format_quote Originally Posted by
ardianto
Wa'alaikumsalam, MuslimInshallah.
I've never found food bank in my place although there are people who often share foods with the poor. However, they are not people who have food more than they need then think to share their food surplus with the poor, but people who indeed intend to feed the poor. They have social budget for this, while for themselves they buy food in amount that just enough.
In another side I found people who often buy food more than they can eat, but do not think to share their food with the poor. Then they waste their food surplus, buy again, waste again. Frankly, I wonder why they buy food that they can eat?. Because greed?, afraid of hungry?, or what?. But, whatever that is, we must always if remind them to be grateful with foods that they have, and remind them that there are hungry people out there.
Assalaamu alaikum Ardianto,
(smile) There are caring people everywhere, I think. When I mentioned people who grow extra in their gardens to give to others, I think these are the same kind of people who put some money aside to give to others. (smile) Perhaps you don't know this, but it is hard for the poor here to get fresh fruit and vegetables, and good quality produce is a real treat.
Why do people waste? Mmm… I think there are different reasons for different people, but one thing that I have noticed is that when people are very pressed for time, it may be that the food they have goes bad. And I know many people who are pressed for time.
Imagine: you rush to the supermarket to get some food. You try to buy some healthy stuff, and you may buy some prepared food "just in case". It's been a long day at work, and the children are hungry, so you think: I'll pick up some pizza tonight, maybe. So you get home and everyone eats, and drops into bed. But then the next day, you have to get out early, and drop the kids at daycare/school, and then on to work. Your boss needs you to finish something urgently, and your spouse is not there/busy/away on work… so you have to pick up the kids late, and you need to finish the job that you hadn't managed to finish at work… so you grab the prepared foods, and promise yourself you'll do some cooking tomorrow. But then tomorrow comes, and your son has fallen down the stairs and you think he might have a concussion, so you go to the hospital to have a doctor look at him (because family doctors don't tend to work at night, and anyway, it's hard to get an appointment). So you spend the evening waiting to see a doctor. You finally see one after a few hours, and then you go home. The children meanwhile have been helping themselves to whatever is easiest: prepared foods, sandwiches, cereal… The next day perhaps your spouse (if you have one) comes home, and you decide to go out for a meal all together. And then the next day, just as you're preparing to finally prepare some healthy home-cooked food, your daughter comes in and desperately tells you that she has a math exam the next day, and her calculator is not working (that rat of a baby brother had something to do with that, she's sure), and she can only use this special one that you got at the store across town… and so off you go…
(smile) This is fiction, of course, and yet, it reflects what many people I know actually experience. They rush so much that they barely have time to live. And so… that good, healthy food sits in the fridge uneaten and goes bad… The people are not fundamentally uncaring, and it often bothers them that it goes to waste, but… what can they do?
(sigh) Of course, there are those that just don't care, or who are perhaps so oblivious to the rest of the world that they don't understand. I finally understood what you meant by a tomato war, after seeing a piece in a newspaper about a festival in Spain where many tons of tomatoes are wasted so that people can splash and play in them…! This really saddened me to read. I personally don't understand how anyone could do this.
(smile) Anyway, the idea of telling children that their food will cry if wasted is a new one to me. (smile) I don't think I'd use it myself, but it is interesting to know of. (smile) This forum helps us to get to know one another better, I find. Alhamdullillah!
May Allah, the Bountiful, the Nourisher, Help us to remember that all we have belongs to Him… and that He Gives enough for us all… if we remember to share.