For many Muslim women across metro Detroit, Ramadan means not only a month of spirituality but also a lot of extra work – with constant juggling between one’s job, household chores, and preparing meals. When Lia Schaefer comes home from work as a volunteer at her children’s school, she is glad that at least the school day is over early. Still ahead of the 38-year-old mother of three is the job of cooking the evening feast.

YPSILANTI — It’s going pretty good. I’ve been fasting since I was 10 years old. It’s a little bit harder this year because the days are longer. I’m a stay-at-home mother of three, and I volunteer part time at my kids’ school. When I get home it’s hard for me to cook very much. So, I just cook this one meal. I try to cook it big so we can have leftovers the next morning. I cook Indonesian food because I’m from Indonesia. It’s mostly rice and either meat or vegetables. I also cook soup. The traditional meals are more complicated. But sometimes I don’t have time since I work part-time.

This month is great because I can ask for forgiveness. I pray more than I usually pray. I get my prayers answered. But the first couple days were hot and hard. I fought to keep my eyes open the whole time. I took a nap for a little bit, and then finished my work. I do get up in the morning. When I get up, I just stay up because I have to get my kids ready for school. I get up around 5 o’clock and keep on going. It was hard at first, but now I’m OK. When I’m not fasting, I normally wake up around 6 a.m. And I usually sleep a little bit earlier, but with Iftar later this year, I sleep later. I try and go to bed at 10 o’clock.

It is hard, it’s very hard. But I keep saying to myself, “Only the strong survive.”