Could you Live Below The Line?
From Monday to Friday next week people across the world will be attempting to live on just £1 per day for food, the same amount that millions survive on every single day.
So far we’ve heard from World Vision’s David Brand on why it matters to him and the astonishing story from WV supporter Robbie Firmin who lived the full 46 days of Lent on just £1 per day. As we launch into the week ahead, here are a couple more thoughts on why it matters to us and how you can join in.
Millions of children like Chenke live on less than £1 per day.
What living below the line really means
All week, World Vision staff who have signed up to take part have been planning their menus and shopping for the week. For some, they’ve also been trying to convince their children that this is a good idea (with varying degrees of success).
Poverty and hunger are things we see every day in our work; it’s what motivates us to do what we do as well as we possibly can and it’s what drives us to keep going even in the face the bumpy roads we often travel.
But when you see things every day, it’s easy for their impact to lessen. This is something we are all hugely sensitive to, knowing that we must never stop being shocked by the things that we see, never stop being moved by the plight of the people who need our help and never stop seeing the good that we do each and every day with your support.
What Live Below The Line offers us is another way to engage with the reality of the communities we serve.
Walking in another’s shoes
One of my favourite books is Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird and from it comes one of my favourite quotes:
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus Finch
Attempting to live below the poverty line for a week allows all of us to walk in the shoes of the people we are here to help. To understand the reality of going hungry while raising awareness of their lives and how we – and all of the other charities taking part – help combat the poverty in which billions of people live.
Experience leads to empathy, which in turn leads to compassion and compassion drives everything we do here at World Vision. By facing the trial of Live Below The Line we can learn to empathise with those we wish to help and grow our compassion and motivation to serve.
If we can do one small thing to better understand the lives of those we wish to help, surely it’s not too much to ask?
Are you taking part in Live Below The Line? Let us know on our Facebook page or drop us a Tweet. If you’d like to donate to our efforts, you can find out more here.
You can follow World Vision staff’s progress all through next week with daily updates on our social channels and we’ll also bring you an inspiring story of an Indian cookery contest that motivated and empowered whole villages to cook better, more nutritious food while still keeping to their strict budgets.