Empathy, Respect, and a Little Fasting ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 5

Empathy, Respect, and a Little Fasting ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 5

Tim Streeter Tim Streeter

Tim Streeter

Published Jun 23, 2018
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For our Family Volunteering event in May, it was once again my turn to select the organization we would support.  My original intent was to support something related to music in Ann Arbor, but for some reason struggled to find an organization that had a need for a whole family to help.  As I expanded my search to start to look at all volunteering opportunities in Ann Arbor, I discovered an organization called Welcoming Michigan.  

This organization seeks to build mutual respect among foreign-born and U.S.-born people who call Michigan home today.  “Together. It’s better.”  I felt a connection to Welcoming Michigan based on my experience as a student on foreign study.  I remember being in places where I did not speak the language and was entirely dependent on a stranger to help me find my way.  I compare this to situations I’ve observed in the US where I’ve heard some Americans say things like “if you don’t speak the language, get out of the country.”    

As I started to better understand and appreciate foreign cultures and people, I found myself wanting to learn more.  This led me to seek out global roles in my career, which has only reinforced that there are great people everywhere, and they are just as curious about how we compare to their stereotypes of us as we are of them.  I believe that the more we engage people from other cultures, the more we understand our differences, and the more we see them as interesting rather than scary

As parents, my wife and I are united on this being a hugely important life lesson for our kids.  While we have failed in some of our other parenting aspirations (kids fluent in second language and not having video games in the house come to mind), this is one we feel good about.  Our kids have visited several foreign countries and experienced much of what we did as students on foreign study. So I viewed this as an opportunity to reinforce those lessons.

Welcoming Michigan lists many ways people can support them, but the primary method seems to be attending a cultural event hosted by a foreign-born Michigan resident.  As luck would have it, there were none scheduled in Ann Arbor in the month of May.  So we decided to try to experience a small part of an existing foreign cultural event that was already happening: Ramadan.  

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief.  Adults are expected to fast from sunrise to sunset for the duration of the month. We decided to experience it for just one day to increase our empathy for those around us trying to do their jobs, raise their kids, or participate in sports while fasting all day for 30 days.

At first my family hated the idea of not eating all day on a Saturday, but as the day progressed and we spent time talking about why we were doing it, and why others do it, the irritation subsided and shifted to curiosity.  Do all Muslims do this or are there differences? What about kids or pregnant women? Are there big feasts at the beginning and end of the day? If Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, what are the other four? If we were raised with those values, how would we feel about American ideals of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

While I would have preferred to have our kids hear directly from a local resident observing Ramadan, it allowed us to learn more about it in our own way.  Alexa and Wikipedia can actually be quite useful in these situations and we didn’t have to worry about monopolizing the Q&A in a group setting.

At the end of the day of fasting, we had a big meal with some of our favorite foods and appreciated greatly that we did not have to do it for 30 days straight.  We talked about people we know who do, and what other types of things people do as part of their religion or culture. It was a small action, but one I think we will all remember every year at Ramadan and one which can help our kids be more aware and empathetic.  And only good can come from that!

This is Chapter 5 of a 12-part series on Family Volunteering.  Previous posts can be accessed below:


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