Boy Fasts For 10 Days

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 1

Boy Fasts For 10 Days

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 16. A 17-year-old Wellington schoolboy who is fasting for 10 days to draw attention to the starvation in large areas of the world has reached half way. The boy’s mother said today that he was weak, and not feeling particularly well, but was determined to carry the fasting through. “He has been reading and studying till now,” she said.

“This is becoming increasingly difficult for him as his concentration is beginning to wander.” “My son is the unpaid secre-tary-organiser of a charities committee, and will be so for 12 months.” said the boy’s mother today. She was replying to criticism and a suggestion that the boy would serve his purposes better by working for Operation 21 of C.0.R.5.0. for 10 days. “He plans to do voluntary service abroad when he has finished his studies, while his present effort has been commended by C.0.R.5.0.,” she said. “My husband and myself permitted him to do what he

is doing because we believe that apathy is a crime and that even foolhardy courage is commendable.” In a letter, the youth explained his motive for the fast. “By fasting I hope to stir people, no matter how small the number, into the realisation that hundreds of millions live in a state of starvation and malnutrition," he said. “I hope to draw people's attention to the fact that organisations such as Operation 21 and C.0.R.5.0. urgently need their help,” he said. The youth who wishes to remain anonymous, is living on glucose and water for 10 days. The fast will end on the morning of May 22.