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To help stop poverty, this is what I’m eating this week

Julie Ulbricht

by Julie Ulbricht

08 May 05:35am

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Filed under: Food, Groceries, Live Below The Line, Poverty

71 comments

Yesterday, along with thousands of other Australians, I began the Live Below the Line challenge. The idea is to live on just $10 worth of food from Monday to Friday.

Meagre harvest… $8.61 worth of mind-numbingly bland food. Author's pic.

Why? To stand in solidarity with the 1.3 billion people who live in extreme poverty, which is calculated by the World Bank as living on what you can buy for two Australian dollars per day. Considering the average Australian household’s weekly spend for food is around $200, and a skim latte can set you back $3.50, you can see living on $10 for the week is quite an undertaking.

So, what did I do with my $10? Yesterday, I took myself off to the supermarket and bought the following:

- Rolled oats
- Two pears
- Two carrots
- Three brushed potatoes
- A soup pack on sale for $1 including celery, a turnip, a couple of potatoes, an onion and carrots
- Ten green tea bags
- And a packet of red lentils

My total came to $8.61.

I decided to buy oats as they are quite filling and low GI. Later, I plan to puree the pears, to add some sweetener to my porridge.

Next, I knew I was going to need some sort of hot beverage, so I bought green tea. For $1.89, you can get ten tea bags, which allows two per day, and I recycle the bags throughout the day.

On Monday morning, I made vegetable soup to last for the week. I “sweated” the onions in water, added the lentils – great for protein and bulking up the meal – and threw chopped veggies in. I have frozen half the soup and refrigerated the rest. I plan to eat soup for lunch and dinner each day.

Some people have asked if the $10 has to cover things like clean water or energy, and I’m grateful it doesn’t! I have access to water, a gas stove, and all of my cooking utensils. But for those who live in extreme poverty, this small amount of money is not just for food. It needs to stretch across shelter, health care, education, clean water and sanitation, so this experience doesn’t truly compare.

Still, so far, my take out is this: it doesn’t make sense for anyone to suffer from hunger in 2012, and to be lacking in the basic choices and opportunities we have. Taking the Live Below the Line challenge presents a great opportunity to build empathy for the world’s poorest.

When I saw extreme poverty first hand, I was impacted for life. It was difficult to express what it means to live in abject poverty to those who haven’t seen it.

Live Below the Line is also a good way to start a meaningful conversation about what can be done about the number of people who go to bed hungry each night. I, along with many, ask why is it still the case that a fifth of the world’s population live like “that”, when I live like “this”?

Haven’t enough children been sponsored and enough celebrities put on benefit concerts? It is easy to become jaded because the end of poverty isn’t just about encouraging more individuals to give more donations to more causes abroad.

Rather, making poverty history can only be realised if our focus is to change the global systems, policies and structures that keep the poor, poor. Things like trade rules, our food production system and considering how better to spend our foreign aid.

And that’s what I’ll be pondering as I eat my porridge without brown sugar and pine for cracked pepper on my soup.

Julie Ulbricht is a writer who is particularly interested in politics, international affairs and humanitarian issues. She tweets at @Julie_Ulbricht

Sponsor Julie for Live Below the Line here.

Most commented

71 comments

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    • Arthur says:

      07:29am | 08/05/12

      This campaign makes as much sense as the ridiculous turn your lights off four an hour.

      The world is horrendously, horribly, tragically overpopulated. If you choose to ignore this we may as well do nothing. Eat a hamburger, drive your fast car, live in luxury.

      I guess if it makes you feel better about the hopelessness of governments ignoring the blinding obvious, eat your oats.

      Reply

    • Fred says:

      01:01pm | 08/05/12

      +1.

      The author looks very attractive. I say she’s primarily doing it so that she remains so.

      When are people going to past that it’s somehow a right to breed too much?

    • Arthur says:

      01:47pm | 08/05/12

      “very attractive”

      I’m with you there Fred.

    • jaded and cynical says:

      07:39am | 08/05/12

      Living in a remote Indigenous community, I had to smirk when I saw what you bought for 10 dollars. I estimate that it would cost closer to 20 here, without the green tea. For ten dollars a week, I’m not sure what one could eat here.

      Reply

    • centurion48 says:

      08:38am | 08/05/12

      But the rent is cheaper. For all the bleating about cost of food in remote areas, it still does not come close to the cost of trying to survive in a capital city, especially Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. Have a look through the Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys on household expenses.

      At least you have room for a community garden. Try gardening in a high-rise block of flats.

    • TJ says:

      09:37am | 08/05/12

      Yeah jaded, pipe down!

      I pay $515 a week for a shoebox in Sydney.

      $515 a week in Threeheadville would probably get me a 5 bedroom house on 20 acres.

      Boo hoo to your green tea.

    • jase says:

      11:18am | 08/05/12

      jaded and cynical, The welfare payments are far greater than $10 per week, it would be very reasonable to say that with the handouts & land rights money on offer many of these indigenous actually have access to more money than many others who are doing it tough. They choose to live in these ridiculously remote locations, where the cost of anything is going to be expensive simply because of its remoteness.

    • jaded and cynical says:

      05:10pm | 08/05/12

      The rent may be cheaper, but in the same way that these people choose to live on their traditional lands, or “Threeheadville” as TJ so nicely put it, you choose to live in those areas too. I grew up in Brisbane and have also lived in Cairns, so I know how much it costs to live there. Don’t bleat about your rent when it is your choice to live in the latte-sipping inner suburbs. Once you have been outside your comfort zone, you will realise that you don’t know all that you think you do. Land rights money is not something that every community has access to, and as for welfare handouts, this town is full of people willing to work, and work hard.
      As for the community garden, we have one, and it is slow going as the entire community is based on sand. And lastly, to the author at least you are actually doing something instead of just bleating. Awareness raising is always a good start. Good luck - you will be dying for a decent meal at the end of it!

    • Sam says:

      08:03am | 08/05/12

      While i applaud your efforts, I think Id be starving to death on day 2, let alone not enjoying life after the first breakfast!
      I could live without the tea though

      Reply

    • Hank says:

      08:11am | 08/05/12

      Pulling yourself out of your little inner city comfort zone for a week will do little or nothing for this cause.  The political and social complexities of many countries in Africa and Asia stricken by poverty go way beyond the seemingly simple issue of putting enough food on ones plate.  Mabye the reason so many of us find it difficult to jump on board with these noble but somewhat naive charities/programmes is that we see the deeply entrenched, greedly self destruction of many of the societies in a violent grab for power and things like natural resources.  Thanks but Ill stick to my steak.

      Reply

    • Arthur says:

      12:54pm | 08/05/12

      What about over population Hank?

    • nihonin says:

      01:52pm | 08/05/12

      Arthur says:

        01:54pm | 08/05/12

        What about over population Hank?

      You yourself can make a start on it Arthur.

    • Arthur says:

      03:24pm | 08/05/12

      “You yourself can make a start on it Arthur.”

      What the hell does that mean? Are you suggesting I kill myself you moron?

    • nihonin says:

      05:49pm | 08/05/12

      Arthur says:

        04:24pm | 08/05/12

        “You yourself can make a start on it Arthur.”

        What the hell does that mean? Are you suggesting I kill myself you moron?

      Think bigger picture, did I say you should kill yourself (let me look….......ummm no), what about a vasectomy or perhaps contraception.  You have some issues Arthur, maybe you should take my advice and not reproduce.

    • thatmosis says:

      08:17am | 08/05/12

      Another exercise in futility, most pensioners once they have paid their utility bills and whatever live on not much more that that anyway. Why starve yourself for no reason except to get that warm fuzzy feeling and be able to brag to your friends, real or imaginary. Why not do something that would really help like take a pensioner in once a week for a decent meal at your expense, Im sure there is an older persons home close to where you live, that makes more sense to me than this airy fairy goody goody nonsense.

      Reply

    • Sam says:

      09:01am | 08/05/12

      whilst agreed nothing will really come of this excersice, comeon, pensioners are not on $10 a week for food, if thats all they have left they really need to take a look at the lifestyle they lead. Im not saying its easy, but its a taxpayer funded lifestyle, dont expect luxuries

    • Red says:

      10:31am | 08/05/12

      @Sam - Tax payer funded lifestyle? Just who do you think worked most of their lives and paid taxes for those pensions? Of four grandparents, all of whom worked from under 18, only one is alive to enjoy her “taxpayer funded lifestyle” both my Grandfathers died so you could have the freedom to look down on others, and one Grandmother died just before she was old enough to retire.

      You are either a child or ignorant if you think a little over $350 a week stretches far after rent, utilities, travel and medical costs. Remember, the elderly spend a great deal on things for illness, aches and pains.

      You say they shouldn’t expect luxuries. Why not? Why shouldn’t Grandma, who gave her husband for your lifestyle, who worked 51 years of her own life, who was told by government that she didn’t need superannuation because the extra taxes she was paying would look after her in her old age, have a luxury or two? Her taxes paid for your schooling, your dentist visits as a child, your doctor’s visits, even the roads you drive on to go to work to pay your own taxes.

    • RyaN says:

      10:44am | 08/05/12

      @thatmosis: Its all en-vogue and you can tell your leftie commo friends at the next dinner party just how much weight you have lost while standing in solidarity with people you know absolutely NOTHING about.
      What a blatant insult to these people.

    • Jane2 says:

      11:46am | 08/05/12

      @Red, why is she paying rent? That is an indication that she has mismanged her finances her entire life.

      And no, the pension is not there to cover luxuries its there to cover existance.

      Btw Mum and all her friends manage to go on overseas trips when all they recieve is the old age pension. Mum even had a hot water system and the garage door die within 6 months of each other but she knows how to save and budget so these werent major disasters, they just reduced her savings.

    • Sam says:

      12:14pm | 08/05/12

      Ryan, you can play the ‘they paid taxes all their life card’ as much s you want, but at the moment they pay no tax, where as us workers pay tax for them. So yes, we are funding them. As they funded retirees before (although im not sure when the age pension came in so dont use that against me!)
      Anyway my point was, im glad they worked hard, and yes, they do deserve some sort of assistance. Assistance to live, not to live well. Why should you not be working and live the high life at the expense of current taxpayers? Like Jane said, its to cover existance. Many people who are working and paying tax are unable to afford luxuries, so why fund someone elses fun? I suppose your all for people on the dole being able to buy a few cases of beer a week?
      Stop the aged pension ‘invincibility’, its welfare, welfare is not a lifestyle supporter. People on the dole also have to pay rent or a mortgage, and whilst trying not to generalise, many retirees are lucky to own their home. I wish i can say the same by the time I get there, but it may not happen. I might also add there will likely not be an aged pension in 50 years time thanks to Super (not a bad thing unless you spent a long time out of work mind you)

    • Sam says:

      12:52pm | 08/05/12

      I meant Red, soz Ryan

    • Red says:

      03:52pm | 08/05/12

      @Sam, you don’t seem to understand, Grandma’s generation were told that their taxes were supposed to fund a decent retirement. It was the excuse governments used for tax, that they were loaning their country the money and their country would give it back later. Just like now we’re told our taxes are for education etc. Yet you actually seem to resent them getting their taxes back.

    • Helen says:

      04:38pm | 08/05/12

      Jane2 your arrogance about the circumstances of others is staggering. My mother is one of those ‘mismangers’ you talk about. But I suppose at 75 she should own her own home despite the fact she was widowed at 40 (in 1977) with 4 kids at home. She shouldn’t have been so upset at having to drag us all into the welfare department to empty her pockets to prove she was a destitute widow, as one had to do in the days before single mother’s pension. Dad, as it turned out, was a compulsive gambler who caused us to lose our family home. Sadly her working the graveyard shift at pizza joints and take-aways didn’t quite stretch for her to start again and get a mortgage. And her having to leave school at 14 to bring income into her family due to her own father’s early death meant she couldn’t study to get that job as a brain surgeon she so dearly wanted. Sadly too, since Dad was dead there was no child support coming in, And oh yeah, child endowment as it was called then was a pittance. And I guess her decision to try to be independent and make ends meet and not apply for public housing was a poor one too.  And I say she should have continued to clean rich people’s homes despite having a DVT in her leg and a clot in her lung ... lazy cow.

      Clearly she also squandered all that employer funded super that she accumulated during the 60’s and 70’s ... oh hang on, that’s right ...

      I say good on your mum and her friends, but I dare say they all own their own homes. Perhaps they were the lucky ones who didn’t marry the wrong man .... my mother pays her rent on time, and prepays all her utility bills every pension day. As far as I’m concerned, she leaves women like your mother for dead when it comes to fiscal management.

      She is my hero.

    • thatmosis says:

      07:41am | 09/05/12

      Sam and Jane2 should get away from their imaginary friends on Facebook and twitter once in a while and have a look at the real world. Most of the pensioners now are people who either went to war or were doing something in the war or lost husbands and wives during the war or worked gard to buiold this country into what it was before Labor stuffed it and this is how you would treat them. Im ashamed to be an Australian if this is the common consensus of the youth of today. The almost hate for these people eminating from you is palatable and i just hope the when you are old and gey you have got a family to help you as they Government will not be able to.

    • Achmed from Villawood says:

      08:18am | 08/05/12

      All of the poor should be rounded up and sent to Mannis Island, Nauru etc and the Australia will be truly poverty-free.

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      11:50am | 08/05/12

      Reminds me of the Honourable Judge Whitey from Futurama. “Send him to mental asylum” …..”Your honour, that place has been full since you ruled that poverty was a form of insanity”.

    • Arthur says:

      08:25am | 08/05/12

      $8.61 for that much food huh?

      How much would it cost when there are 50 million people in Australia (projected the year 2045) and most of our farm land belongs to China?

      That dollar special there in the basket wouldn’t exist either. It would have been snapped up long before it was marked down.

      It’s time we recognised the real issues.

      Why did Geldof give up? Because feeding a growing population was doing more harm than good.

      Reply

    • scumbag says:

      08:25am | 08/05/12

      Julie, now you’ve prepared all this gourmet food, by now you’ll be able to report back, and tell us how it actually all tasted, if it deserved a spot on MKR, or the dog ate your homework,... please?

      Reply

    • John says:

      08:31am | 08/05/12

      Hands outs will not help these people, it will make it worse. If you give someone antibiotics all the time, their immune system basically weakens that they can’t deal with the ill’s of life. They need structure, foundation of civilization, good management. But the third world doesn’t have any of these.

      You can’t make the entire west feed the entire third world.

      Reply

    • Jane2 says:

      08:44am | 08/05/12

      Unless you have donated all the money you “saved” to a charity how can living on $10 for one week is doing anything to help poverty?

      Besides which $USD1 in Cambodia is enough for teh locals to pay for your accomodation and put a large hot meal including meat on the table! (My hotel cost me $USD7 a night for an AC room!)

      This highlghts how stupid the campaign is. $1 here buys a lot less than $1 in a developing country or even $1 in the US come to think of it. It gives you no appreciation for how the billions living below the poverty line actually live. The only thing it may do is make you realise that $10 doesnt go far in Australia.

      Reply

    • TJ says:

      10:55am | 08/05/12

      True Jane. I lived in remote hilltop village in Lombok (Indo) for a couple of weeks and $5 Aussie dollars bought a local two huge potato sacks of rice that would feed a family for months. Your bang for buck varies all over the world.

      A tenner in Australia gets you a couple of packs of 2 minute noodles.

    • Sarah says:

      01:29pm | 08/05/12

      The $2 doesn’t mean $2 in Cambodia.

      The $2 figure is calculated using Purchasing Power Parity - which works out how much you would have to live on each day if you were living in extreme poverty in Australia

      Living in extreme poverty means having $2 a day for all your food, shelter, health, education transport and any other living costs, in Australia.

    • Jane2 says:

      05:57pm | 08/05/12

      @Sarah, under that definition no one in Australia is living in extreme poverty as even those who live on the street and beg get more than $2 per day.

    • Rose says:

      08:57am | 08/05/12

      My problem with exercises such as these is that you actually believe you will be living in solidarity with the poor, you’re not! The real tragedy of poverty is not the content of their diet, it is the lack of hope and the entrenched feeling of being disenfranchised. It is the idea that this life is forever, that there is no escape, it is the trauma of watching children and other family and friends dying horrific deaths at way too young an age.
      If you truly want to help end poverty, make purposeful decisions about what products you buy, be discerning about the politicians you vote for and probably, as important as anything, change your attitude to the poor. Instead of seeing them as somehow of less value to wealthier people, recognize that they are of equal value and they are just as worthy of consideration as those who are born into more favourable circumstances.
      Ending poverty is not a short term objective, it will take decades at the very best, it is however a worthy goal and one we should all encourage, even if it means a little less in our own pockets.

      Reply

    • Scotchfinger says:

      09:37am | 08/05/12

      excellent Rose. This type of exercise is patronising in the extreme; ‘I feel your pain, brother’, and after it is over we sate our clear but hungry consciences with a family sized pizza, content we have done our thing. I have a similar hatred for Australians who walk the Kokoda so they can ‘feel what it was like’ for the vets. Minus the bullets thudding into the bodies of their friends, of course.

      The malaise of the west: how to resolve the tedious comfort of our lives with collective guilt? Pretend to share solidarity! It sickened Kierkergaard, Niezsche and sickens me as well. I share solidarity with those who throw up after watching an ugly scene on tv.

    • Rose says:

      01:53pm | 08/05/12

      That’s right, Scotchfinger, I don’t understand this need to give stuff up for a certain amount of time to pretend people get it, they don’t and probably never will.I will never get it, most Australians and indeed most people from western nations will never get it, and thank goodness for that.
      I may start changing my opinion of these ‘Good Samaritans’ when they start wearing dirty rags, drinking dirty water, scratching around rubbish dumps for food and sleeping on dirt floors INDEFINITELY.
      I don’t doubt that Julie means well, but she’s not even giving up mod-cons like her fridge/freezer, I bet she’ll still have her heater on if she needs it and will sleep in a comfy bed each night.

    • Blossom says:

      09:10am | 08/05/12

      Why would you eat that for a week?
      Did you donate the money you saved to a charity?
      Even better did you volunteer at a soup Kitchen?
      The sad fact that is,some people in this Country live on
      just that.

      Reply

    • wantok says:

      09:12am | 08/05/12

      Don’t forget that many people in third world situations can access additional nutrition from their own vegetable gardens and from the wild. In subsistance situations in PNG, for instance, you will frequently find that non-cash communities will be growing: sweet potatoes (various), sago, taro, cassava, melons,pineapple, coconut,, papaya,aibeka (spinach), sugarcane, yams (various). And that’s just one village that I’m thinking of ; not an exravagant diet but when supplemented with occasional fish, chicken or pig meat,  very healthy. Obviously some cash allows for luxuries including rice, noodles and the like.
      Certainly it aint easy, good luck Julie, keep us posted.

      Reply

    • M says:

      09:14am | 08/05/12

      Forget the soup, if you want cheap, filling nutritious foods, you can’t go past baked beans. Got me through many a week at uni between paychecks.

      Reply

    • nihonin says:

      01:36pm | 08/05/12

      Bet they were lonely times M, unless of course you and few other friends got together and formed some kind of oompah pah orchestra for a few extra bucks for more baked beans smile

    • Evalee says:

      02:09pm | 08/05/12

      Having just ‘started again’ I hear that!  I have beans at least three times a week.  Porrige is another good, cheap filler.  My freedom is worth this small sacrifice.  And besides, at night, at home, who needs a big dinner when all I will be doing is a bit of housework, or reading or re-watching Firefly.

    • Scotchfinger says:

      03:17pm | 08/05/12

      I am sure the by-product of the beans would have formed the orchestral backing.

    • LJ Dots says:

      06:31pm | 08/05/12

      M, I was thinking the same thing about Uni days.

      Best to budget over two weeks just for variety. Baked beans, day old bread, bag of spuds, seasonal veg (pro tip M, take note here - brussel sprouts and baked beans on alternate weeks), bag of cheap over ripe apples for stewing. Plan on spending $9.50 a week and once a month a $2 luxury - condiments.

    • Elphaba says:

      09:31am | 08/05/12

      “To help stop poverty”

      Hate to break it to you, but poverty is here to stay.

      Good luck with the challenge though.

      Reply

    • Red says:

      10:11am | 08/05/12

      On Friday, take a moment to think, my nephew and I live on $10 a day between us, Monday - Sunday, week in, week out. That’s $5 a day each. Sometimes less if an unexpected expense occurs.

      I want a job, I’m studying from home, but that doesn’t stop me looking for work. I can’t afford a car, my clothes are old and looking shabby. The longer I’m unemployed, the poorer I get as things wear out or stop working. The poorer I get the more unemployable I become, that’s why I study, to balance it out .. I hope.

      People say there’s work out there for anyone who wants it, that’s not completely true. I got turned down for cleaning work because the employer said I was too educated and wouldn’t fit in with the other workers and wouldn’t take pride in my work. Nothing I said could convince her differently.

      I’m not alone, there’s many people in the same position. Anglicare reported that many unemployed families are living on $70 a week. And each time I read of another company laying off workers, all I can think is “I don’t need more competition”

      You can do better with that $10 a day, I manage to feed two of us on that. Try open air markets for your fruit and veg. Experiment with cooking styles and spices to remove the blandness. Right now I have the slow cooker going with chicken, potato, carrot, onion, peas and an apple, plus some Morrocan spices and stock. Just before it finishes cooking I’ll throw in some saltanas, very tasty I assure you. All together it makes 8 individual meals for $17. We’ll eat a meal each of it tonight, plus I’ll freeze 6 meals for later. I always overcook and freeze some, it’s cheaper and we have more variety. Tomorrow night I might defrost some pasta bake for our dinner or perhaps some mournay, or I could defrost some of the spicy meatballs and sauce I made the other week and put them with some spaghetti. $10 a day doesn’t have to be bland if you plan ahead.

      Reply

    • Scotchfinger says:

      11:27am | 08/05/12

      sounds like you can cook; any cafe work around? You need, N.E.E.D at least one set of good clothes if you are serious about finding work. Personally, I would forgo some good meals in order to buy a decent pair of pants, a shirt, leather shoes and a tie. $25 max for a haircut. These are Mandatory requirements for the vast majority of employers. Beg, borrow or steal. Except steal.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      12:22pm | 08/05/12

      If there is a big enough OP shop near you to ensure they have your size you can usually fina a decent suit for around $30 that fits either well or well enough.

      I know that’s plenty but if you can get it from any service or anyone anywhere it should do the trick.

    • Scotchfinger says:

      12:34pm | 08/05/12

      good advice Hot Tub, as long as it does not look like a St Vinnies suit. You have to give the impression that you are cashed up and care about your presentation, rather than desperate and poor. Desperate and poor won’ get you a job, trust me.

    • Sam says:

      12:45pm | 08/05/12

      There is a charity thats name escapes me at the moment, that donates professional clothes for job interviews etc. We had a donation drive a while ago at work for them. Look them up if buying a suit is a bit hard (it bloody well is if your on $70 a week!)

    • libertarian vegetarian says:

      12:46pm | 08/05/12

      The $10 is to last Mon - Fri. ie 5 days, so $2 a day.  Perhaps pay more attention to what you are reading and you might have better results in the job hunt.  Or perhaps go for more than one cleaning job.  An employer telling you that you are too well educated and wouldn’t fit in means you have a bad attitude.

    • Anniebello says:

      03:38pm | 08/05/12

      @ libertarian vegetarian says:  “An employer telling you that you are too well educated and wouldn’t fit in means you have a bad attitude. “
      No, that’s an employer knowing that an educated person applying for a job that is ‘beneath’ their ability will not stay long and may affect their co-workers in a negative way. I am speaking from experience here. The trouble is sometimes you have to ‘dumb yourself down’ to get that foot in the door and keep a lid on it for a while. Once you have a job, getting a better one is easier.  Good luck, Red.

    • Draconian says:

      10:22am | 08/05/12

      My son is actually doing this at school.  Quite frankly I’m not sure if he will survive or pass out from lack of food.  He’s 5’11” and quite frankly, $2 a day for food is just not enough.  We’ll see I suppose.

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      10:24am | 08/05/12

      Looks like a supermodel’s standard weekly shop to me

      Reply

    • DrBob says:

      10:36am | 08/05/12

      If you really want to reduce food poverty, you’ll do far more good by simply avoiding “organic” food.
      As “organic” food requires more area to grow and is more labour-intensive, widespread demand would greatly increase starvation world-wide.
      Similarly, there would be greatly increased starvation without GM crops.
      Affluent middle class games are usually a waste of time.

      Reply

    • Justin of Earlwood says:

      10:42am | 08/05/12

      The Malaysian Gov’t built a smart tunnel (combo traffic tunnel & storm water system) in KL for US$500 million. I’d like to see the NSW Gov’t match that on their next infrastructure project.

      Of course they won’t be able to because US$500 million in Australia goes no where near as far. Just as $20 doesn’t go very far here.

      But thanks for yet another dose of pointless symbolism.

      Reply

    • Sandra says:

      10:49am | 08/05/12

      Thank you for your article - The challenge of living on $2 a day, and that’s just for food, will put into perspective the inequalities in our world. This challenge is about raising awareness of the situation that of a quarter of our world’s population is in. It has taught me that although sometimes I complain and worry in my life, there are many things I can appreciate and we could all share a little more with others. Where we are born should not determine whether we live or die from preventable diseases and poverty, globally we can all afford to live quality dignified lives.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      11:33am | 08/05/12

      I think the issue is far deeper than trying to live off the $10.00. It’s all relative isn’t it? A poor farmer in India might live from $10.00 AUD a week - but in their terms that could be a good sum of rupees. Lentils, rice, some fruit and some vegies and you’ve got a pretty good mix of the food groups. The problems come with having to feed many children, your village, being able to access a doctor and health care and your rights when things turn bad in your country and you have to flee. It’s a very complicated issue and what is actually being done to address these issues by roughing it so badly?

      The funny thing is that you can pretend for a week to feel like a poor person overseas yet most people would not want them coming here for a better life.

      Reply

    • Make Ignorance History! says:

      03:37pm | 08/05/12

      Kika, thank you for a fair, educated and gracious assessment! Ignorant attacks help no-one hey! Australia is currently one of the lowest benefactors of foreign aid yet one of the wealthiest currently. And we will find out tonight if they want to cut it even more. Go figure!! We know there’s a problems overseas but there’s also problems on our doorstep. And we just want the poor to go away hey! The poor will always be with us, as the bible. And we have our own problems as well. Just all seems overwhelming hey.. but everybody does something, we may just find a way to help everyone. Selah…

    • hot tub political machine says:

      11:47am | 08/05/12

      $10 dollars for a week to eat? $10 worth of rice would be the way to go methinks.

      Appart from vitamin A deficiancy I would be doing ok

      Reply

    • Craig says:

      01:40pm | 08/05/12

      To help people in other countries I give money (largely via microloans, recycling it to help hundreds over time).

      I find the idea of limiting my food intake (based on Australia’s high food prices) to stand in ‘solidarity’ with the world’s poorest to be tokenistic and in poor taste.

      At least invest the rest of your usual weekly food budget on charity, otherwise your solidarity is hollower than your belly.

      In Australia we are so wealthy that most people could give 20% of their salary to those in need and still live opulent first world lives.

      The tragedy is that instead people waste their times in tokenistic, ego-stroking activities such as pretending to live on $10 per week - without cutting their access to clean water, power, law enforcement, transport or accomodation.

      Awareness raising? Maybe, but we were already aware of how people are forced to live. We simply choose whether to act or not. Your action is selfish, not selfless and helps no-one except giving you a story to tell on how you now ‘understand’ what it is like to live in extreme poverty.

      A worthless first world gesture.

      Reply

    • Maybe Not... says:

      02:35pm | 08/05/12

      I agree Craig.

      To even begin to achieve “solidarity” with the poor, it would not only require a reduction to meagre amounts of food (okay if you want to go with $2 a day for all intents and purposes fair enough), but would also require access to adequate, temperature regulated shelter, sanitised water, changes of clothing (footwear optional), employment, transport, electricity, education, entertainment, law enforcement and medical care to be set aside as well.

      I’m sure Julie still brushes her teeth every day, takes a shower and selects an outfit from a closet full of seasonal clothing, gets in her petrol-run car and drives to and from work listening to her iPod and talking on her mobile phone… Hardly solidarity with the poor. At least she can talk about her 5-day fad diet around the water cooler.

      It is, indeed, a tokenistic gesture and while the heart behind it might mean well, it falls well short when compared to the desired outcome.

      We all know global poverty exists. We don’t need a lefty empathiser eating bad soup for a week to prove it to us.

    • Craig says:

      01:50pm | 08/05/12

      Ah and the proof of your cynicism is in your sponsorship page.

      You say the average Aussie household spends $200 per week on food.

      You are spending $10 on your food - and sponsoring yourself for $10…

      Where has the other $180 gone?

      Into your pocket for luxuries and future food budgets?

      At least hypocrisy comes cheap!

      I challenge you to donate an amount equivalent to your food budget EVERY WEEK for a year to appropriate charitable causes (I like those that give people the means to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty).

      That would constitute, on an average food budget, $10,400 per year in charity.

      Go on, the government would even subsidies you for doing this.

      It would prove some level of commitment.

      Reply

    • J says:

      02:54pm | 08/05/12

      Seems tall poppy syndrome is still alive and kicking in Australia, whether it’s demeaning someone’s success or those standing up for something important! 0000’s of Australians are taking part in this challenge. It may not be your cup of tea (excuse the pun), but maybe if you stopped being a spectator and became a participant in something, anything that helps bring attention to the needs of those experiencing ending extreme poverty or other social issues, you may just understand the why behind the what. Everybody do something!

      Reply

    • Chonko says:

      03:23pm | 08/05/12

      $10 at my local produce Fruit and Veg shop would give so much more than that, your fault if you used supermarkets.  Anyway, you’ve got a potato lentil curry hidden in there so stop your whinging it’s your own fault for being so susceptible to charity industry marketing campaigns.

      Reply

    • Lorraine says:

      04:49pm | 08/05/12

      In order to comment, we, each, had to have access to a computer, access to an ISP, access to electricity, all of which would have blown the $10.00 budget.
      Why do people do these sort of things?
      It will not alleviate the poverty of another. All it does is say “There, I did it, why can’t you?
      People do live like this, they are hungry every single day. They start their week with their ten dollars and they are already hungry.
      Your ‘little effort’will not help a single one of them but you will be able to say Ï tried living like a poor person but I didn’t like it.
      In fact, you didn’t live like a poor person, you lived like a well-fed person going without the trimmings for a few days.

      Reply

    • Jo says:

      07:20pm | 08/05/12

      Who will think of the economy with all these people only spending $10?

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      10:35pm | 08/05/12

      Pasta is cheap.
      Add a bottle of Barilla sauce or leggos then put in vegetables plus a tin of serena tuna.

      But before you do that, 2 tablespoons of e.v o.o., finely chopped small red pepper, and slowly fry this with 2 big spoons of dried oregano and a handful of olives, a few capers and some anchovies.

      Then add the sauce.
      And some bread and butter would be nice.

      No parmesan, (heck, how do you spell this word ?!) here, of course, but what is left will do you for nutrition ... bar the wine and laughter.

      Reply

    • Dad says:

      09:04am | 09/05/12

      Julie. Stop poverty? As a young boy I grew up in a fettlers tent beside the great northern railway line. I walked barefoot, to and from school aproximately 5 miles each way, Upon coming home I collected my 22 rifle went to the local swamp, shot a rabbit or two on the way, usually always shot a duck or two cleaned and gutted them and brought them home to be cooked over an open fire. We also had a vegie patch, a few chickens, and a milking cow. My father rode a pushbike 25 miles each way to work shift work at BHP. I remember he earned about 4 pounds per week. On his days off we cleared the land and over ten years hand built our home. Thats poverty.

      Reply

    • TA says:

      01:58pm | 09/05/12

      Wow, you people are selfish. Reading the comments above makes me want to projectile vomit over you all. What Julie is doing might not save the world, but amounts to a realignment of priorities when it comes to needs vs wants, and that’s something that all of you people would well benefit from.

      Reply

    • TA says:

      01:58pm | 09/05/12

      Wow, you people are selfish. Reading the comments above makes me want to projectile vomit over you all. What Julie is doing might not save the world, but amounts to a realignment of priorities when it comes to needs vs wants, and that’s something that all of you people would well benefit from.

      Reply
 
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