If you follow me on twitter, are friends with me on facebook, or have spent any time with me in the past few weeks, you will know that I am taking part in the international challenge to Live Below The Line - the line being the poverty line, and that line being set at £1 a day.
The idea seems to be twofold - to raise awareness of what 1.4billion people in our world experience every day, but we in our 24hr supermarket culture are completely cushioned from - and secondly, to raise sponsorship money (my page is here if you'd like to sponsor me and I'm raising money for Christian Aid) for a whole range of charities who are all aiming to reduce this extreme poverty.
So, Monday the 7th of May was Day 1. I woke up at a friend's in London (it was planned, I'm not a dirty stop out) and had porridge, but because it was pretty early and I'm not a morning eater, I couldn't really eat much. As my friend Bex said later "you'll eat it when you're hungry!". I skipped the tea/coffee allowance, and filled a bottle of water for the journey. I was pretty hungry when I got home, and had a bowl of broth my housemate had made, two slices of toast, and two rich tea biscuits. Wandering round town later, my stomach was grumbling by 3pm! I had to let it grumble though, and just stocked up on water, until dinner when we had huge baked potatoes and lots of beans. I costed this lot up, and together with the two further rich teas, it came to 98p.
I knew it was going to be hard as soon as I started to think about it - but I didn't know it would be this hard. I know how important food is to me; it's a comfort, a nice brew warms, cooking de-stresses me, snacking distracts me. I didn't realise how if you take all those things away though I'm pretty stuck!
I realised that on the one hand we're at a disadvantage doing this because, firstly we are not used to eating so little, and secondly we are constantly surrounded by temptation - the full cupboard, the pounds in my purse, the people offering me food. On the other hand, if I did decide I just couldn't do it, I could give up and eat a full meal; if I took it too far, and fainted through lack of food, there's plenty of medical help available to me.
I realised that on the one hand we're at a disadvantage doing this because, firstly we are not used to eating so little, and secondly we are constantly surrounded by temptation - the full cupboard, the pounds in my purse, the people offering me food. On the other hand, if I did decide I just couldn't do it, I could give up and eat a full meal; if I took it too far, and fainted through lack of food, there's plenty of medical help available to me.
So, that's just my musings from day 1! I'll try and continue through the week!
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