman
Center is sponsoring a 24-hour fast
in an effort to raise awareness
about worldwide hunger. The fast
starts at noon on Friday, and
participants should plan on
meeting at 5 p.m. in the St.
Dominic room of the center,
located at 1850 Emerald St.
Justin Zuiker, one of the event’s
student coordinators, said the fast will
use the honor system.
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“Because of work and school
schedules, we will not be meeting as a
group until 5:00 p.m.” he said. “But all
participants must not eat from noon
Friday to noon Saturday.”
In order to encourage a feeling of
solidarity and unity, participants in the
fast are encouraged to bring a sleeping
bag and stay the night at the center,
Zuiker said.
Saturday morning the group will
travel to the FOOD for Lane County
community garden. There, they will
help till the soil and, in doing so, gain
an understanding of worldwide
hunger, said Father David Orique,
associate campus minister at the
Newman Center.
“The fast has four main
components,” Orique explained.
“There is the physical aspect of
denying food to the body, an
educational aspect will occur in the
evening during a series of readings
and activities, a spiritual aspect in
the form of prayer and thought and
the last will occur when participants
take action against hunger by
working at the garden.”
Orique said one of the goals of the
fast involves participants taking their
thoughts off their own hunger and
instead focusing on world hunger and
its ramifications.
“As members of the Catholic
faith we try to look at the idea of
social justice,” he said. “We try to
answer the question, ‘Why are
people hungry?’”
Sister Dodi, a long-time volunteer
at the Newman Center, said that
hunger is often looked at as a plague
of the lazy, and she is adamant that
this is incorrect.
“Hunger persists because hungry
people lack the opportunity they need
to bring their own hunger to an end,”
she said. “Hungry people are not the
problem — they’re the solution. The
world does not have a billion starving
mouths to feed. It has one billion hard
working courageous human beings
whose creativity and productivity
must be unleashed.”
For more information about the 24
hour fast contact the Newman Center
at 343-7021.
Contact the reporter
at aimeerudin@dailyemerald.com.
Environment
continued from page 1
Along with DiPeso there will be
keynote speakers including Krish
na Iyer, a former justice on India’s
Supreme Court, and the Reverend
A1 Sharpton, who is currently con
tending for the Democratic presi
dential nomination.
LAW outreach director Rachel
Bredfeldt said it wasn’t feasible to
look at environmental justice by
just looking at national issues,
which is the reason for the mixed
group of speakers.
“We wanted to have an interna
tional focus and a diverse group,”
she said.
Riman agreed with Bredfeldt,
adding there would also be a large
number of panels and workshops
that will focus on multiple issues.
Riman also said organizing the con
ference was rewarding to him be
cause the event will bring together a
variety of people.
“It’s a rejuvenation of environ
mental activists. ... (We) spur each
other on,” he said.
Contact the reporter
atalishaughnessy@dailyemerald.com.
Forum
continued from page 1
football head coach Mike Bellotti
earns more money than the gover
nor and called it “disturbing.”
Community member George
Beres discussed the idea of sepa
rating athletics from academics in
college funding. Retail consultant
Bruce Miller referred to recent
newspaper articles in emphasizing
the social power of college ath
letes. Former University athletic
director and avid Title IX advocate
Becky Sisley proposed bringing
back the “reasonableness” of col
lege athletics funding.
Contact the reporter
at caronalarab@dailyemerald.com.
Yadili
continued from page 1
love, discipline and Nigerian cul
ture. As a middle child between
one younger and two older broth
ers, Okwumabua said being
picked on as a child was frustrat
ing, but when she looks back, she
wouldn’t change a thing.
“It made me a lot tougher,” the
19-year-old said.
Before graduating from Glen
lawn Collegiate High School,
Okwumabua studied hard, played
soccer and basketball, ran track
and volunteered for several
causes, including mentoring ele
mentary kids and visiting with
senior citizens.
“Basically, anything I could get
my hands on in the community,”
she added.
When she first arrived in Eu
gene, Okwumabua said it took a
little time to get used to the sur
roundings and the people.
“It’s a little quieter than the city
I came from,” she said. “We didn’t
have too many trees, either.”
To keep her sanity between
practice and class, she said she
likes to listen to rap, rhythm and
blues, soul, gospel and reggae mu
sic. And although she likes to
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spend time on the phone, she said
she hasn’t kept in touch with her
high school friends as much as
she would like. She says her fami
ly is a different story, however.
“I miss them a lot and we talk
during the holidays,” she said.
“But I especially miss the food.”
Her mother, Christina, always
made traditional Nigerian cuisine
for her family, including jellos rice
— a seasoned dish made with
onions and tomatoes — and any
thing with the banana-like fruit,
plantain. Okwumabua’s parents,
Christina, a math teacher, and Nat,
a financial analyst, have lived in
Canada for almost three decades af
ter moving from Nigeria and marry
ing a few years later. Though she has
never taken to sewing herself,
Christina contributed authentic
Nigerian fabrics to the hand-made
quilt that now sits on the bed in her
daughter’s residence hall room.
One of the things Christina said
she misses most about their time
together is the hours her daughter
would spend doing her hair.
“She was my hair dresser,”
Christina said. “And she always
had to do hers herself. I found her
to be very independent”
When she makes time for it, Ok
wumabua said she enjoys braiding
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and adding extensions to her hair,
partly because it saves her a lot of
money. But before music, braiding
and even basketball, she said her
classes are number one on her list of
priorities, adding that her parents
always made sure she finished her
studies before going out and having
fun. Even when it came time to cele
brate her birthday last month, the
undeclared major said it wasn’t any
thing special because she had to
study for a midterm the next day.
Besides getting a happy birth
day phone call from her family,
Okwumabua also received her dai
ly call from boyfriend Mychal
Smith. The couple met in Canada
last summer while Smith was vis
iting from Alabama to see family.
After being together for about
eight months, Okwumabua said
she talks to Smith twice a day
on average.
“He’s my wake-up call in the
morning,” she added.
Okwumabua’s roommate and
teammate, freshman Carolyn
Ganes, said the lovebirds talk on
the phone all the time.
“She talks to her boyfriend a
lot,” she said. “Like, a lot.”
After getting over her initial shy
ness and settling into the groove of
the team and college life, Okwum
abua said she considers Eugene to
be a second home and her friends
a second family. One other thing
she has gotten used to is her team
mates’ nickname for her —
“Chuke” — taken from the second
part of her full first name,
Yadilichukwu. Her studies, her
team, her hobbies and her nick
name have all contributed to Ok
wumabua’s sense of comfort in
what seemed foreign and unfamil
iar just two terms ago.
“This is more or less my home
now, and I am looking forward to
moving out of the dorms, getting my
own place and making the best of the
next few years,” she said.
Things are piecing together
nicely.
Contact the reporter
at caronalarab@dailyemerald.com.