PovertyChallenge

I know this is an extremely late entry about my views on the challenge I undertook, however - 730 am on a Thursday morning seems perfect. 

I sensed a feeling of relief amongst my family and friends when they learnt that my challenge was done with. I, on the other hand felt quite odd. I began to think to myself - How have I tangibly contributed to this issue? How does a farmer in India or a worker in Africa who can barely manage a meal a day be affected by me taking this challenge? 

Then I remembered, I am not the only one.

There are a 100 more like me who took this challenge and successfully completed it. And that does make a difference - however small it might be. 

In the end, a gentle reminder of the oneness of humanity, that no one is better than the other is essential. Inspiring people to take steps towards helping the current situation of extreme poverty in their own way - that which motivates them was the true purpose of this challenge for me. 

Hey,

Well I didn't get to a computer yesterday so I couldn't do a blog sorry guys. But honestly yesterday wasnt very eventful, I've discovered life without an opinion is pretty boring!

Whilst I'm sure it's not as tiring as living off only rice or sleeping in some very uncomfortable places like I know some of the others bloggers have, it is mentally exhausting. Every time I go to speak I have to think it this an opinion? Is it okay if I say this? Ofcourse there have been times when I've been mid sentance and had to stop because I was expressing myself! I must admit I have slipped up a few times.. Today I was trying to have a debate with my boyfriend without expressing my opinion in the end I got so frustrated I was like "It's a fact I'm right so it's not an opinion". He said this was cheating so I've been quiet since:(

Honestly I didn't realise how often in a day my opinion comes out and it has really got me thinking what if every single day every time I spoke I had to think about what I was saying.

For bonfire night I went to see an amazing firework display at Keniworth Castle, I got really into it cheering and clapping away until my mother reminded me this was expressing an opinion too. But from the picture you can imagine it would be hard not too...

Hope you all had a great bonfire night too!

Thanks for reading! x

I skipped a day of Blogging joy! Apologies for that! But a day of running around once more with little food rendered me very tired last night. 

It's Diwali today - a very auspicious Indian festival celebrated with deep reverence and joyous celebration. Famously known as the festival of Lights, it is a national holiday in India. One of the major ways of celebration is, ofcourse, FOOD! Lots of delicious amazing food! Sweet, savoury, and much more! So yes, hanging around at home while amazing food was being cooked was a bit of a bummer! As a religious ritual, I went to the Sikh Temple with my entire family. As all temples in India and everywhere in the world, this one also serves food (which is considered to be a blessing in Divine Presence) as a part of the religious service on Diwali. All the food is cooked collectively in a community kitchen and then the meal is eaten together after the religious service. 

In India, these meals are served on a daily basis to everyone who comes into the temple. Many people living in extreme poverty in India do go into these temples since it is a sure place to get food, and sometimes even, shelter. When I walked into the temple today, I thought to myself, ''I am doing the poverty challenge, I can't eat the food here". But in truth, there are millions like me who are not taking a challenge but living in extreme poverty and do rely on such religious and social institutions for support.

I did eat the food I received at the temple as a blessing - and honestly realised the importance of food when I actually ate my first full nourishing meal in five days. As I am slowly approaching the end of this challenge, my respect for the food on my table has found its roots inside me, a voice which is sincerely thankful :) 

Taking a challenge and living the challenge are two very different things. This challenge is not only my attempt to spread awareness amongst people about the situation of extreme poverty in the world today, but also a way to understand, however briefly, the real challenge that people living this situation each day of their lives face. 

A day of introspection.. with more tomorrow! 

Hey:)

Well it has never occured to me before all the different ways in which I am able to express my opinion, when starting this challenge I kind of just assumed it would be when I was talking to people I would have to watch what I said but there are so many other options for voicing my opinion- facebook, twitter, blogs like this one, the media, on the radio, writing to my MP etc! The list is endless...

This kind of hit me today when I was reading a friends status about the new student fees proposal (she was ranting!) and I went to like it, when I realised that liking this status would be a form of expressing my opinion... very annoying when I spend most of my time on facebook liking everyones status's!

This might seem obvious to most people but it really brought it back to me how lucky I am that I am able to express myself in so many different ways.

Other than that today has been quite easy for some reason, maybe I've just got used to keeping my opinion to myself or maybe because I have been cheating slightly:( by ranting to my cat! Not that she seems to care too much looking at this photo of her earlier! See not only is this challenge making life quite boring keeping everything to myself but it's also turning me into a crazy cat lady:(

Please comment!

x

What did day three bring with it? I spent ALL of day three in Manchester due to a very long interview process. I managed to grab half a bowl of milk with some cereal just before I dashed off with a box of pasta - my only food all day! Oh and two little plums too. 

I spoke to one of the guys at the interview about the poverty challenge I am doing and he was very surprised I was doing it. He then asked me all kinds of questions about the campaigns run by Oxfam and petitions about Climate Change etc. It definitely made for interesting conversation for me (and hopefully for him too!) where I told him about the other challenges volunteers have taken up to show their solidarity towards a cause. 

What I found most interesting today was how to spark attention in individuals by demonstrating something you are doing first hand. It is easy for me to talk about campaigns I help with which benefit people I don't know living in a place I have never been to. If I can't completely connect with that, how can my audience ? Ofcourse, I am passionate about campaigning even though I've never been to an extremely poor area where individuals are struggling for their basics, but I feel they should have just as much as others do, and hence I take part in campaigning. But it is more effective when people see for themselves what another does and demonstrates through action, it reinforces the seriousness of the cause for which the stand is being taken. 

Something to think about I think! :)

Hi!

Well I think the title says it all! Today has most definitely been a struggle:( Giving up my opinion for a week combined with having a horrible chest infection has made me very grumpy and slightly stir crazy having been stuck in the house for almost 3 days solid, so when I finally went out for the first time today all excited I was quickly annoyed again when the news came on the radio about the increase in student fees. Not only did the subject wind me up but the fact I couldn't voice my opinion on it!

So to cheer me up I am going to list everything I have not been able to voice an opinion on today and invite all of you to share your thoughts on these! :-

• Student fees going up to a minimum of £6000 a maximum of £9000 absolutely awful, I wanted to rant all day but I couldn't!
• My brother and his general annoying behaviour!
•  News of the Iranian women who is facing being hung after commiting adultary.
• Somebody's facebook status claiming all teenage mums are after a council flat for free.
• What I would do if I was Gabrielle on desperate house wives... random I know!
• Having to pay for my own prescription for the first time.
• Who's pumpkin is better mine or my boyfriends- (mine is the small cute one on the left not the tall one with the wonky eyes!)

This list could go on forever- today really has been frustrating and I have slipped up at times without even realising it. I guess this comes from having lived my whole life with the opportunity to express my opinion whenever and wherever I want, a basic right so many don't have. Whilst sometimes it is a bit of fun such as who's pumpkin is better (clearly mine) it is still incredibly frustrating especially when I'm not able to comment on things I am really passionate about like the student fees!

It's only day 3 and I am already getting frustrated and the fact that people go through this day after day without ever being able to express their opinion is definitely wrong and needs to change!

Please comment with your thoughts and let me know who's pumpkin is better;)

Thanks for reading:)

x

So I decided I needed to be more organised about this challenge. And that woke me up at half six this morning when I spent an hour trying to make a budget for myself. I spent the next hour and a half at my local supermarket looking for as much as I could get for £6 (since I had already spend £1, actually, technically 0.99p, on Day 1). 

I was surprised at how easily QUANTITY took over QUALITY. I was convinced to get as much as I can in as less as possible. I then stopped, and thought - THIS must be how people living in extreme poverty live each day - in a constant state of internal conflict. A state in which they can't have choices, but must agree with what is cheapest and fills their stomach, irrespective of its nutritional value or calorie content. 

I came home, and my brother was very surprised that I was actually able to get a bag and a half of food! All of the food I have got is 'value' food. What was in the bag? A bag of frozen veggies, four packs of instant noodles, three packs of pasta, four packs of soup, a pack of biscuits, a litre of tetra packed organic soya milk (was impressed that this was only 0.99p!), a pack of cocoa rice crispies and a pack of discounted plums (Thank God for price cuts!). According to my calculation, this is roughly 12 meals, thanks to my small appetite. However, none of this is fair trade. I can't make the choices I usually make. I feel bound.

An important part of this challenge for me is the 'AWARENESS' bit of it. Talking to people, telling them about the statistics revolving around extreme poverty and the current state of aid to the countries affected by extreme poverty. I noticed an upsurge of kindness around me, right from family members to friends, who learnt about my challenge and got ready to buy food and cook for me. I felt enormously blessed, but this also made me think. How often am I kind to a person I know needs the money or the food to make it through another day? Coming from India, I have seen several people on the streets, each day, in extreme conditions. I can see for myself that they need the resources and help - but how many times do I step up? One? Two? Five? Ten? I am fortunate enough to have family and friends who are supporting me (some more than others!) through this challenge, because they care. 

The question that rattled through me today - How deeply do we really care about the life situation of the people who are truly living through the challenge of extreme poverty?

Hopefully I'll have my answer to this question by the end of this challenge.

...and we'll be back for more tomorrow!

Hi:)

Well after my first post last night I was quite pleased with myself- I'd managed to let out some of my frustration and was confident I could last without expressing my opinion at least until I went to bed.

Unfortunately this didn't quite go to plan. I decided the best way to keep my opinion to myself was not to talk to anyone so I settled down to watch TV with my boyfriend and his mum thinking surely this will be a nice distraction... Until we decided to watch a BBC documentary on child soliders in the Congo. (The programme was brilliant and really eye opening and if anyone has an hour free I would definitely recommend watching it.) As you can imagine a programme like this would spark some interesting conversation and soon I could feel myself about to express my opinion on what these poor young boys had been forced to go through, so I excused myself to go and make some drinks and I have never felt so frustrated in my life! While my boyfriend and his mum could talk freely about it I wasn't able to say a word.

But while watching it and feeling all sorry for myself that I couldn't rant away I felt really guilty- the people in the programme had no voice, when they voiced their opinions no one had listened. The children who had been stolen from their parents from rebel soldiers hadn't wanted to go but what they wanted didn't matter. The mothers and fathers who had cried and fought to get them back were ignored by the army and government who didn't listen.

I can't imagine how it must feel to be so helpless and not have anyone listen when you ask for help or when you say this needs to stop its wrong.

Realising this made me feel guilty that I have the chance to speak out usually (with the exception of this week!) whilst people all over the world don't get this chance and something needs to be done about it!

So I woke up today with a renewed motivation to promote this challenge to ensure that change does happen for people all over the world just like those children and their families so that their voices do get heard!

Thanks for reading:)

x

So I should have been better organised about my challenge. But I wasn't. So I spent Day one on a £1 Chicken Baguette I managed to find in a shop called 'EAT4LESS'. Works for me! 

However, I do know I am going to plan the next six days of my challenge wisely. 

Step One:

Shop for six days worth of food with budget = £6.

Step Two:

Talk to people about the challenge, in an attempt to make them understand what people living in extreme poverty go through. 

Step Three:

Encourage them to get involved by spreading the word through their Facebook and Twitter 

Step Four:

Write to my MP about this challenge, asking him to respond to my initiative. Let's see what he has to say! :)

Hey,

So before I started this challenge I thought how hard can it be to give up my opinion all I have to do is try not to argue for a week right? Day one of this challenge and I already realise how wrong I was!

Yesterday before the challenge started I found myself deliberately expressing my opinion very loudly on absolutely everything from what Cheryl Cole was wearing on xfactor to what temperature my mum should do her washing at and as I did this I realised people constantly are expressing their opinions whether it’s on massive international issues or just on xfactor ! And then it hit me how frustrating this could be and how frustrating it must be every day for millions of people all over the world who don't have freedom of speech and are oppressed for whatever reason.

So I went to bad last night feeling a bit nervous about how I was going to cope, as anyone who knows me will tell you I am very opinionated and some of them have sponsored me just to keep me quiet for a week. I knew this would be a hard but rewarding challenge.

So today I had my first challenge, when visiting the doctors today there was some kind of weekly clinic running for babies and there was a sign saying "mums: make sure your baby hasn't had an injection in the last 4 weeks before attending this clinic." Normally I wouldn't have noticed a sign like this but being bored and feeling ill with a chest infection in the doctors I did and for some reason it annoyed me. Why was the sign assuming only mothers would take their babies to the doctors, shouldn't father’s be just as involved? What about men who do take their kids, they must be annoyed? And even thought it's not that big a deal that the sign said "mums" not "parents" it drove me crazy because I couldn't say anything to anyone about it! This is when I really realised how frustrating and lonely it is not being able to say what I want when I want!

I'm sure this week will bring more and more challenges and by the end of the week I'll be ready to pull my hair out but if for one week I can show people what so many people are going through all over the world it will definitely be worth giving up my right to a voice!

Thanks for reading :)

My challenge for the week is that I am going to give up chocolate and cake for a week.

I have chosen to give up chocolate and cake for the week because these are two luxuries that people living in poverty are not likely to have. As climate change affects more people around the world - more and more people will live on a very basic diet and not be able to afford the luxuries that we take for granted.

I live in Chester and will ask my MP Stephen Mosley what he thinks about my challenge. What do you think?

My Challenge is to have no opinion for a week (except in this blog)

As a woman I am especially passionate about the issue. A lot of people around the world (especially women) are not allowed to voice thier opinions and make decisions for themselves, which I believe is unacceptable

I live in Chester and asking my MP Stephen Mosley what he thinks about it! Will he have an opinion on it?

How much do we value a pound? For us, £1 is hardly anything, but for many people living in extreme poverty, that is all they can afford each day for food. So I thought, I'd give living on a £1 a day for food a chance!

And £1.00 is still a great deal more than a lot of people out there have to live on, even if you do take living costs into account. I want to see just how tough it is going to be for me to live on so little.