day 27./ i'd like 2 and a half days of food with fries thanks. oh. i mean a cheeseburger meal.

This week, 1,500 Australians are living on $2 a day for all food expenses to raise money and awareness for the 1.4 billion people that live in extreme poverty. It is an amazing initiative and we have raised over $250,000 already. To find out more info, go to the Live Below the Line website, where you can learn about the issues and sign up yourself.

Alternatively, you can sponsor my efforts by credit card, direct debit or cash. Email me for details at p.madan@theoaktree.org.

So my last post was kind of depressing and I am ashamed of myself for it very much. Sure, I am only human. Sure, I am only 18, have been brought up in a wealthy household, went to a private school and enjoy designer brands, and am purposely putting myself on less than $2 a day and it is hard. Sure, I should be suffering and be allowed to complain.

But what really gets me is that 1.4 billion people (thats 60 times Australia's population) do this every single day, and not just for food.

So my experience is only a tiny, minuscule snapshot of what reality is like for one fifths of the worlds population. So really, I should suck it up and deal with it.

But, this experience has taught me that extreme poverty is a barely liveable condition that effects one so, so much. It is an awful way of living and should not even be allowed to exist on our planet. The fact that it does makes me sick. The fact that we have the resources to fix this, makes it worse. And the fact that so many people are so ignorant to these issues and can live and not do anything about it, just makes me so angry and yet so, so sad.

27 days in and I am always tired. I never have energy or I swing into a mood of hyper activeness. I can't concentrate at uni. I can't do anything that requires too much strength. I can definitely not work to my best ability or communicate properly either (my friends would agree). It has come to a point where I have realized that if one wanted to live properly, be educated and work and enjoy proper relationships and just even enjoy a day of life, they would not be able to do it on this much money, or less. It is not just poverty, it is extreme poverty. And it is awful.

We are so lucky, living in the world we do, the way we do. Yet it is so, so by chance that we were bought into this world, and not into a family who fights for food everyday, or who cannot afford to send their children to school. We take it so for granted that we get up in a comfortable bed in the morning, fill our stomachs up with food and then go to work, or uni or school. And yet what do we do? We complain. We complain we don't have the new iphone. We complain we haven't eaten since lunch. We complain we don't have enough time. Or too much homework. Or that we hate the city.

Well, why not look at the positives? Why not turn it around and say, hey, sure I don't have enough time, but I LOVE what I am doing, so who cares? Or, hey, I have heaps of homework, but look at where it will get me? Or hey, the city may suck, but it is also pretty beautiful, no?

Or why not do a good deed? Or something nice for someone else?

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

~ Dalai Lama

I gave directions to an old man the other day, and a guy who had been looking came past and said, "it's nice doing something nice, isn't it?"

Good deeds are so underrated. And sure, we may have to put ourselves second, but what is wrong with that? There is so much more than this world that we live in, there is so much beyond US, beyond our own selves, so much we can learn and that we can do. And there is just an enormous amount of impact we can have on other people's lives.

In a scrubs episode I was watching, it showed how people had done good deeds for others, for example, Turk had given up the only night he had to himself, to spend time with his best friend JD. And he asked himself, when he had so much work leftover that he needed to do and was yelled at by his boss, was it worth it?

The same thing happened to me. I had had 3 exams in a row and was looking forward to finishing early at work, because I was dead tired, hungry and stressed, but when I saw that my friend, who was closing and finishing really late had an exam the next day, I offered to close for her. I went home after midnight. And that's when you ask yourself, was it worth it?

Well yes. For Turk it was worth it because he saw his friend JD happier than he had been in ages. For me it was worth it because when I went to my friends singing exam the next day and heard her perform, I knew that I had made the right choice.

Because in order to make the world a better place and rewind all the cruelty, unfairness and sadness that humans have brought about in the world, we must start with ourselves. We must help others, and take a little less and give a little more, because this will not only make others happier, but it will also improve our own personal well being and happiness.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

~ Buddha

Day 25./ exhausted; about to pass out; kindof over it;

underfed; malnutrition; unsatisfied;

lacking energy; tired; weak;

way, way too many work shifts;

way too many (and too early) uni shifts;

way too much oaktree work;

i can't even pretend this is fun anymore.

Day 15./ halfway there.

Halfway there.

A whole fifteen days to go.

Halfway there.

It feels like it has been, and will be, an eternity.

Halfway there.

Until I can make choices again.

Halfway there.

And I am free, free to make choices and free to eat whatever I please, whenever I please.

Halfway there.

Yet I feel so bad, as noone living in poverty is ever 'halfway there'.

Halfway there.

And I have already learnt so much and gained so much knowledge.

Halfway there.

And I have a greater understanding of the struggle of poverty.

Halfway there.

And I now know that never, ever in my life will I ignore the issue of extreme poverty.

Halfway there.

And I am now sure that this is my passion and I will never give up fighting until extreme poverty is eradicated.

Halfway there.

And all my friends are now aware of my struggle, and more aware of the struggle of extreme poverty.

Halfway there.

I have educated so many people and will continue to.

Halfway there.

And I am sure we can eradicate extreme poverty within our lifetime.

(almost) Halfway there.

To my aim of $500.

Halfway there.

To 10 disadvantaged kids being sent to school for 6 months in Cambodia.

Halfway there.

To 2.5 teachers being educated and trained for 1 year.

Halfway there.

And you can donate here by credit card, or see me for cash/direct debit donations.

Halfway there.

And your support will help me complete my challenge.

Halfway there.

And I'm almost there.

Day 13./ so much further to go.

At the restaurant I work at, TGI Fridays, there has been many alterations to our menu and the new menu was due to be launched today. Last night, staff were expected to attend a session where we learnt about the new foods - but we also had to taste them.

Although I did not want to at all, it was expected of me to taste the food, as the training at Fridays is vigorous and we must be well informed and equipped with knowledge, to answer any questions or concerns customers have. Hence, I had a few bites of a new burger, some onion rings and fries, a taste of a new sandwich, some pasta and a taste of the new key lime pie. I tried to limit it, however, I was told that I was expected to taste the food, and that they would be disappointed if I did not.

~

Today, with the Victorian manager of LBL, we took a look at a venue that we may be holding our final event at. This was very exciting, but it was a long, tiring day. After much talk of food and sponsorships, I was starving and craving a burger. Steph even offered to buy me one as a celebration present but I couldn't do it. As I caught the bus, the girl sitting next to me was digging into delicious Lord of the Fries fries, with a tasty sauce on top. The smell was driving my crazy, however I did bring my lentils with me. As I started eating my lentils, the lack of choice, the lack of taste and the repetitiveness of my diet hit me hard.

Although I was filling up on lentils, no way at all, did they satisfy me. The rice and lentils tasted like nothing and the texture was bland. I had had the same thing for the past 13 days and it was too much. I couldn't even eat them anymore. All I wanted were the fries, but I was restricted and I couldn't. This is what poverty is. It is not a matter of choice, or a matter of 'wanting' or giving into ones desires. It is a complete, total restriction and wall around the way one lives. It is an inhumane way of living. And I feel bad complaining about my difficulty, as 1.4 billion people do this in much worse conditions than I am living in, every single day. It's not fair.

And still there are 17 days to go. I am not even half way there. I thought I was going okay, but I am not. Every day is difficult and although I am healthier and have lost weight (2 kgs since I started), it is not a way one should live.

However, I will keep battling because what I am experiencing is just a snippet of real poverty and I want to do as much as I possibly can to ensure I am contributing to ending extreme poverty.

You can too.

Sign up to LBL to undertake the challenge for the first week of August.

Sponsor me by credit card here, or email me for direct debit/cash inquiries.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

~Nelson Mandela

Day 12./ hand made, fair trade cookies.

My friend and I made cookies. Affordable, delicious, fair trade chocolate chip cookies.

And we didn't even go by a recipe.

Here is ours:

Ingredients.

- 100g butter (91c)

- 3/4 cup plain flour (22c)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar (3c)

- 2 tbls white sugar (1c)

- 1 egg (53c)

- 1 tsp bi carb soda (6c)

- 1/4 of a block of cadbury chocolate (117c)

Method.

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan forced).

2. Ensure the butter is soft (microwave for 15-30 secs).

3. Add everything except the egg together and knead with hands! Very messy but lots of fun.

4. Crack the egg in a separate bowl and whisk.

5. Add with everything else and mix together until a thick gooey paste is made.

6. With a sharp knife, chop the chocolate into tiny pieces and mix in with everything else.

7. Grease a baking tray and put slightly larger than golf ball sized portions of the mix on it.

8. Bake for 15 minutes.

Makes 9 cookies at 33c each.

Day 11./ 50c of food + $1.50 of cheap wine.

Yes that's right. Day 10 ended with $1.50 of cheap, cheap wine. Fruity Lexia to be specific, and 6.5 whole standard drinks of it.

And that, plus 50c worth of food for the day and not eating as much as usual for the past 10 days resulted in very, very fun times.

The moral of the story...

I am never paying endless amounts of money for alcohol again!

Doing this challenge has really made me realized how much of our purchases are unnecessary and are hurting our bank accounts, our health and the amount of money that we could be using on more meaningful purposes. The food I have been eating has filled me up adequately, and yet I have been living on so, SO much less than what I would normally eat.

And then this excessive purchasing and consumption leads to more wastage and creates more inequality in our world. IT IS SO UNFAIR. People are dying every day because they cannot even afford enough food to keep themselves alive, and here we are, purchasing things we don't need and buying food we are not even hungry enough to eat and then it all ends up in the bin. As I said in an earlier post, $5.2 BILLION of FOOD are wasted EVERY YEAR in AUSTRALIA ALONE - and yet 1.4 billion people are living on less than $2 (AUD) a day.

Below is the bin at TGI Fridays and below that is a meal, that looks like it could be brand new and fresh for someone to eat, but had to be thrown away, into the bin, because someone bought it and wasted it.

It is just ridiculous and disgusting. I hate seeing the bin full of food and I HATE throwing the food away, and even after working there for so, so long, I have not become immune to this hate. This campaign has made me so much more aware of it though.

So, if living off $2 a day is keeping me alive, who cares that people have to live off that everyday?

Shouldn't it be easy then?

Well, no.

Firstly, the food is enough, but quite often, never fulfilling or satisfying. It never nourishes me and it always leaves me still a little hungry.

Secondly, the food is tasteless and monotonous. As wealthy citizens of the world, we love eating big, hearty meals full of flavours and taste. And imagine not being able to taste that. Imagine your favorite food tasting like bland rice.

Thirdly, the restriction and freedom that this has put on my life is immense. I cannot grab a bite to eat at the food court, I cannot buy myself lunch if I have left it at home, I cannot have a quick muffin from the new muffin shop even though they look so DIVINE. Because I can't afford it. And because I am restricted by my budget.

Forthly, it restricts your social life! This sounds awful but it is true. Grabbing a family meal at a restaurant provokes sympathy stares and everyone negotiating with me, "but if we give you food it doesn't count, right?" I can no longer go for a coffee, have a dinner, or anything else involving food - which is a lot!

Fifthly, and most importantly, those living below $2 live for ALL expenses, not just food. I'm talking transport, technology (or lack of), healthcare, schooling, shelter, etc. Imagine your child falling sick, and having to choose between life saving medication, and a weeks worth of food for the family.

So support the cause.

If you love me / support my initiative / like what I am doing, please sponsor me!

You can sponsor me by credit card here, or email me at p.madan@theoaktree.org for direct debit details. OR meet up with me and give me some cash :)

I really need more donations, so if anyone donates in the next 72 hours, I will make them cookies! And I'm not even joking.

All the money will be going towards life changing education systems and reopening schools in rural areas in Cambodia. You can read about that on my sponsor page, here.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE CAUSE and HELP ME OUT :)

Day 7./ oh, hunger.

I spent all day today in the Oaktree office. Waking up at 8am, I had a tea to keep me going, oates at around 11am and lunch at 3pm. Although the food was filling, by the time dinner came around I was starving. We were all going out for dinner (my family, aunt, uncles and grandma who is visiting from India) for my mums birthday, to TGI Fridays of all places! I was going to meet my family there and they were going to bring my soup for me, so that I could eat the soup while they all gorged on delicious, fatty filled foods.

The delicious fatty foods:

One problem. They forgot my dinner.

LUCKILY I work there and my boss gave me 65c (my normal dinner budget) worth of fries with honey mustard (65c worth of food at cost price). This is actually what I had been craving on every shift. Was it worth it? Well yes and no. It tasted great but it wasn't everything I had hoped it would be. Soup would have been nice! Although I am so grateful to my boss for the cheap dinner!

My dinner:

However, it was still so difficult after finishing my fries, just looking at everyones meals and how much I would just love to eat them. The temptation was now staring me right in the face. The lack of freedom. The restriction. It was all so, so real. And even those few hours that we were there was torture.

Imagine a lifetime of it. Imagine a lifetime of restriction. A lifetime of no choice. A lifetime of hunger and uncertainty and vulnerability.

This is all it should be. An imagination. It should not be a reality.

I cannot wait for the day when I talk to my grandchildren about poverty and what it was like and how people lived, and they will exclaim and be unable to comprehend how the world let this sick reality exist.

Let's fix it.

I mean, why wouldn't you?

So 7 days in - how am I feeling?

Hungry.

Longing for taste.

Monotonous.

Healthier.

Skinnier.

Desiring change (in meals), but tolerating the repetition.

Simpler.

Restricted.

I cannot believe there are still 23 days left.

But I am doing it because I care. And because I am unhappy with how lucky I am and I am enjoying constantly thinking about poverty and keeping myself aware of the issue of poverty and that every moment of my life that goes by, I dedicate to ending extreme poverty. Dedicate to making history.

To making poverty history.