Students fight hunger with hunger

On Thursday, Oct. 12, University of Wisconsin–Madison students will go hungry to fight hunger as part of the Muslim Student Association’s fourth annual Fast-a-thon.

The event, which is during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is a way for Muslim and non-Muslim students to come together for the holiday and also raise awareness of hunger in the Madison area. Muslims traditionally fast from sunup to sundown during the month of Ramadan, but, as MSA president Saif Syed explains, not everyone is able to break that fast.

“When you fast, you break that fast at the end of the day. For many people in the world, that is not possible. They wake up hungry and they go to bed hungry. It is not possible for them to break their hunger,” Syed says.

Students will fast from 5:33 a.m.-6:20 p.m., breaking their fast with a dinner in Chadbourne Lounge. The participant fee is $5, and all proceeds will be given to the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, a local food pantry.

Participants are asked to pre-register for the event by e-mailing their name to uwfastathon@gmail.com.

Syed encourages students of all faiths to register, emphasizing that the event is to help the hungry, a nondenominational goal.

“Once you experience that hunger, it makes you feel the pain that the hungry have,” Syed says. “Otherwise, you probably feel bad that people are going hungry, but you can’t feel it yourself unless you go through it yourself.”