Living Below the Line

Here I go again!

Undaunted by the monotonous diet of claggy rice and insipid frozen mixed vegetables, and without even the comfort of a regular supply of tea, I'm planning to rise once more to the challenge of living on £1 a day for 5 days from Monday 28 April until Friday 2 May.

In addition to raising awareness of the plight of the 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty, I am also raising funds for Oxfam. If you respond as generously as you did last year then it will be well worth it.

I thank you.

To donate click here.

Enough Food If ...

Once again the sun shone brightly on us.  Last Saturday we were on College Green in Bristol.  This Saturday it was Hyde Park in London.  Two quite different events but united in their subject matter - food.  The first involved feeding 5000 people with food destined for landfill, the second demanding that the G8 take action to ensure that no one goes bed hungry.

 

For more information about this Enough Food If ... campaign click here.

Living Below the Line - Update

Day1

(photo of dinner missing as I swapped phones with my daughter)

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

It's been a week since I completed my Living Below the Line challenge.

I was at various points, hungry, tired and headachy - but never unbearably so.  I grew fed up of eating the same things over and over again and yearned for something tasty to eat.  I was acutely conscious of food all around me and my inability to snack on demand.  I realised that the value I place on food extends far beyond the need to survive.  Most of all I missed the restorative powers of a cup of tea.

Thanks to the generosity of family friends and work mates I have raised £249 for Oxfam - just £1 off my target.

It's been a week since I returned to my normal diet.  1.4 billion people are still living on £1 a day.

If you would like to sponsor me you may still do so here.

Thanks if you do.

All Set!

Living Below the Line

Tomorrow, with just £5 in my hand, I'll buy all the food I'll be eating for the next 5 days.

To follow my progress, and learn why I've accepted this challenge, click here.

And, if you feel moved to do so, please sponsor me.

All proceeds to Oxfam.

Millennium Development Goals

5 April 2013 marked 1000 days to the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, the most successful global anti-poverty project in history.

The target of halving the proportion of people who live on less than $1.25 a day was met five years ahead of schedule.

However, given the projection that in 2015 almost one billion people will still be living on this amount, there is a lot more work to be done.

That's why I'm going to Live Below the Line for 5 days from 29 April - to try and illustrate what this means in practical terms and to raise funds for Oxfam.

So far I've had two generous supporters, but I'm a long way off my £250 target.  Please consider giving as much as you can afford.

You can follow my progress and donate here.

Thank you!

Living Below the Line

From 29 April, for 5 days, I'm going to be spending no more than £1 per day on food and drink. I will be Living Below the Line to highlight the plight of the 1.4 million people living in extreme poverty, and by appealing for sponsorship, I hope to be able to make a real change for at least a few of them. So please give generously here. Thank you.

PS I've chosen Oxfam as the charity through which all donations will be channelled.

Blog Action Day - Climate Change

Gordon Brown has agreed to attend the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. Now we need to urge him to use his influence to ensure that other major world leaders attend and that they deliver a fair and safe global climate deal.

Sign up to Oxfam's Here and Now campaign and book your ticket to London for The Wave.

See you there!

Stitch & Bitch

This evening the girls and I attended a Stitch and Bitch session at the Tobacco Factory. The group meets every first and third Monday but this evening was devoted to the creation of an Oxfam blanket. The campaign to raise awareness of maternal mortality has been running for some time now. Volunteers have been knitting hundreds and thousands of squares which are now being assembled to form blankets. The blankets will be sold to raise funds for Oxfam.

We passed a very pleasant evening drinking coffee, sewing squares and chatting. The only bitch was about the poor service offered by First Bus!

One of my 49before50 challenges is to knit myself a scarf. Once I have picked a pattern and bought the wool, Stitch & Bitch may provide the required encouragement to finish it off.