Been there done that got the badge.
Last night I was intrigued by this tweet from @gluckman
I have no idea how I’m going to last on just $2 of food a day! I eat SOOOO MUCH!!! #numnumnum #livebelowline
That plaintive tweet immediately reminded me of my own teenage son who eats his own body weight in food approximately every three days.
So I followed a link on @gluckmans twitter stream to find out why this young man was twittering about living on $2 a day in August of this year and came to this page Live below the line which explained about the global poverty project
If you want to donate you can follow this link to their fundraiser page
But this post isn’t just about raising money for a good cause it is about the broader issues of poverty in an affluent society like Australia. There is an underclass here in Australia that live in poverty and experience the despair that comes with it, we ignore our homeless and our charities are stretched to breaking point.
But even though things are tough when you are broke in Australia they really aren’t that tough. Not really.
We have access to clean water, to clean air, to free medical treatment and we aren’t being shot at or thrown into jail for our religious or political beliefs. Our children aren’t being kidnapped to be used as child soldiers or mutilated to make better beggars. Our girl children are allowed to live and we all have access to education.
I could bang on and on about this but I wont. In my time I have been hungry and I have been cold, I have gone days with out any money at all in my pocket, but I have always been safe. I have always been able to speak my mind, dress how I like and swallow my pride and front up to the Salvos for a food order.
So I have sponsored young @gluckman because I think it is a good cause but also, because I think it will be good for him and his friends to try and live on $2 a day.Whether they are able to achieve their goal within the safety of affluence is another matter but it will be a good learning experience and I say good on them for having a go.
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I’m fretting about how I’m going to make it given the financial reality of my divorce, but this certainly puts that into perspective. It’s all relative.
It’s a good project. People often have no idea of the actual cost of things they take for granted.
Passing the homeless guys shelter under the overpass bridge near my house everyday reminds me of how damn lucky we are here in Oz.
Except for when he got hassled by the local council the day after they’d held one of the Winter sleep outs to raise money for the homeless.
Stupid.
Hard to imagine surviving on so little. My budget is tight and I’m grateful for the cooking skills I have that make that money stretch but $2 a day . . . !
It’s certainly something many of us should think about. I’m teaching my girl to cook as there are so many out there who can’t do it and don’t know how much better off they would be eating real food, financially and physically. Soon we will grow it, preserve it, and do whatever we can to always have enough without having to buy too much. It’s a skill we’ve lost touch with, but it’s worth remembering.
We have started calling Princess “Veruca” whenever we hear the cry of “I want!!”. She watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday and now knows who Veruca is. and she is not happy. The Oompa Loompa’s sing a song reminding us who is responsible for producing spoilt brats, perhaps more people need to hear it and learn how to say “No!”
$2 a day. Let’s see…that’s a can of baked beans, a breadroll and an apple. Nutritious enough, but hardly enough food. Especially in the winter.
There’s no way I could do that. Not voluntarily anyway.
We are living very … frugally these days too but I’m positive that our teenage boy couldn’t do it. $2 a day would be so hard. I don’t think I could do it either.
What a great idea! Like you I consider myself incredibly wealthy because I always think about it in global terms rather than compare myself to the rest of Western Society….though even then I’d consider myself rich, we’ve lost sight of how much we really have. BG Xx
Now if you think about if that is $62 for the month. With some careful shopping you should be able to purchase enough food to sustain you for the month. A bit of effort and creative thinking is all it would take.
I might have to write a post about survival shopping. Some fortnights after all the bills were paid, I only had $50 left to feed a family of four and assorted pets and poultry.
I had the advantage of being accustomed to living frugally though.
I think we could all benefit by living more frugally …we are so blessed …I have received that email again last week about what average families live on (with photos of the food) around the world from poverty line to …it is very enlightening.
i think the hardest thing for me would be the grind of the constant struggle. i could survive a day on simple foods, and have thought far enough ahead to prepare and do it, but to face the same scenario day after day. after day…
I agree, we all do have it much better. Can’t say we have medical here in the U.S. Especially under Obama’s new “plan”, and I’m about to live off the land again, but at least I am able to.