We continuously shine a bright light on the issue of food waste during Ramadan and have provided tips for keeping it down, but throwing away perfectly good food is not something that only happens during the holy month or in the MENA region. It is a global phenomenon.
Even though roughly 925 million people throughout the world go hungry every year, in that same time, we throw away up to 220 million tons of food. Moved to end this shocking waste in Lebanon at least, Lamia El-Sayed, a graphic designer based in Beirut, did what many forward thinking people do these days and started a Facebook cause page. It is called “Save the Grace.”
Comprised of a team of 10, Save the Grace approaches restaurants, bakeries, shops and even individual families throughout Lebanon and encourages them to donate their leftover food.
This food is then distributed to needy families, including some 10,000 or more Syrian refugees who have fled their home country’s ongoing bloodbath. Not only are they diverting good food diverted from landfills, where it would otherwise produce a pile of methane, but Save the Grace is also helping to satiate growling bellies.
Although they only formed just before the onset of Ramadan 2012, the team has already managed to convince five groups/individuals to donate their food so far. This turned out to be a fortunate coincidence since adherents of Islam are on their best behavior during the holy month.
However, Ghadi Joudi, the manager of a bakery in Koreitem that donates food to Save the Grace wants to encourage people to extend their charitable behavior to every month of the year.
“It’s the month of giving for sure,” she says. “But we should be giving all year long. It’s a pity it’s not happening other times of the year.”
Please visit The Daily Star to learn more about this honorable initiative.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
