Living Below the Line: Day 5...Gratitude

The last day of living off of $1.50 and despite being the hardest, I am full of gratitude. I’m thankful that I made it the whole week and had the willpower and support to stick to the task. I’m thankful that so many of you got behind me and my team with donations and kind words. I’m thankful I saved some “treats” for today’s lunch to get me through. I’m thankful for the millions of people who lend a voice to the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty by committing themselves to international development work, either as a career or supporter. And I’m most thankful for my team, the Solidarity Sisters, who really banded together to raise money for CARE, plan out our week and keep us on task to get the most out of the experience.

But I’m not going to lie, it was not easy. The lack of choices, the high levels of starch, the limited intake of calories and the exhausting planning and decision making made me realize a few things about myself and the families I stood in solidarity with this week.

1. I’m not a planner when it comes to grocery shopping or bringing my lunch to work. I’m the girl who goes up and down each aisle, with no list, adding things to my cart as I wish. I’m a label reader and pick and choose things that are healthy, hardly ever paying attention to price. I can be more conscientious of what I spend, sacrificing expensive splurges every now and then to donate to a cause or someone who really needs it instead.
2. I’m incredibly fortunate. I have a great family, a wonderful boyfriend and exceptional friends. I’m educated, I know how to get balance in my diet and ensure that my dietary needs are met. I have a great job and work for an organization that commits to serving the most marginalized populations.
3. Living below the line is much harder when the people surrounding you are not doing the same. In the Peace Corps, I was by no means poor, but I did live on $275 a month, which paid for all my expenses like rent and food. I did not have more material luxuries than my neighbors; for the most part, I lived like a Guatemalan. This week, while living on a $1.50, incessant reminders of things I could not have invaded my thoughts, inbox and surroundings – bold coffee, cheese, happy hour, wine, chocolate, nuts, lunches with friends, the list goes on…
4. Yes you can eat cheaply, but it’s very difficult to get all the nutrients our bodies need. I’m relatively well-versed when it comes to nutrition (as a vegetarian, you kind of have to be), by no means an expert, but I wonder… if little brains don’t get all the nutrients they need from the beginning, how much harder will it be for them developmentally to reach the starting line and have the same chances to learn as a child who is fully nourished? Not to mention, hunger is distracting.
5. Families who do this every day have incredible strength and will to live. And for those who overcome and lift themselves out of poverty, like Dionis and the women of Ekata, I bow to your hutzpah and determination. Small hand-ups, like a microbusiness loan or the opportunity to organize for collective bargaining power can mean the difference between kissing your children goodnight amidst landfill waste and having a safer, more reliable shelter with possibly a bed to tuck them into.

Living below the line is over for me (for this year) and I’ll be honest, you can do anything when you know there is an end date. I still have some food left and only spent $7.05 of my $7.50 budget. Here’s how my week broke down:

Monday - $1.31

Tuesday - $1.49

Wednesday - $1.34

Thursday - $1.42

Friday - $1.50

Total - $7.05

I consumed an average of 1,032 calories per day and only because I knew enough about nutrition to add some dairy and protein to my week. Truly if I were shopping based on price, with no knowledge of a balanced diet, there would have been more starch and simple sugars than what I felt was already too much.

Today I am reminded to be grateful for what I have, to acknowledge the people who have helped support me along the way, and to pay it all forward when I can. I leave you with one of the columns I wrote for CARE’s former I am Powerful magazine back in October 2007.

Learning to Give

“The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.”

– Julia Alvarez, Poet, Novelist and Essayist

Is philanthropy a learned behavior or are we born with an innate sense of kindness? Historically people of all economic levels have demonstrated that generosity comes in many forms and is not just for the financially wealthy. They are my teachers.

Mother Theresa gave countless hours of her time. She began her missionary work with the poor in India in 1948. Her life work included caring for refugees in times of crisis, attending to starving people affected by the Ethiopian famine of 1984, and comforting the sick in the aftermath of the radiation leak at Chernobyl. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace." By the time of her death, Mother Theresa’s outreach consisted of 610 missions in 123 countries. From Mother Theresa, I have learned that time is something I can find more of to give.

Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the power of his voice to combat the shameful practices of segregation. Noted for his inspiring allocutions, such as the “I Have a Dream” speech of

1963, he spoke out to raise awareness and advocate for the equal rights of all Americans. From Martin Luther King, Jr., I have learned that my voice is something I can lend to others.

Oseola McCarty, a poor woman from Mississippi, gave an extraordinary gift to support education. Having left school at the age of 12 to care for a sick aunt, Oseola took a job washing laundry to eke out a living. She lived simply and shrewdly saved a small fortune, eventually donating $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi so that unlike her, others could stay in school. From Oseola McCarty I have learned that it doesn’t matter how much I have to give, but rather how much I am willing to sacrifice.

At the heart of it all is the idea that philanthropy is not about how much, how often or with whom, but about finding our own ways to exert it. It is not something we should repay; it is a gift we should pass on.

Living Below the Line: Day 4…Strength

This morning I went to the gym for a light cardio and strength training workout and it was hard… much more draining than usual. The overdose on carbs seems to be o.k. for the cardio, but I really felt the lack of protein today. So much so, that I only drank ¼ cup of my coffee afterwards (what??!!), in exchange for yogurt.  I’m a little surprised that I’ve been able to work out on this “diet” at all… so I ask, how do 1.4 billion people living in poverty stay strong when their bodies are not as physically strong as they could be?

I think I’m a pretty headstrong person, especially when it comes to willpower. But I have to say, this week has tested that too, not just my endurance for hunger and lack of choice. From the work kitchen filled with coffee aromas all morning (cue the Maxwell House commercial) to aromas of burgers, fries and tasty lunches wafting through the halls every day; everywhere we turn there are messages of food. I’m a member of Scoutmob and lots of other deal finders like Groupon and each morning, another email in my inbox inviting me to try a new cupcake place or have drinks somewhere…DELETE. And the other day I went into my purse to get something and staring right at me, a pack of gum. Gum, it’s not really food, is it? But still, I did the right thing and refrained.

Today after work I went to visit a friend recovering from surgery. Knowing that I would get home late - meaning delayed dinner -  I got in the mental zone. Well, I stayed longer than I originally planned and found that catching up with a friend was a nice distraction to thinking about food. But when I got home it dawned on me… I forgot to stop and get cat food, and it was too late to go out again, the stores were closed. Any of you who know little Noche – pants as I call him - know that I was greeted by a very vocal, HUNGRY cat. It hit me, the guilt; I had failed as a kitty parent.

I’ve had it pretty easy in this challenge; I’m a vegetarian, I have no children, and my boyfriend has been super supportive. But if I were really living below the line, I would likely have to think about and feed a family. And as much as I love animals, I’m just not sure I could deal with sending them to bed hungry too. So I scrambled through the cupboards… started with dog food, which Noche ate a bit of and then gave me an earful. I moved on to some cottage cheese I had in the fridge… no dice. Finally, too tired to deal with the “crying,” I gave in and filled his little bowl with Greenies treats. Yea, it wasn’t the best choice, but it was the only option I had.

Instantly, it was a reminder that many women have to send their children to bed hungry every night. Or sacrifice their own meals to not hear the crying. Noche is a little beast I love, but who will leave my life when his time is up; he won’t starve. Dealing with a malnourished child is a pain I cannot fathom. So again, how do people stay strong?

Well, they know the importance of family and community. They sometimes have a social fabric that may not be able to support them financially, but that supports them mentally. Conversation and solidarity could never replace sustenance, but it can certainly help to ease the mental anguish at times.  Living below the line with four other women on my team has added to my own strength to get through each day.  Most of the women on my team I didn’t know very well going into it, but I’ve reached Friday with more friends than I had last Friday for sure.

Today’s intake cost me $1.49 and consisted of:

Breakfast

Coffee (1/4 cup) = $0.06

Yogurt = $0.35

Banana = $0.15

Total breakfast = $0.56

Lunch

Pintos & cornbread = $0.46

Dinner

Peas (1/4 cup) = $0.08

Corn (1/2 cup) = $0.14

Carrot = $0.06

Ramen = $0.10*

Total dinner = $0.38

Daily Total = $1.40

*I was too tired to cook these at 9 pm so I ate them crunchy and it was delish.

Living Below the Line: Day 3...Solidarity

Today was a reminder of the power of solidarity. People, especially women, need social support systems to help them weather tough times and share in their moments of joy. It's what women do, we talk about our issues with close friends in order to solve them. Admittedly, we probably over communicate, but we rely on our "girl networks" to help us weather good times and bad. Our team is called Solidarity Sisters because after all, this is an exercise in empathy.  Our group comprises women in Atlanta raising awareness for the 1.4 billion people living in poverty around the world, most of whom we will never meet, but some who remain forever on our minds...

In Bangladesh, the word ekata means “unity,” but in Murikandi village, ekata means that young girls are continuing their education. It means that women are contributing to household decisions. And it means that domestic violence and early marriage will not be tolerated.

In 2006, as part of CARE’s Strengthening Household Ability to Respond to Development Opportunities project (SHOUHARDO), women and adolescent girls formed discussion groups in their villages to openly talk about women’s issues and how to exercise their rights within the community. Using the word ekata as an acronym for Empowerment, Knowledge and Transformative Action, the group focuses on the state of women’s affairs in their community and what to do about issues such as early marriage, violence against women, education – especially for girls – and male-female relationship dynamics.

Sofia

The group comprises 30 members: 10 adolescent girls and 20 women.They know that if they include girls early on, greater change is possible. Sofia, one of the oldest members of the group at 50 years old, is also a village development committee member and stated, "Back in the day, we knew we didn't have rights. We had to look after our husbands like slaves. Now I see girls like Runa are able to speak out. Before I was so unhappy, but now, I believe we have more rights."



Runa at age 14.

But if not for women like Sofia, Runa would not have had a chance to speak out. When she first joined Ekata, her parents took her out of school - not as punishment, but to avoid the risks that many parents fear for their young girls once they hit puberty, like early pregnancy or harrassment and violation by male classmates. Ekata banded together and visited Runa's parents, convincing them that education was too important to let unfounded fear get in the way. With education and self-esteem, Runa would mitigate a lot of the risks they feared. When I met her in 2009, Runa was back in school, in Grade 9. All of the women in the group are committed to sending their girls to school, along with their boys. In fact, the group's facilitator, Reepa, left the village to start university in 2010. Shopna, another member added, "We are an example for our community. Our neighbors see what we do and copy us."

As Solidarity Sisters, we have pooled our resources to buy food, posted messages of support on Facebook and gathered for group dinners to provide a social outlet. Tonight we broke bread at my house (not literally...) with a yummy pasta and tomato sauce dinner and took a 2-mile walk afterwards as a symbolic gesture to the women who not only have to eat and drink on $1.50 per day, but who also have to walk great distances to fetch water for their family... or to bring themselves to a medical clinic to give birth... or reach a market to sell what little crops they might have. And in true Ekata fashion, we invited another CARE employee, who is doing the challenge solo, to join our dinner. (Shout out to Becky who is the top individual fundraiser for CARE!! And a big thank you to all who have supported the Solidarity Sisters, we are the top fundraising team for CARE!!) 

So while we will never really be able to experience the full essence of poverty through this experiment, it has made us realize the value of unity and the decisions that women have to make with limited resources. During our dinner we had a lively discussion about the fact that yes, you can eat cheaply. However, it's tough to get all the nutrients we need on $1.50. Here's how my nutrition broke out today:

Calories = 889

Fat = 19%

Carbohydrates = 65%

Protein = 16%

Well no wonder I have been craving peanut butter and nuts all day...

Living Below the Line: Day 2...Resourcefulness.

Today's saving grace - reusing my lunch salad limes in my water. It's the little things. Even in the Peace Corps, I didn't have to be THIS resourceful... but it does conjure up images of the women i've met who not only have to be this resourceful, but do so effortlessly...

Photo: CARE/Jim Loring

Like Dionis, a Honduran woman I met on one of my first CARE trips in 2006. Dionis took a photographer and me to meet some of the recyclers who live on the Tegucigalpa land fill... yes, LIVE on the land fill. Like many poor countries, there are communities that reside in large city dumps. They meet the garbage trucks in an elbow-jockeying frenzy to pick through the "fresh" trash to recover recyclable plastic items that they can sell to recycling intermediaries. Individually, it's tough to bargain for higher prices, giving intermediaries a lot of power. Dionis herself lived in the dump with her husband and children. They made a "home" out of scrap material they recovered from the discards of "outsiders" living a very different life.

When Dionis and the CARE staff picked us up at the hotel, she was wearing crisp white pants and white high-heeled shoes. I remember thinking, "Does she know we're going to the dump?" Yes, Dionis knew quite well where we were going. Before we got out of the car she warned us to stay close and be careful; her husband was murdered in that very dump five months prior. Thieves came to rob him and given that he had nothing, they shot him. Dionis didn't quit living, despite a life full of tragedy. To the contrary, she channeled her strength and joined a CARE-organized recycling cooperative that mobilized individual recyclers to band together and collectively bargain for better pricing. When I met her, Dionis was just elected president of the cooperative. She no longer lives in the dump - a message portrayed loud and clear by her crisp white pants and pumps.

So my $1.50 a day is a symbolic gesture to the women and families who not only live on this small amount each day, but also have to decide whether to spend it all on food, purchase the medicine or medical treatment their children might need, or pay for their children's school fees. Choices, hardly. Decisions, absolutely... and tough ones at that.

The choices I made today were whether to "treat" myself to yogurt or save money for a Coke Zero. To have coffee or deal with the headache that would come from doing without. To my friends and family who have made the choice to donate to our team's Live Below the Line Challenge (especially my supportive and kind-hearted boyfriend Tom), I gratefully acknowledge your kindness. For those of you who haven't and can, any small donation - even just covering the costs of my weekly food supply ($7.50) - will go a long way to help women like Dionis access resources to lift themselves out of poverty.

I'm still on track and humbled by the planning and organizing I've had to do these past few days.  And with reminders like Dionis, I can certainly channel my own forces to get through Friday with an even greater appreciation!

I'll leave you with my tally for the day...

Breakfast	Cost
coffee	$0.22
1.5 tb peanut butter	$0.08
banana	$0.15
total breakfast	$0.45
Lunch lettuce	$0.17
carrots	$0.06
black beans	$0.11
lime	$0.04
saltines (5)	$0.03
snack - yogurt	$0.35
total lunch and snack	$0.76
Dinner pintos & cornbread (1/3)	$0.23
ginger snaps (3)	$0.05
Total Tuesday	$1.49

Living Below the Line: Day 1.

Day 1 - all in all, not so bad.  However, it did get off to a rough start... after my 50 minute cardio workout this morning, I was really looking forward to peanut butter toast and hoping the weakened coffee would be worth it. Turns out cheap white bread toasts pretty fast so it burned. Not to worry, the peanut butter covered up a lot and I ate it anyway (there is no such thing as throwing out in this experiment, rations are sacred!) It was a brief moment of panic though.

Before leaving for work, I left a check for our cleaning woman, who comes every Monday. As I wrote the check, it dawned on me that this was the equivalent of 8 weeks of rations!!! Yikes, and we get our house cleaned every week. But while it did make me stop to think, i'm not ready to give up a clean house just yet. Now that I know I can eat cheaper, that might just be the better option :) But in all seriousness, it did make writing the check a lot harder.

Lunch was somewhat dismal. As I planned my meals for the week yesterday, I decided that I would save some "treats" for later in the week, when i'll need to dig deep :) So, today's lunch was ramen noodles and peas. It was tasty, but salty and I don't normally eat so much starch.... which i'm wondering if that is what made me a little sleepy (anyone know the answer to this, i'd love to know!) Given the super cheap lunch, Nicole and I decided to split a can of Coke Zero as an afternoon pick-me-up. We held it dear and drank it slow, like a fine wine... aahhhh... although we did both agree later that it made us feel hungry afterwards (again, any of my doctor/nutrition friends have a clue why that would be?)

The Coke Zero was a reminder of what I mentioned yesterday - we Americans are all about taste, and the bigger the better! That has certainly been evident in the comments i've received on my Facebook $1.50 a day posts... from, "No wonder you're so skinny (love you cuz!)" to sentiments of wishing me luck in the challenge, to my dad saying he wasn't sure he could read my blog because he didn't think he could read about his daughter starving. While sweet and with good intentions... come on people, it's only 5 days... PLUS, the point is to raise awareness for people who don't have this choice. But I guess it's not the kind of thing people automatically know how to support or comment on... kind of like my business school colleagues who asked why I would volunteer to be poor when I joined the Peace Corps, instead of getting the power job right away. But i'm not alone, there are at least a few others like me, willing to do something for a cause (shout out to the Solidarity Sisters!)

I digress in carb-induced stream of consciousness...

The afternoon felt long, but not too unlike any other Monday. After work, our group met at Nicole's house for a Solidarity Sisters dinner of black bean burgers and rice. I think we were all excited to see what looked like a tasty evening meal. It wasn't bad, but sure needed something... like salsa or fresh tomatoes on top... instead we used a pinch of salt. It certainly could have been worse, I think we were just anticipating something with a little more oomph.

So are you curious to see how I made out with my budget today? Here's what I consumed and the cost:

Breakfast coffee	$0.22
toast (2)	$0.10
1.5 tb peanut butter	$0.08
total breakfast	$0.40
Lunch ramen	$0.10
Lunch - peas	$0.08
Coke Zero - 1/2 can	$0.30
total lunch	$0.48
Dinner
lime wedge for water	$0.04
ginger snaps (2)	$0.03
black bean burgers w/rice	$0.28
Total Monday	$1.23

So I actually came in under my $1.50 budget. It is clear this will be an exercise in portion control, which I thought I was pretty good at... then it made me think, am I going to consume MORE calories than usual because of all the starch? So I tracked it all and not that you can't tell from looking at the list, here is how the nutrition broke down:

Total calories for the day = 1,136 (a little less than what I normally consume when I exercise)
Fat = 27 %
Carbohydrates = 62% (shocker... not really... but definitely way more than I usually consume)
Protein = 12% (while it was a lower percentage than I normally get - basically I made up for lack of protein with carbs - I did manage to get 33.5 g of protein, which I don't think is horrible)

As I mentioned earlier, I figured I would start out with the less appealing foods to save some of the things I like more for later in the week. But, today made me take another look at my meal plan, which I ended up tweaking.

Tomorrow is another day... first impressions, we can do this. The biggest challenge I see for myself is the elevated levels of starch. This vegetarian needs some veggies!!