Shot@Life - Living Below the Line: Hungry. Tired. Worth it.

Living Below the Line: Hungry. Tired. Worth it.

May 8, 2012 BY Devi R. Thomas

I survived day one of living below the line. It wasn’t easy. But it is worth it. For breakfast, I had planned a banana (20 cents) and 2 homemade steamed rice cakes (10 cents each)!

I knew I would need every piece of this meal to get me through to my lunch of chickpeas and rice. As I peeled my banana , my 1 year-old son looked up at me and asked for a bite. As my stomach growled, I broke off half of my banana for him. Then, I thought “Since he took a piece of my banana, can I just grab another one?” Well, no, because moms living below the poverty line have to make sacrifices to feed their children. That $1.50 a day can only go so far. Moms around the world don’t always have the option to just peel another banana, or go in the pantry and grab another snack.

After just one day of living below the poverty line, I’m starting to realize how hard it must be for mothers’ around the world who would do anything to prevent their children from going hungry. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to live on this little amount of food, feeling malnourished and at risk of getting sick. What if my son got sick and I had to spend $1 on medical expenses? That would cut into the money we have for food and I might not have even had one banana for the both of us.

This experience is reminding me of why we need to increase access to life-saving vaccines for children around the world, because moms can only do so much to protect their children with only $1.50 a day. I’m reminded of why we need the Shot@Life campaign and the importance of our implementing partners who are already saving lives and improving the health of millions of children around the world every day.

By the time dinner came around, I was famished. This a chick pea salad that was made to feed me and two of my family members who are doing the challenge with me. Each serving of this chick pea salad cost 60 cents and it has garden-grown tomatoes! This held me over through the night and I’m ready to start day two of the challenge…

Keep up with my thoughts and progress as I live below the line through @shotatlife, @devithomas and on Facebook. Are you up for the challenge? Sign up for Live Below the Line with Shot@Life!