#NHSRamadanChallenge
Naomi Rhodes, temporary staffing officer, recently took on the #NHSRamadanChallenge after attending the ‘Supporting Muslim staff and colleagues in Ramadan’ session ran by the NHS Muslim Network.
Naomi said: “I found the session truly inspiring and informative for someone who didn’t know that much about Ramadan, and it inspired me to take on the #NHSRamadanChallenge to show my allyship with Muslim colleagues.”
The #NHSRamadanChallenge invited all NHS allies and friends to join the Muslim Network for a day of fasting. For this challenge NHS allies and friends were encouraged to fast for a day of their choice during Ramadan – which meant no food or water from the break of dawn to sunset.
Naomi took on the challenge during one of her regular working days for the Temporary Staffing Team and here’s her account of the day:
“I woke up around 6.50am and got ready. I felt motivated and empowered to show allyship to my Muslim colleagues. When preparing breakfast for my children, my first initial thoughts were on how difficult it must be when fasting to prepare meals for children or those unable to partake in fasting.
“Around 9.59am I started to feel slightly peckish as this is my usual breakfast time – luckily I had a two-hour meeting and welcomed the distraction!
“At 10.48am I was missing my caffeine hit but finding it interesting that if I was on a diet and telling myself not to eat, I’d really be struggling now. However as this was something I felt strongly that I wanted to do, it wasn’t as difficult.
“By 1.38pm I’m finding it difficult again, the children had lunch and I can really appreciate how tiring the first few days of Ramadan must be.
“I’m really starting to feel hungry by 3.23pm and also slightly grumpy with the lack of caffeine.
”I keep looking whether its sunset but as it’s only 4.45pm, there’s no sunset just yet! I just keep reminding myself why I’m doing this and the importance of putting yourself in another person’s shoes.
“Why does the sun stay up for so long I’m wondering by 6.38pm!! I’m really tired and hungry now. The need for a rest is high and I’m finding the lack of water through the day a huge difficulty.
“It’s 7.45pm - time to eat – yippee!”
“I really feel that having just done a day of fasting, I can see the challenge that Muslim colleagues face. I really admire my Muslim colleagues with their strength of faith and how Ramadan can be a difficult time when working. This challenge has benefitted me immensely and I feel in the future if I’m working with or managing Muslim colleagues who are partaking in Ramadan, I will have more of an understanding of fasting and know how I can support them.”
Thank you Naomi for sharing your reflections on the challenge with us.