As students we are well used to eating on a budget and perhaps feeling a bit peckish every now and then, but what if you had just £1 to live on a day? Around 1.4 billion people around the World have to do just that, living below the poverty line and scraping together what they can to survive, even though there is enough food for everyone in the World. So how can we help?
Well, ‘Live Below the Line’ is a global fundraising campaign which challenges us to live on just £1 a day for 5 days in order to raise awareness for the cause. Run as part of the Global Poverty Project and receiving support from the United Nations, it is designed not only to let us experience exactly how little £1 a day can provide, but also to raise money through sponsorship.
It has proved to be incredibly popular already with individuals raising up to £17,000 and community groups, schools and universities getting involved. Several students at Exeter University have been participating and we are currently 4th on the national university leader board for money raised!
So you want to get involved but think £1 a day is impossible? Follow my shopping list and you’ll have no problem! These prices are taken from various value ranges at supermarkets and so vary by a few pence here and there:
Tea Bags – 27p
Skimmed Milk – 49p
Medium Sliced Wholemeal Bread – 47p
4 Pack of Oranges – 69p
500g Penne Pasta – 30p
Pasta Sauce – 39p
Jam – 29p
6 Eggs – 95p
Tinned Soups – 24p each (x3)
Tin of Sweetcorn – 32p
Low Fat Fruit Yoghurts – 33p
Total – £4.88
A general day could involve a breakfast of egg and toast/jam on toast with a cup of tea, lunch of soup/jam sandwich and a yoghurt/orange and a dinner of pasta with sauce and sweetcorn/scrambled egg and toast. As you can see, living off £1 a day does not allow a balanced diet or access to proper nutrition and if this menu leaves you feeling hungry after a few days, you can’t imagine how hungry 1.4 billion people must be.
So if this looks like the challenge for you, visit https://www.livebelowtheline.com to find out more. It’s running until 30th June so you have plenty of time to sign up and raise awareness. Good luck!