Member-only story
Beyond the Egg and a Chicken Leg
A Journey of overcoming poverty and embracing hope
It was dinner time, and I was hungry. The food choices weren’t particularly appealing: a lone egg or a chicken leg of indeterminate age in the fridge. The chicken smelled like it had been dead for far too long, so I decided to pass. Being the youngest, I got to choose. I went for the egg, leaving my sister with the mummified chicken leg. As I was about to crack it, I let it drop.
As I stared at the egg mess over the unfinished floor, a mix of sadness and despair took over, and I started sobbing uncontrollably. My tears were more than a lament for my growling stomach; in that moment, I truly believed I was going to bed hungry that night.
What my 7-year-old self failed to realize was that my poor mom had already accepted she would go to bed hungry from the start. The egg and the chicken were only meant for two — my sister and me.
Almost two decades have passed since that night, and we’re all in a good place now.
Unfortunately, for many Brazilians and hundreds of millions worldwide, hunger is far from a distant memory — it remains a daily battle they will often lose.
