Day two of my sponsored fast for victims of the Pakistan floods

Day two of my sponsored fast is coming to an end and I won't lie to you that it was a struggle. I got up ok at 3.40am and stood in the dark with my large bowl of porridge, banana, water and orange juice. I tried to keep my eyes shut and be quiet to try and stay asleep but to no avail the worst I could do was to turn the tv on and watch the news. This is not advisable as I woke up and could not get back to sleep at 4.00am. I finally got to sleep at 5.30am and was rudely awoken by my alarm at
7.00am, in the middle of a deep sleep. This is by far the hardest part of this fast. I slept on the bus and train into work and walked around like a zombie moaning to my colleagues. I was met by mentor, Saiqa in a cheery mood, how can she do this after 20 days of fasting.

Saiqa wrote a crime report on my past misdemeanours of stealing chocolate and cakes from other colleagues and how I needed to repent by fasting. This certainly lightened the mood and made me forget about sleep, water and food. I found that if I am busy I am not feeling hunger pangs but today was difficult my stomach rumbled all day and my mouth was incredibly dry. All I could feel in my stomach was wind and I was worried about where this was going to end up. I survived though and successfully got through to 8.00pm.

I have been told that it is customary to open the fast with a date. I have not done this as of yet but I was so desperate for sweet things I had a pint of strawberry milk shake. I can advise that as good a drink milkshake is it doesn't go down well with a roast dinner, but I did my best.

I am going to bed before 11.00pm as I am really tired, ready for day three and porridge in the dark.

I received an explanation of Ramadam from a colleague as Fasting for the month of Ramadan for Muslims is prescribed in the Qur'an. Muslms believe that the qur'an is the literal word of God, as revealed over 23 years to prophet Mohammed, mostly by the Angel Jibrael/Gsbriel. Passed on by word of mouth for some time but eventually written down.

The qur'an makes a number of claims about the required religious
observances being "made easy for you". One of these is "to eat and
drink until a white thread can be distinguished from a black" or something
similar. ie until first light, which is quite a long time before dawn.
it is generally the case that eating/drinking something just before
starting the day's fast does guard against dehydration and does make any
hunger pangs less.

I have raised over £600 so far and am hopeful of raising more money for victims of the floods. Please feel free ot donate on line at www.justgiving.com/John-Ennis