Somedays 3:00 pm hits and I feel like a physical wall has dropped down on me; eager to get my blood sugar back up I head to Kiva's kitchen and grab a nutrition bar to help get me through the rest of the day, but not this week.
This week, a team of Kivans and myself are participating in Live Below the Line (LBL), an annual event where participants live on $1.50 for food and drink each day for five days to raise awareness for extreme poverty. With 1.2 billion people still living below the global poverty line it's an important issue to raise and one I'm proud to be a part of. Kiva is an LBL partner, meaning you can raise donations for Kiva by taking the LBL challenge.
It's now Day 3 and we're going strong, here are some highlights from our week:
Radhika and Claire show off what one week of food for $7.50 looks like to them.
That doesn’t look so bad!
Radhika and Claire show off what one week of food for $7.50 looks like to them.That doesn’t look so bad! There have been some bumps along the way being restricted to such limited resources. Planning is important, but accidents still happen. Catherine struggled on Day 2:
“This morning, when pouring out the juice from my canned veggies, I accidentally poured the whole can down the drain. I thought about buying a new one but realized that's not how it works for people actually living below the line. It was a big reminder that my mind just immediately goes to spending money to fix my problems. Yikes! That was an eye opener.”
When you can only eat $1.50 per day, it dramatically changes the way you think about food or your day. You are hungry more often and more quickly, but you have no choice but to wait to eat. I feel as if my brain function has started to decrease throughout the day as I get hungrier and hungrier. I have to ask people to repeat things, especially when I’m tired after a long day.
When you can’t eat whatever and whenever you want, large parts of your day are spent thinking about your next meal. On the other hand, I feel healthier having cut out processed foods, meat and sugar. At bedtime I’m actually tired and fall asleep instantly.
We're over halfway done with LBL and it’s been a tremendous experience thus far. It’s impossible to replicate how others struggle, but this event makes some of the challenges people face each day more tangible and helps light a fire in people to demand change.
You can still join in Live Below the Line, visit Kiva’s page and sign up to challenge yourself to help end extreme poverty.
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