MEJOR Blog

MEJOR Communities Presents:

1st Annual Camaraderie Challenge

Our volunteers have dedicated themselves not just to providing youth with fun and inspiring health education, but also to live at the same level as the community. This will mean significant sacrifice of luxuries we may take for granted. The Camaraderie Challenge is not only to provide our volunteers with emotional support, but also to explore what other people may experience in life around the world. In no way do we want to portray these "third-world" lifestyles as depressing, demeaning, or ignorant. In fact there are many beautiful advantages to living off the land without lights, television, or cars. We encourage anyone who participates to keep a journal of your experience and how it affects you both physically and emotionally.

How it works:

Choose at least one "challenge" to adopt for the week of June 19-25, which corresponds to the first week our volunteers will be in their new community of San Francisco, Peru. The rules of the challenge will apply to as much of your life as possible without it affecting your job or your health. Katie and Roberto Masferrer will be taking on all eight challenges for the week. After the week is over, they will upload a blog about their experiences with each of the challenges, and we invite you to reply to the postings with your own thoughts and experiences.

The Challenges:

1) Take a Walk - No driving. Public transportation is okay, but bicycling and walking are preferred.Carpooling may be acceptable if other modes of transportation are not available.

2) Take a Cold Shower - Turn the circuit breaker off on your hot water tank and use only cold water for showers, washing, etc. You can use hot water that you heat yourself. (We plan to put our Camelbacks in the sun, letting us shower with some warm water if the weather is nice)

3) Hand Wash, Line Dry - Hand wash all of your clothes and dishes by hand, and air dry them, using only your own energy to get the job done.

4) The Off Switch - Unplug all electronics (yes, computer, too), turn off all of your lights, use no electricity except to keep your fridge/freezer food cold. Only use candles or non-electric lamps for lighting.

5) Hang Up the Phone - Turn off your cell phone and unplug your home phone. Don't check your messages (outside of work-related calls). Need to talk to someone? Drop by in person or write a letter. Write at least two letters during the week and send them. (Remember to get your addresses off of any computers if you are also turning the electricity off!)

6) The New Old-Fashioned Cookbook - Either eat raw food, use a grill, or use a fireplace if you have one. No going out to eat, stoves, ovens, or microwaves; nothing that use electricity. We recommend building a solar oven. There are lots of simple designs online. (Find easy solar oven building instructions at www.solarnow.org and for information on solar cookers go to www.solarcookers.org).

7) Eat Food - Buy and eat only locally produced food. Eat from your own garden if possible. No going out to eat, no processed food. Cook from scratch. Farmer's markets have a lot of great options. (You can visit allrecipes.com for a good sour dough starter recipe to avoid purchasing yeast. For "local" whole wheat flour go to www.bluebirdgrainfarms.com. They do have some distribution in Portland.)

8) Live Lean - Don't make any purchases that aren't necessary for your survival. Pretend you really just don't have the money. Don't buy anything you wouldn't beg for or borrow money to get.

Options to pay it forward: Although not a focus of this activity, you may keep track of whether the challenge(s) you took on saved you money, or take pledges/bets from friends about whether you'll make it the whole week with the challenge(s) you chose. Then, donate that amount to either MEJOR Communities, or any other nonprofit of your choice.