Live Below the Line
By David Brand, Fundraising Events Manager, World Vision UK
I’m writing this sitting at my desk in the World Vision office. It’s five past ten on a Tuesday morning and already I’m munching on a sandwich which was meant to be for my lunch. And the coffee van has just pulled up outside in the car park…
I enjoy food. In fact I love it. Eating in our home is a social activity. The flavour, the way it looks; the whole experience is something to be savoured. Anyone who has seen Masterchef and witnessed Greg Wallace tasting a pudding will get what I mean.
But I often find myself living in a personal tension. I count it a huge privilege to do my daily work with World Vision. And my working life each day exposes me to the hard fact that for billions of people in our world, daily life is about battling to get enough food to survive.
Just to keep themselves and their families alive.
Like many of us, the inequality of this makes me sit very uncomfortably. And sitting uncomfortably means I cannot sit still and do nothing about it. Just as the current IF campaign says – there is enough food in the world for everyone. And with the political will and action, this vision of enough food for all can become a reality. We do not have to accept hunger and malnutrition as inevitable. This present reality for billions is something that we can work towards ending.
We all have a role to play. And apathy can’t be an excuse.
The task is huge. There’s no doubt it’s a massive mountain to conquer. No individual can do it alone. But we have a sure and certain hope that it is possible.
So what can I/you/people who watch and enjoy Masterchef do? Here are two ways for starters:
- Join the IF campaign, and add the weight of your voice to the thousands of others to challenge decision makers to make the choices which will eradicate global hunger. This is already starting to work – the united voices of IF supporters successfully challenged Chancellor George Osborne to keep the commitment to the 0.7% overseas aid budget.
- Sign-up to Live Below the Line: World Vision has teamed up with Live Below the Line to give you the chance to experience just a small fraction of what daily life is like for billions of people across the globe. Living on £1 a day for all your meals and drinks is an experience that could change the way you see the world, and at the same time will transform the lives of children living daily below the poverty line. Your challenge is simple – to live for 5 days (29th April to 3rd May), spending only £1 per day for your meals and drinks (the UK equivalent of the global poverty line). Ask friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you, and spread the word that global hunger can indeed be eradicated. Go to Live Below the Line to sign-up for your challenge, set up your online fundraising page, and get tips from those who’ve taken the challenge, including recipes from chefs to make a 33p meal flavoursome.
If you want to be inspired by people that have been through it, check out next week’s Live Below the Line blog post where we’ll be hearing from a World Vision support who lived on £1 a day for the whole of Lent. It’s an amazing story.
I encourage you to get behind/add your weight/raise your voice to these initiatives. Because change can happen when we all step up to the plate and take action together. And right now is a great opportunity to do just that!
If you’re up for challenging yourself to Live Below The Line, be sure to let us know on Facebook, Twitter and/or our new Google+ page so you can join in with David and the rest of our staff here at World Vision HQ to support and encourage each other through the week, as well as inspiring us with your recipe ideas!