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Living on $2 a Day in Support of 1.4Billion Living in Extreme Poverty
Local (Mawson Lakes) resident Krystal Delany - who prefers to be called Moo - will be living on just $2 of food a day for 5 days this August, in support of the 1.4billion people who survive on this amount daily.
Internationally, the extreme poverty line is defined as US$1.25 a day – the equivalent of $2 in Australia. The "Live Below the Line" campaign is a joint initiative of The Oaktree Foundation and The Global Poverty Project, and is running from 2 August - 6 August 2010. All Australians are invited to take part in the challenge to gain a better understanding of the obstacles inherent in extreme poverty and to raise funds for Oaktree and GPP projects.
Moo Lived Below the Line in July with her 9 and 11 year old brothers while they were on school holidays. Although they were hungry throughout the week the main problem was lack of variety . "Eating rice everyday with nothing but stock and butter gets pretty boring," Moo said. Her brothers agreed, with Coen (9) saying "it (poverty) is boring, stupid and it sucks. I couldn't live like this everyday." Their team - Delany Kids' Village! - has so far raised $400 and they expect that figure to rise as the boys tell their friends about it back at school.
Come 2 August though, Moo is doing it all over again, and this time by herself. She has set a large but attainable sponsorship target of $1,000 and promises to get a Live Below the Line inspired tattoo if she reaches it. "Some people have promised to shave their heads, some will go an extra day for each extra hundred dollars they raise... I'll get a tattoo."
Money raised by Moo and other Live Below the Line participants will go towards Oaktree's education project in Cambodia. This is a nation torn apart by war and genocide, with over 85% of young people never even starting secondary school.
So far nearly $150,000 has been raised nationally. This is fantastic and will only rise, as participants begin to live on $2 of food next week.
You can sponsor Moo at her personal sponsorship page - http://www.everydayhero.com.au/moodelany - and help her reach her $1,000 target.
For more information on the campaign and to sign up go to - http://www.livebelowtheline.com
Article Information kindly provided by Krystal Delany.
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