Headline »

November 1, 2016 – 7:58 am |

Happyzine has been sold! More information soon …
Ever thought about running a good news website? Here’s your chance.
Happyzine.co.nz has been a force for the positive for the last nine years in New Zealand, sharing good …

Read the full story »
Business
Community
Environment
Blog
Youth
Home » Uncategorized

Kiwis Live on $2.25 a Day to Fight Poverty

Submitted by on July 20, 2011 – 1:11 pm

Kiwis live on $2.25 a day to fight poverty

For five days this August, thousands of Kiwis will be living below the international poverty line of $2.25 a day to cover their food budget. This difficult challenge is part of a new fundraising campaign called Live Below The Line, aimed at combating extreme poverty around the world.

These participants will use their daily experiences to bring extreme poverty to the centre of conversation in homes and workplaces. They will gain a better understanding of the daily challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty, and at the same time, they will be fundraising for 5 different charities that are fighting poverty in a myriad of different ways.

These charities are Oxfam, Volunteer Service Abroad, Global Poverty Project, P3 Foundation, and Christian World Service.

Thanks to the  following environmentally responsible businesses for supporting Happyzine:

ECOtanka

  • Eco-friendly –  Reusable for years upon years
  • Safe & non-leaching – BPA free (bisphenol-A)
  • Solid food-grade stainless steel – Super hygienic & clean

www.ecotanka.com

Will Watterson, Director of the Global Poverty Project, says “These participants will all be challenged. They will struggle without caffeine, and have a faint feeling of being not quite full for the whole week. They will pool money with flatmates, colleagues or family to make that $2.25 stretch just a little further.”

“They will do all of this because whilst they choose to struggle to Live Below the Line for one week, there are 1.4 billion people who have no choice other than to do it every day. Think about that figure – 1.4 Billion – that is over 300 times the population of New Zealand – living every day to live in the most abject poverty.”

For people who live in extreme poverty that $2.25 has to cover far more than food and drink. It has to cover everything – health, housing, transport, food, education. It is impossible to imagine, but it is the incomprehensible reality for an incredible number of people.

Many might think that $2.25 goes a lot further in developing countries. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The $2.25 figure represents the amount someone living in extreme poverty in New Zealand would have to live on, for all of their needs.

“We’d love a lot more people to get involved” says Watterson. “When they ran Live Below The Line in Australia earlier this year they raised AUS$1.4million for crucial anti-poverty initiatives. Wouldn’t it be great if we could match that! The difference it would make for those living in poverty would be immense”.

Anyone wanting to take the Live Below The Line Challenge, or support someone who is, can find out more at www.livebelowtheline.co.nz.

PREPARE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE PLANET – CHECK OUT THE HAPPYZINE GREEN DREAM COURSES

GD Star Rating
loading...
GD Star Rating
loading...

Tags:

Leave a comment!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also Comments Feed via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.