Shot@Life - Could you live on $1.50 a day like 1.4 billion people do?

Could you live on $1.50 a day like 1.4 billion people do?

May 7, 2012 BY Holly Pavlika

Our own backyard.

Not just third world countries.

Extreme poverty. Hunger.

It’s living in our own backyard.

1.46 million Americans are currently living below the poverty line.

What is the extreme poverty line? It’s living on less than $2 a day…for everything not just food and drink. How can any human being exist on that?

I’ve read that no super power remains a super power for long when its constituents are hungry. Think about it. Hungry people are at health risk and have little to no access to health care so they get sick. And even if they did have access, paying for medicines has to come from their food budget. Sick people can’t work. Children without proper nutrition don’t develop, as they should, so it affects learning. And they are our future. All of this affects our economic health. And I’m sure you see where all this leads…basically we’re screwed if we don’t fix it.

And we’re not alone. There are 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world.

So today, I’m starting a personal challenge. MOMEntum/Big Fuel is joining forces with Global Poverty Project in support of the United Nations Foundation Shot@Life to raise awareness and hopefully some money around this issue.

I’ve teamed up with a co-worker and there are two other teams signed up for the challenge. We are going to spend the next 5 days living below the line with close to 67,000 other people who have signed up to take the challenge from countries all over the world.

My co-worker/teammate is petrified at what we’re facing. Neither of us have ever had to face hunger personally other than when we pass the homeless person on the street or subway car. We give them our pocket change or food if we are carrying anything on us. We have not experienced true hunger.

I know I’m already looking at things differently. Every $1.50 bottle of soda I buy, I now look at as someone’s totally daily existence. My typical lunch (New York City prices) is equal if not more than my entire budget for the five days of the challenge. I break everything I buy into “how many people are existing on this today?”

We’ve done our shopping. Our pooled $15 was a very small bag consisting primarily of a loaf of bread, a carton of eggs, rice, a can of beans to share every day and a banana a day. We cooked it and portioned it out for the week. Our strategy is to split the small meals in half again and spread them out.

Our daily menu will look like this:

Breakfast:
1 hard boiled egg: 70 calories
1 slice of bread: 66 calories
Grape jelly: 50 calories

Snack:
1 slice of bread: 66 calories
Grape jelly: 50 calories

Lunch:
2 slices of bread: 132 calories
Grape jelly: 50 calories

Snack:
1 banana: 105 calories

Dinner:
Black beans: 50 calories
Rice: 250 calories

That’s a whole grand total of 889 calories.

This is going to be hard. Really hard. Harder than I thought when I signed on for this challenge.

But at the end of five days, I will eat normally again. I’ll probably once again $1.50 sodas and eat $7 lunches, but through different eyes.

1.4 billion people won’t be as fortunate. They’ll continue to deal with this every day.

This is crazy and we need to fix this.

All week, I will be tweeting, vlogging and posting my thoughts, feelings, hunger pangs and you can join me, donate money and vicariously follow me on Twitter @hollypavlika or on momentum.bigfuel.com

Are you interested in joining Shot@Life and Holly in the Live Below the Line Challenge? Join our team!