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Issues: Hunger

1.25/day - Health comes first
 

I am sad to say that yesterday was my last day on $1.25 (USD)/day.

I had always said that I would put my health first, and that is the decision that I made yesterday as I began to feel that this challenge had become a hindrance on my day-to-day work and life. I had zero-to-no energy, I have had an onset of the flu, I was getting pain in my eyes whenever I would focus for long periods, I had lost about 5kg's in 3 weeks and I felt that I couldn't think constructively at work... all in all it was time to stop.

Starting this 4 week challenge has ended up being such a worldly decision to make, I had gained so much from it (including lethargy and the flu!) - the concept of $1.25/day really is extreme to me now. I would say that it is almost unlivable. Whilst I could consume enough energy to get through each day; I was unable to consume the food that could provide me with the right nutrients for my health and growth.

I will write a more detailed summary of my diet and nutritional failures later. However, I would happily say that removing 1.4 billion people from extreme poverty and to be living above 1.25/day  is only scratching the surface of the challenge that faces our generation. To learn more about how you can get involved in Live Below the Line this year, you can read more here.

Posted by Rich Fleming in Poverty, Hunger for column Action Stories on Sep 28th 2009, 13:59
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$1.25/day - Shall I quit?
 

I feel lethargic...
I constantly are getting headaches...
I feel a flu coming on...
BUT I don't want to give up.

It has been 3 weeks since I started living on $1.25/day, and it has been a really hard test for me. My life has been extremely different whilst living on $1.25/day - only eating 2 meals a day, really missing flavours and really struggling for energy and concentration to get by day-to-day.

I have committed myself to make it through to next Sunday... however I feel that my work might start to lose out. Over the coming day I am tossing up whether or not to re-assess this last week.

Feeling Inspired? You can read more about our Live Below The Line campaign here.

Posted by Rich Fleming in Poverty, Hunger for column Action Stories on Sep 27th 2009, 01:49
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Celebrating 2 weeks...
 

Australian HR Coordinator - Kit Leung

Today is my two week anniversary from when a stupid idea of mine became reality. Surprisingly l am progressing well, until the thought of cake came to mind.

It is our HR Coordinator's birthday today (Happy Birthday Kit) and it is a nice tradition in HQ that one of the managers will buy the cake for the birthday celebrations. I was heading over the road to do my weekly shop (yes - I had run out of the yummy baked beans, oats and pasta) and I thought that it would be silly to break traditions now. 

Fortunately, Coles Fitzroy had put the chocolate mud cakes on special for $3.20 (I think this was Karma for my blatant promotion of the supermarket!) and after a bit of rejuggling of the budget - I was able to work out that I could make it through this week on $8.30 - amazing to think of the challenges that are brought about whilst celebrating simple community festivities like a birthday!

So my budget for this coming week looks like this:
Breakfast:
Oats 750g ~$0.10/day
Milk Powder ~$0.10/day
Banana (1/2) ~$0.10/day

Fruit - Orange (5/week) or Pear (1/week) ~$0.30
Tea/Sugar ~$0.05/day

Dinner
Pasta (500g/week) ~ $0.08/day
Rice (300g/week) ~$0.075/day (yes I am stepping out to have some rice in my dinner - I was getting sick of pasta!)
Eggs (3/week) ~$0.7/day
Baked Beans (1.1kg/week) ~$0.25/day
Dry chilli $0.01/day (I WANT FLAVOUR!!!)
Frozen Beans (500g/week) $0.11/day
Spinach - Homegrown

Total cost = ~$1.25/day ($8.25/week)

I have managed to squeeze in the cake for Kit's birthday... amazing what a spreadsheet can do to keep you within budget! 

Also - I should also admit that I have succumb to charity again and thank the project's fairtrade t-shirt supplier 3fish.com.au for bringing some homegrown spinach to our Friday meeting (I was ensured that it had cost them 1-2 cents to grow...)

Feeling Inspired? You can read more about our Live Below The Line campaign here. 

 
Posted by Rich Fleming in Hunger, Poverty for column Action Stories on Sep 22nd 2009, 11:49
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Finding Opportunity
 
 
Hi All,
 
All is going well on the eating front, I had a tough few days as work took me to Sydney (all travel costs are bared by GPP). I was however left in a quandary on Tuesday night, as I finally took my first piece of charity on this month journey.
 
I caught up with my sister (who is studying in Sydney) for dinner and she insisted that she buy me dinner for the night. My dinner was a basic Pad See Ew (see picture) which cost $10 - almost my total weekly expenditure!
 
I was in Sydney to meet with Opportunity International - a ground breaking micro-credit organisation. They are changing millions of lives across the world through providing access to micro-credit and subsequent basic services around micro-credit.
 
The trip up to Sydney and my visit to Opportunity International really got me thinking about the advantages we have in our society to follow our dreams. If I really was living on $1.25/day there would be no way that I would have access to the opportunities that I do.
 
People living on $1.25/day really have limited access to opportunities and choice. If I think past the challenge of getting a sufficient food etc I have so many other opportunities outside living on 1.25/day.
 
I guess to really achieve my desired objective and fully understand the plight of the poorest of the poor, I would have to live in a rural village in Africa with no support at all. I would have to cut all lifelines and forget everything I know from my 17 years of education.
 
Sounds crazy.... but watch this space :) 
 
Feeling Inspired? You can read more about our Live Below The Line campaign here. 

 
Posted by Rich Fleming in Hunger, Enterprise & Trade for column Action Stories on Sep 21st 2009, 02:56
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1.25/day - A Crazy Weekend...
 

 Firstly, I apologise for the avid readers (yes - it also surprised me too that they exist) as I have been actually enjoying time away from my computer. To be honest I was doing my tax, which equals cleaning my room and finding my receipts.

 
The weekend was tough... not overly on the food front... just the curve balls that were thrown my way.
1) Football vs Dinner: finding time to eat twice a day shouldn't be too much of an issue, right? hmmm, not for me! With tickets to both of the AFL semi-finals on last weekend (purchased pre-crazy idea) I found myself not able to eat til after 10pm bothFriday and Saturday night. The smell of a meat pie has never been so saddening.
 
2) House party: My flat mate had his birthday party at our house on Saturday. The food and drink available was even more saddening than the meat pies at the footy. Whilst everyone was throwing back the beer and wine, I was chugging down my 80 proof tap water. I called it a night just after midnight, being a grandpa and going to bed whilst the music pumped on into the early morning. The hardest part of this party was that my flatmate woke up and cooked himself the most tantalising hungover breakfast ever!
 
3) Another Flat tyre: Yes, it has happened again. I was on my way to a friends place for a few beverages (read: tap water) and my back tyre started hissing at me again. I had to pull over and walk my bike back home and break my rules again and drive to my friends house - this event saw me being over 30 min late to her place.
 
Apart from those few events, things are going well. I do feel a bit more lethargic, I am getting sick of oats, pasta and egg, and I AM CRAVING ANY FORM OF FLAVOUR...
 
But I had some big wins on the budget front (excusing the fact I drove 3 times!). These included:
- I ate less than I had planned for... ok, I know this is probably a bad thing, but it has given me some more money to spend on healthier and flavoursome items.
- Baked beans were 10c/can cheaper this week (may sound little, but this is giving me 5c/dinner more to spend of things with flavour!)
- Spinach is in the garden!!!! (5yo Richard would never have thought he would be celebrating that front!)
 
That is all from me tonight... thanks for supporting me through the first week.
 
Tomorrow should be an interesting day as I fly off for a day's work in Sydney - we have a really exciting partnership forming up there!!! Wish me lunch and that I have energy for those meetings :)
 
(And the team did an amazing job in Canada for the Toronto Launch!!! Full house and standing ovation - well done team!)

Feeling Inspired? You can read more about our Live Below The Line campaign here. 

Posted by Rich Fleming in Hunger for column Action Stories on Sep 14th 2009, 13:03
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