Students from Oxley College participated in the Ration Challenge for Refugee Week.
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For one week, students were on a diet of rice, beans and lentils and not much else, to raise awareness for the plight of refugees.
Jemima Taylor, Head Girl, said she was inspired to do the Ration Challenge after Year 12 students went to a conference that helped them learn what the Ration Challenge was and how they could create social change in their communities.
"We went to a workshop in Sydney and they taught us about social change and we thought 'okay we can give it a go'," she said.
It also helped the students to know where the money was going, with Isabella Moore saying that transparency and immediacy of the ration challenge was important.
"I think also the fact that it wasn't just you're doing it for charity and you're not sure where they money goes. It's very transparent about where the money goes, which is straight to food and resources for refugees," she said.
"It felt like you were having an immediate affect instead of just giving money to charity."
The biggest struggle the students faced was the monotonous nature of the food, especially when it came study and sports.
"It wasn't so much hunger, I feel like there was plenty of food. It's just very bland and it doesn't give you much energy," said Jade Gillis
Jemima also agreed with Jade.
"It will fill you up for half an hour and then you're hungry again," she said.
"Rice was a staple, although I managed to simultaneously burn and under cook mine. I had to get quite creative because I was so sick of the texture, so I started to blend my rice and make patties.
"You do crave other food, pretty much anything except for rice, and I had to leave the room when my family were eating.
"I think in that week, food occupies your brain. Like you're thinking a lot about what your next meal is going to be and measuring out rations on scales."
Lachlan Moore said the challenge had really opened his eyes up to how little the refugees are in comparison to the amount of food he eats on a day to day basis.
"It has made me realise just how lucky I am to have access to so much more," he said.
For Maya, the greatest challenge throughout the week was not a lack of food but the monotony of each meal.
"Food and meal sharing is a ritual in every culture, but the privilege to over-eat and indulge and delight in our meals is so often overlooked," she said
The students also gained rewards for fundraising a certain amount of money for the challenge, with many of them opting for a vegetable.
"There was nothing fresh in the rations so what people donated and chose to spend those donations, the rewards system, was everyone went for something fresh," said Sophia Hummer.
Another challenge the students faced during the challenge was their increasing hunger, especially during sporting games.
For Sophia, she only had two training sessions during her challenge and wasn't greatly affected while Jade ate before her game and Jemima didn't train during the week.
"I think the whole reason you can get through it is because you can see that it's a short amount of time and then you can have a really good meal at the end," said Sophia
"But for refugees, there's no guarantees that they're going to get to the end."
"It's a bit of a novelty too because it was only a few days and you had all these people doing it with you and you're raising money.
"The novelty would wear off if this was a reality."
For Riley Kennedy-Moore, the ration challenge was an eye opening experience.
"You never truly understand a person's situation until you put yourself in their shoes, or in this case, in their diets."
With the challenge over, the year 12 students said they would consider doing it again but while some where happy to indulge in some fresh fruit and vegetables as soon as they could, others such as as Sophia. Lachlan and Toby were happy to sink their teeth in to steak and bacon.
Oxley College raised $8200 with the money going towards purchasing school kits, more rations and providing access to medical care for refugees.