Utahn is starving herself for Kenya

LINDON — While others feast in every sense of the word throughout Thanksgiving Day, Holly Sue Hatfield will be having her first meal in a week and just her fourth of the month.

The 26-year-old Lindon woman has been on a starvation diet for the past 57 days and has committed to go 35 more before stopping.

But Hatfield isn't starving herself to lose weight or to wean herself off food. She's doing it for Kenya.

For the past seven months, Hatfield has been working for In Our Own Quiet Way, a Utah-based nonprofit organization aimed at helping people in underdeveloped countries help themselves. Right now, the organization is focused on helping Kenyans who have been experiencing a severe drought for the past several years — a drought that has affected about 3 million people, many of whom are starving.

Hatfield said Americans can see pictures of starving Kenyans, but that may not mean as much to them as seeing someone starving a little closer to home. So she decided to go on a starvation diet in hopes that people who see or hear about what she is doing will be more inclined to help.

"People here can get a glimpse of what it would be like in their lives to starve," Hatfield said, noting that Americans spent more than $4 billion on weight-loss products last year when they could have eaten less and donated some of their excess to those in great need.

At the end of September, Hatfield decided to go on the starvation diet for three months, eating only two servings of ugali a day. One cup of white cornflour mixed with about three cups of boiling water makes about two servings of ugali. It's flavorless, has no nutrition and the two servings total about 500 calories.

"It fills your belly so you don't feel hunger pains, but it's not enough nutrition to keep the body functioning," said Hatfield, who now says eating ugali is almost worse than eating nothing.

For various reasons, Hatfield is also eating one meal a week and drinking water and non-nutritious beverages such as diet soda, coffee and beer.

Before starting her starvation diet that she calls "Holly S'ugali," Hatfield said she thought the worst side effect would be stomach pains. But she said that is nothing compared to the headaches, grouchiness and sleeplessness.

At night, Hatfield can't relax because her brain keeps telling her she needs food. It's hard for her to concentrate or even read a book because her mind is so foggy. Even walking up a few flights of stairs causes her to lose her breath, she said.

But the hardest part of the diet, Hatfield said, is not knowing if it will make any difference.

Almost daily she asks herself: "Am I putting myself through hell for nothing?"

But being in Kenya for the past 10 days has made her realize again why she is doing it.