Save an African and Lose Weight! It’s a Win Win!
We recently stumbled across this article written by a volunteer who had just arrived in Nairobi. The article contained the usual comments about how backwards our life supposedly is here in Africa and how surprised she, like most other volunteers, was to find out on arrival that we have supermarkets that can meet global standards.
Intermittent water supply but we have electricity, even TV …. There is certainly no dishwasher, or clothes washing machine for that matter. Water is boiled in a saucepan on the gas stove and the favourite tea is made by boiling 1/2 milk and water with two tea bags and some mixed spices on the stove and adding sugar!! A simple version of chai??
The above did not surprise us particularly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from those who visit our lands in the hope of saving a couple Africans while they are at it. However one comment at the end of the article got us thinking:
The food is very filling, lots of carbohydrate so don’t think I will lose weight after all!!
So wait, are we hearing this right, people don’t only come to Africa to save Africans, they also come to save on their gym subscriptions!!!!
Wow!
When we googled “Volunteer Africa, Lose Weight” we found this article called “Weight Changes” which was an entire piece dedicated to exploring what kind of weight changes you will experience during your stint at saving the continent. And there was more: a reddit thread was entirely dedicated to weight loss when volunteering with the Peace Corps, while this blog post entitled “Adventures in Africa” makes a list of things you should remember to pack and includes a belt in case “I happen to (hopefully) lose weight”.
Before Volunteering and After VolunteeringSo how does this make us feel? Should we include “losing weight” in the Kenya Tourism Board brochures? But what if people gain weight, can they sue us?
We asked Alie, an American girl who volunteered in Kenya a few years ago, if her experience had matched her expectations vis-a-vis her weight. This is what she told us:
…when I came back to the States everyone kept telling me I had lost weight… For about a month …. And I was so happy ….. Sometimes I think about moving abroad again simply for the healthier weight and yes, weight loss … It’s more effortless than in the States somehow
So let’s turn this on its head. When you take the flight over the big country that is Africa and get to those foreign lands, do your weight fluctuations meet your expectations? Do you become morbidly obese when you travel to the US or the UK? And do you become blond when you travel to Sweden?
Please let us know your take on this… should we capitalise on it? Maybe someone should start marketing the “African diet” abroad… just think of the campaign slogan: “Feed an African Child and Lose Weight… All From the Comfort of your Armchair”!
Food for thought.
Emy says:
Wow, UP is now just hating on one stupid person and publishes a whole article just for that - so tell me again how Africa is not one country and we should be careful to appreciate every situation but one volunteer = all volunteers ? One person from the US = the US ? You just went full retard.
shan Bartley says:
I am not surprised by these sentiments, and not because we are starving in Africa, but because the lifestyles of USA and UK are so wrapped up in food! And not healthy food.. I have never seen such huge servings of food as in the USA… These people can eat! We, Africans, yes all 54 countries, have a different style of eating, which includes healthy veges, fruits, and more importantly sitting down and sharing meals with family and friends. This form of eating and sharing nourished our souls as well as our bodies, whilst Western countries are on the go and on the run stuffing sodium and sugar laden foods into their faces, whilst multi talking themselves to death.. Slow down, eat a mango… Go Africa!!