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 :)

get back on that horse!

What kind of crazy person would attempt to live below the poverty line, be unable to do it and then try do it AGAIN?

Guilty as charged.

From reading below you may know that a little while ago I attempted to live below the poverty line ($1.25 US = $2.02 AUD) for a month and had to stop due to exams. But now I am doing it again. I am going to live on $2 a day for all my food expenses, for 30 days, starting tomorrow (Thursday, 8th July). I will complete my challenge on the 6th of August and I am doing it properly.

No weekends off. No drinking. Nothing.

From August 2nd to August 6th, the Global Poverty Project and the Oaktree Foundation are inviting Australians to feed themselves on just $2 a day to increase their understanding of the obstacles faced by those currently living in extreme poverty. This is what has inspired me to do it.

BUT REALLY : WHY????

Am I just stupid?

Well yes.

But mostly because I am, and always have been, passionate about ending extreme poverty. I believe it is the most unfair and inhumane thing ever. I believe our generation is the generation to end it. And I believe it is my responsibility, not even a choice, as a lucky citizen of the developed world, to do everything I can to end it.

1.4 billion people live on less than $2 a day.

That's 60 times the population of Australia.

Thats 1.4 billion people that have malnutrition.

That's 1.4 billion people that have to make heart wrenching choices every single day.

That's 1.4 billion people that probably won't experience the amazing taste of our favourite foods.

That's 1.4 billion people that experience a restriction on living their lives properly.

When we have enough resources to feed the world 1.5 times over, you can kind of start to see the unfairness.

I am not doing this challenge to go hungry.

I am doing it to understand what I am fighting for. To understand the lack of choice. The insecurity and living with the fact that if anything happens, I cannot just pay for what I want. That if I am out and I am hungry, I can't just buy some fast food. That if I feel like dessert, I can't just get it because I want it.

And this is only a glimpse. Imagine living on $2 a day for ALL expenses. Imagine your child falling sick and having to choose between a weeks food for your children and healthcare. And imagine not being able to even consider an education due to these issues.

It is just so unfair and ridiculous and horrific.

And that is why I am doing it.

To understand it myself and to raise awareness.

I think this campaign is fantastic because it really breaks the barrier between the two worlds and people around us can empathise and be more willing to donate, because someone close to home is suffering!

So this time I am going to do the challenge a little differently.

Unlike everyone that will be doing the challenge in August, I am not buying all my food at the beginning and living off that. I am following Richard Flemmings lead (www.extremepovertydiet.com) and creating cheap food for myself.

An example:

Breakfast:

Oats, Peanut butter scoop

Lunch:

Lentils, rice

Dinner:

Sweet potato/curry soup

Tomorrows total comes to $1.36 so I may allow myself a 14c banana. Pretty exciting stuff.

Tips:

- Shop at markets (CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP)

- Try to eat 4-5 small meals a day

- Buy oats!!! 1c for my entire breakfast!

So keep reading my updates, sign up yourself (www.livebelowtheline.com) and sponsor me!!! :)

www.everydayhero.com.au/priyani_madan

ps. A really great quote I found....

All people smile in the same language.

~ Anne Frank

injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Education is the most powerful method which you can use to change the world.

~ Nelson Mandela

In a weird way I miss living on $1.25 US a day. Not because I miss being hungry (in fact I have been eating non stop), but because I miss thinking about poverty and knowing that I have to make change, ALL the time. Being hungry was a constant reminder that something is wrong in this world and that I HAVE to do something to make change.

I have been feeling a lot of helplessness lately. Just because there is so much MORE I could be doing with my time than learning about finance or studying for exams. I totally understand how important it is, but really, I just want to be out doing something meaningful. In fact ever since the roadtrip (Make Poverty History Roadtrip 2010), I have felt like all I should be doing is going out and getting signatures or organizing accommodation or dealing with itinerary issues or street campaigning or participating in a flash mob or door knocking - something meaningful and worthwhile.

Until now, post-RT depression has not hit me. But I REALLY really miss the roadtrip. I miss all the passion and enthusiasm, the chanting, the willingness to make change, the cause that has bonded all us young people together to want to do something about the injustice that is occurring. I miss heated discussions about poverty in bus trips, I miss educating ourselves on the asks, I miss waking up to a day full of action and going to sleep buzzing, knowing how worthwhile my day was. I miss arriving in Canberra and uniting with 1000 other young people who are there for the same reason. I miss people knowing and wanting to make change and understanding that our life is not just about money or university or a career - that there is something so much bigger than us.

Every single person on the roadtrip was amazing. And because of us, the Act toEnd Poverty has been passed in the House of Reps!! (sign at www.acttoendpoverty.com.au)

Before, during and after the MPH Roadtrip, we were asking everyone to sign this petition; a petition that was a call to the Australian Parliament to pass the following motion:

We reaffirm our pledge, first made in the year 2000, that we will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion are currently subjected.

With only five years until the international goals to address extreme poverty are due, there is now an urgent need to recommit ourselves to this task. We can and will do our fair share to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals. Our actions of the last twenty years have already succeeded in halving rates of extreme poverty. Within a generation we can and will make poverty history.

This act had a goal of 40,000 signatures. We achieved over 50,000 by the end of the week, and have now increased this goal to 100,000 signatures.

Our life-changing roadtrip was personally thanked in Australian Parliament on the 31st of May 2010 at 9.15pm. I am so proud and so privileged to have been part of something so amazing and that has made such an enormous impact on Australia and the world.

All three politicians that spoke, spoke with such passion and so positively of this movement - they even ran out of time speaking. Greg Hunt, MP for Flinders and Opposition Minister for climate change spoke incredibly about how, although there may be minor disputes on aid, we need to come together as a country to battle poverty. His speech really struck me, especially:

We will have our points of disagreement over specific programs or quantum or effectiveness, but the direction, the heft, the weight, of history is about Australia as a country contributing to the achievement and improvement of the Millennium Development Goals. These are profound human tasks and responsibilities.

..... We are amongst the very fortunate few in all of history. So many people for so much time have lived in such abject poverty that to live as we do, with all the accoutrements of the modern age—whether it is lighting, refrigeration, hygiene or any of these things—means it is our task, our duty, our responsibility, to do all that we can to provide a way forward for others.

The video of this session can be viewed at: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6018/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=3842

This roadtrip has changed me as a person. It has allowed me to gain confidence in myself like never before - I cannot believe all that we have achieved, and yet we are so young. I believe in myself more than I did before, all thanks to the amazing, encouraging and passionate ambassadors on the trip.

Every single person that made this trip possible, on any level, deserves to be thanked - I admire you! We are all part of something bigger, something meaningful. We really are young people working together to end global poverty. Our group of young, passionate and mobile ambassadors has illustrated to the government that we will not let this issue die. We have educated people all around Australia, we have sparked discussion and debate, we have created an amazing ripple effect all over the country. We are fighting for justice. We are helping to create a change that is going down in the history of Australia. We are helping to make history in the world, in something so important and so much bigger than we could ever imagine. We are helping to make poverty history.

We really are.

And the fact that we now believe that our generation can and will eradicate extreme poverty is the most amazing feeling.

So post-roadtrip I jumped straight into organizing Live Below the Line (new campaign name for dollar25) and so didn't stop for a break. So I think that is why it is hitting me now.

Considering differing next semester/year to do something with myself. Something worthwhile. Thoughts?

Anyway, get involved with our campaign, Live Below The Line, and you too can experience living on $1.25 US ($2 AUD) a day. It is a really humbling experience. www.livebelowtheline.com/oaktree

By living on $2 a day, you'll help Australians understand the obstacles faced by those currently living in extreme poverty. Take the challenge from 2nd-6th August and raise money for life changing education programs.

All the money from the Oaktree Foundation will go towards opening a school in a village in remote Papua New Guinea that has not had education for fifteen years.

Remember that we can make change.

Our actions can change the world, and are changing the world.

As one person you can make a difference, but as a group, you can change the world.

~ Bilaal Rajan, a 13 year old boy that has raised more than five million dollars and started campaigning at four years old (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10205486.stm)

Day 4 - "good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others."

Who inspires YOU?

And who is inspired by you?

Imagine how many people have been inspired by us, if we have done a good deed or made someones day. Imagine the knock on effect we could have had on someones life, without even realizing.

We all have the ability to inspire others, whether it is inspiring someone to do something they never thought they would, inspiring a lifestyle choice, a way of living, or just being inspired to be a better person. I found so many sites on the internet, "Top 10 ways to inspire people", "8 tips to inspiring people" - but I think that really, in my personal opinion, there is no formula. We just need to be the best possible people we can be. Life is so short, and so unstable, so unpredictable, and it is not like anyone gets out alive anyway, so we need to forget all the little things and troubles, and focus on happiness, of our own and of everyone else's.

Do what you love - fuck the rest.

~ Little Miss Sunshine

One person that has inspired me to be a better person is Tom O'Connor.... On the roadtrip (the Make Poverty History Roadtrip 2010) we had run out of toilet paper, and so my group and I went to Coles to buy some. Tom was in our bus and so he and I went inside. I have never seen someone be SO nice and so considerate to the checkout girl. I know it is only a really little thing, but the way that Tom was so genuinely kind, and used her name, and asked about her day - I know, if I was her, it would have made my day. Amidst all the other angry customers, the few nice ones always stand out.

Ever since then, I have tried to be a nicer, kinder person to anyone and everyone I come across, because it just makes life that much better. I know how little his action was, but it was such an eye-opener to me, and I am now forever inspired by his one action to be a better person.

Another group of people that inspired (and continue to inspire) me was my group on the roadtrip. Alex T, Alex C, Kate, Maddy, Stevie, Jackie and Jen - WOW. No words could explain my love for them. Every single one of these girls has inspired me to be a better person and have helped me believe in myself. They are each so unique and so intelligent and I feel like the luckiest group leader ever. They helped me whenever I needed and always tried to face up to the difficulties the trip threw at us.

And every single person at Oaktree inspires me. The passion that such young people have for making a difference is incredible. It is the best feeling in the world being part of such an amazing organization - I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Today was really difficult dollar25 wise (as everyday seems to be). I took the day off uni, to study, which totally failed. I started feeling weak because of the lack of food, and so I slept for a majority of the day. I was also told that because of OH&S I am not allowed to do this challenge for a month! Or I will fall sick. Which is awful, because I really wanted to. Just quietly, I am kind of relieved though.

But as much as I am hating this, I just keep thinking - 1.4 billion people (that is one FIFTH of the worlds population) is living like this every single day. And they have no other choice. This is a sickening, awful, aggravating and saddening thought. It is the most unjust, unfair thing in the world and therefore ending poverty should be the highest priority of every developed nation.

Poverty of course is a crime. Poverty is a discrimination. Poverty is worse than racism. Poverty is a social injustice. Poverty is a prison. Poverty is a destruction of human dignity. Poverty is a condemnation to death. I dream of that time when poverty is ended and I know it will be during my lifetime!

~Alphonse Toussaint

Let's change the world.

Let's make history.

Let's make poverty history.

ps. I will be setting up a sponsorship page soon to sponsor my starving of myself. [WATCH THIS SPACE]