Live Below the Line?

I have been thinking about doing a challenge for the past six months or so.  I'm wanting to do something that connects me somehow with the 1.4billion people in the world who live on less than $1.50US a day.  This is both to help me understand a little more of what it must be like, raise awareness in others about how blessed we are in NZ, and also raise money to help end poverty in someone else's life.  Then just yesterday I came across this challenge by the Global Poverty Project!  The idea is to feed yourself on $2.25NZ a day....this is somewhere close to the figure for so many people in the world living in poverty, and yet so far from it as it is just for food - it doesn't include insurance, healthcare, housing, heating, water, and all the other things we take for granted in our day to day lives.  Just food.  This challenge is very similar to one I've been thinking of doing on my own...but putting off because it seemed too hard and too 'out there.'  So I've signed up for some more information.  It's in August.  Not a great time at all in NZ to be trying to live cheaply.  Not much fresh fruit.  Not much in the vege garden either (which I was hoping to use to supplement our food purchases!).  But hey, we'll see how we go. 

Then today, just to encourage me some more, I was reading about Eilleen doing the challenge in Australia.  She's one of the blogs I read from time to time.  You can read about her recent experiences Living Below the Line at her blog, Consumption Rebellion.

Time for us to have dinner.  And one I really enjoy tonight: chilli con carne and rice.  Yum.

Amy