Live
Below the Line
is an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that's making a huge
difference in the fight against extreme poverty. Quite simply, they are
building a movement of passionate people willing and able to make a meaningful
difference to those who need it most.
Live
Below the Line is challenging individuals and communities to see how much
change you can make out of £1. By living off just £1 per day for food for 5
days, you will be bringing to life the direct experiences of the 1.4 billion
people currently living in extreme poverty and helping to make real change.
Think
about that figure - 1.4 BILLION - that's over 20 times the population of the UK
- living every day in extreme poverty.
WHY
£1? The international Extreme Poverty Line was
defined by the World Bank as $1.25 US dollars a day, in 2005. If you live on
less than that every day, you’re recognised internationally as living in
extreme poverty.
Our
usual response to this would be, "that's
not so small, US$1.25 actually buys quite a lot in most developing
countries". Unfortunately that's not true - the US$1.25 figure is
calculated using Purchasing Power
Parity - which works out how much you would have to live on each day
if you were living in extreme poverty in the United States.
Converting
this to the 2005 equivalent for the UK and adjusting for inflation, living
below the Extreme Poverty Line today would be the equivalent of us living on £1
a day.
And
for people who live in extreme poverty that £1 has to cover far more than food
and drink - we're talking everything - health, housing, transport, food,
education... It's impossible to imagine, but that’s the reality for an
incredible number of people.
Gandhi
said that "Poverty is the worst form of violence" - and the folks at Live
Below the Line agree. We can all feel and see the injustice of extreme poverty,
whether it be directly in our neighbourhoods or in countries far away, Live
Below the Line is here to help each of us do something about it.
In
2013, Live Below the Line is running in the UK, Canada, Australia and the USA
simultaneously, with more than 20,000 people spending 5 days living below the
line. Across three continents people will join the movement to tackle extreme
poverty- join
the challenge!
HOW
DOES IT WORK? Here are the basics:
• From the 29th April – 3rd May you can spend no more than £1 a day on food and drink.
• This means you have a total of £5 with
which to buy all ingredients for your meals.
• The full cost of all the items you consume
must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food
items such as rice, pasta, noodles and eggs etc.
• For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and
spices, simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping
proportionally. Separate your items before the challenge so there’s no need to
be digging around in your cupboards.
• You can share the cost of ingredients amongst
a team, as long as no participant spends more than £1 a day or their total £5
budget. Working as a team will allow you to pool together funds and do more
with your cooking.
• You can’t grab a cheeky snack from the
cupboard unless you include the cost of buying the item new in your budget.
• You can use food sourced from your garden
as long as you can account for the price of production!
• No combination of meals on any given day
can exceed the £1 spending limit. Remember this is a challenge to eat creatively
and be enjoyed – don’t at any point deprive yourself of three meals a day.
• You cannot accept ‘donated’ food from
family or friends, but monetary donations towards your fundraising goals are
acceptable, and encouraged!
• You are allowed to drink tap water –
remember you should try and drink at least 6-8 glasses of water each day.
• Remember that cigarettes don’t come cheap
either! Can you Live Below The Line and still manage to smoke?
For guidance such as recipe ideas and meal
planners, go to: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-guidance
Whether you join in with this effort or
not, remember to spread
the word to your family and friends!
Blessings!
Ronell x
"Poverty is
the worst form of violence" {Gandhi}
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