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“I don’t eat meat, but I love most everything else GDH has to offer,” freshman Kate Colwill said about the food in PC’s Greenville Dining Hall.

Colwill usually goes to the vegetarian section, preferring any one of the pastas or the rice with mixed vegetables. She likes the salad bar as well. And the pizza station too, although she admits she tries to stay away as often as she can.

For five days earlier this spring, however, Colwill stayed away from it all—no pasta, no salad, no pizza—and, instead, filled a to-go box with a day’s supply of rice—with no mixed vegetables and not even salt or butter.

For five consecutive lunches, five consecutive dinners, and countless snacks in between, Colwill ate only rice and drank only water to raise awareness for poverty and other issues in Africa.

“I wanted it to be a practice,” she said, “where people, whether for a meal or a day or a whole week, could immerse themselves in poverty and feel hunger, feel what it’s like to be without, feel what it’s like to not have.”

Huge hearts for Africa

The Dallas, Texas native got the idea to fast from Lee Catoe, a junior she met during the spring semester in International Missions class. When Student Volunteer Services named Colwill its International Missions coordinator, a position Catoe previously held, the two met to discuss the position.

“Then we got to talking about how we both have huge hearts for Africa,” Colwill said.

Their hearts grew from the times they visited two African countries. Colwill went to Kenya on a two-week long mission trip in the summer of 2007. She was most affected when she saw “what little they have in relation to what we have.”

“How abundantly we, as American citizens, have been blessed whether it’s by having a roof over our heads or eating even one meal a day, compared to people over there who are eating a cup of rice a day,” she said.

Catoe, who received the Presbyterian College 2005 Outstanding Church Youth Leadership award, travelled to South Africa with his church a few years ago and was equally affected by the experience.

“When I went,” he said, “it sparked something. This is what I need to be doing. This is what I want to do with my life.”

Catoe, from Jefferson, SC, has fasted with his church before. He mentioned it to Colwill as a way to show their dedication to helping Africa. Hesitant at first, Colwill listened to a sermon on fasting, then researched and chose to practice as well.

A week of awareness and change

In addition to fasting for five days, Colwill and Catoe decided to devote a week to raising awareness of several crises in Africa, including the malaria epidemic, the lack of educational opportunities, the water situation, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Colwill and Catoe researched statistics related to each crisis and shared the information with the campus community by handing out flyers and displaying an information booth in Springs Campus Center. They also worked with World Vision, a Christian relief organization, to provide convenient ways for the campus community to donate to the causes.

To help with Africa’s educational situation, Colwill and Catoe set up drop boxes across campus for students, faculty, and staff to donate books to be given to the elementary school that Dr. Jerman Disasa, who was born in Ethiopia, attended. Further, Colwill and Catoe arranged for Disasa to speak to the campus community about education in Africa.

“Something (Disasa) said to me really stuck with me,” Catoe said. “He said that Africa is always considered to be this place where there’s nothing but turmoil and death and disease, that we always forget that good things can come from Africa, that we can benefit from Africa. That’s what I really wanted people to get this week, especially with the documentary on education. (The children) are the future of their countries, and good stuff is going to come from them.”

In addition, Colwill and Catoe arranged for a Clinton resident and Africa supporter to share his experiences on the continent. They also created and sold paper hearts called Hearts for Hope, with the proceeds benefitting HIV/AIDS research or facilities housing orphans whose parents died from HIV or AIDS. Colwill and Catoe also arranged for Sodexho, PC’s food services company, to make rice available everyday for those interested in fasting.

“The whole week (was) incredible,” Colwill said. “Especially since it’s the first year, the response of the students here was incredible. God did huge things the whole week.”

PC community helps Africa

Because of Colwill’s and Catoe’s efforts, the PC community brought about a great deal of change for Africa. To help with the malaria epidemic, the campus raised enough money to purchase twelve mosquito nets, and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority was able to provide malaria prevention to a family.

To help with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, PC was able to provide Africa with a share of a Hope Center, a place for children who have lost or are at risk of losing a parent to HIV/AIDS.

To help with the water crisis, PC was able to fund 1/6 of a shallow well that will eventually provide clean drinking water to 100 to 300 people.

Most of the change brought about by Africa Week will help the continent’s educational situation. In addition to the campus raising over $500 worth of school supplies, Alpha Delta Pi sorority provided five children with an education, care for four orphans, and $250 worth of food. Zeta Tau Alpha provided a year of school to an orphan plus a backpack and school supplies to a community. They also donated money towards a child education fund, art and music instruction, a child and family health fund, and a shelter and clothing fund. The campus also collected several backpacks and hundreds of articles of clothing to send to Ethiopia.

“Lee and I are so thrilled with this response,” Colwill said, “especially considering this was a new project. Lives are going to be changed in Africa.”

“It’s been a big blessing to see everyone get involved,” Catoe added.

The purpose of fasting

While the campus community willingly helped Colwill and Catoe with the causes related to Africa, some questioned why the two decided to fast.

“Some people questioned what we were accomplishing by eating a bowl of rice for every meal,” Colwill said. “A lot of people did fast, whether it was for one meal or a couple of meals, or tried the whole week. The broader concept of this isn’t to relieve anything in Africa; this is to immerse ourselves in poverty, feel it, and then do something about it from it.”

Colwill and Catoe both plan to fast for Africa Week 2010. Colwill, who says that her calling at PC is “being an advocate for the people of Africa,” plans to fast for one or two days every couple of weeks “on behalf of different issues that the world’s facing, that America’s facing, that Africa’s facing.”

“I think it’s a really important thing to do, and it’s also something that the Lord has clearly taught me and captivated my heart for,” she said.

The future of Africa Week

And they have ideas to bring even more change to Africa, possibly involving a year-long project with World Vision. By making it possible for the campus to donate the entire 2009-2010 academic year, Colwill and Catoe want PC to potentially sponsor one or two African children, which could provide a means for them to receive medical treatment, an education, and even toys.

Both also plan to visit Africa this summer and to continue to learn about ways to help. This year, they both say, was simply about making the campus community aware of the crises Africa is facing and also shedding a different light on the continent.

“A lot of (African countries) are going through conflict, a lot of them experience genocide, a lot of them experience cultural conflict,” Colwill said. “But each country in Africa is unique and special and has so much to offer the rest of the world.

“This week was about educating people here about the problems and gaining a response, not out of a need to give, but out of love.”

In addition to serving as Student Volunteer Services International Missions coordinator, Colwill has helped SVS with numerous other projects, including Special Olympics, Project Life, and Relay for Life. She also volunteers at the Presbyterian Home and serves as Community Service Chair for Alpha Delta Pi sorority. A member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Campus Outreach, she is considering double majoring in English and religion.

A biology and religion double major, Catoe is a member of Celtic Cross and has volunteered with SVS in several projects, including Special Olympics, Project Life, and Relay for Life. He often volunteers at the Presbyterian Home, is a member of the biology and religion honor societies, and plays club tennis at PC.