Living below the line - Day 1

I've just finished day one of the Living Below the Line Challenge (see http://www.livebelowtheline.org.uk/). For 5 days, I'm living off £5 to buy food to reflect the people around the world who have to live off £1 or less every day of their lives.

I went to the supermarket yesterday to grab my shopping. My basket had...

• Bread
• Pasta
• Tea
• Pesto
• Soya milk
• Cereal
• Bananas

Total: £4.71

I'm only allowed to eat what I have bought and not anything that I may already have in the cupboard. And no food donations can be accepted because they had to be bought, all be it by someone else. So it really is strict. 

I'm telling you, it has not been an easy day. Knowing that I'm not allowed to spend money on food, and that I have a day of uni ahead of me was really difficult. Especially because my usual afternoon coffee was off limits! 

But my tiredness and lack of energy is surely nothing in comparison to what millions of people living in the poorest countries in the world have to go through every single day. And I only have myself to feed, not a family with 5 or 6 mouths...

I decided to do this challenge 1) as soon as I saw it and 2) because of the Tearfund "Just People?" poverty course with youth group at church. Tomorrow I do the talk on how God feels about poverty and injustice, and that the bible has so much to say on the subject. I felt really challenged that I would be standing in front of the kids telling them about the terrible injustice and poverty in the world when I have never experienced it for myself. So Living Below the Line, although I'm not doing the fundraising aspect of it, is my way of experiencing the hardship that I'll be speaking about ad trying to connect with those that suffer through it. 

It's incredibly tough, and it's only day 1. I keep telling myself that it's only temporary and that it will be over soon. But what absolutely shatters my heart and moves me to the very core is the thinking what goes through the minds of the poor? Do they hold on to the hope that it is a temporary thing, that they will eat soon or that one day there will be enough food to feed the whole family; or maybe that the children could go to school instead of having to work to earn money to survive?

What ridiculously comfortable lives we lead.