PovertyChallenge

The Finish Line:

                Infuriatingly, my laptop stopped working this week. I was livid. But then I reminded myself how fortunate I am to have access to a computer in the first place.

                The weekend, and the end of the challenge, brought about mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was pleased to be able to use electricity at my volition once again. Conversely, everything seemed so easy once I discarded this obligation.  Here was life, pre-packaged and set onto autopilot mode. When you can flutter through each day with the biggest worry involving slow traffic, it is easy to lose perspective.

                For one thing, it is difficult and debatable to solve what seem to be intractable issues. Student top-fees are one topical example.  The general idea is for those who come from richer backgrounds to subsidise those who come from poorer families. Whether the proposed rise will achieve this is debatable. Moreover, maybe the student protests against the proposed fee rises miss the point: if you attend university, you one of the lucky few anyway and should be grateful for what this opportunity affords.

                Now: Think about that in a broader context.

                Regardless of your prescriptions for improving the world we live in, just remember how fortunate you are not to have to live in poverty. This is what the world would look like if it was reduced to 100 people:

• 50 would be female
• 50 would be male
• 1 would have a college education
• 1 would own a computer
• 1 would be dying of starvation 
• 82 would be able to read and write
• 18 would be illiterate
• 17 would have no clean, safe water to drink
• 75 people would have some supply of food and a place to 
  shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not 
• 17 would be undernourished
• 15 would be overweight 

Thanks for reading.

                Day five: Empathy

                Whilst playing football last night, a friend broke his collarbone. It was an unfortunate incident which shows how rapidly our fortunes can change.

                With nascent budget cuts waiting to take their toll on individual lives, not just within Britain but also many parts of the wider world, it is worth considering what this means for poverty. Fintan O’Toole, an Irish Commentator, raised numerable interesting points on this subject in a recent interview with the BBC’s Arts & Ideas podcast. He spoke about the need for ‘ethical austerity’. Economic retrenchment is not just about elusive numbers. It is also about our way of life – our philosophy as a country. The interviewer, Philip Dodd, raised a prescient point: those who speak of the need for austerity are more than often those who have never had to live through it.

                Here is a declaration of interest: I have never lived in poverty. The chances are that if you are reading this, you have not either. This is something to celebrate – we should be grateful for the opportunities afforded to us. Equally, however, we should also disdain that many people are not similarly placed.

                Yet it is easy to fall into the same divisive norms: us/them, superior/inferior and so forth. This overlooks one simple fact: We are all human. We have similar dreams, aspirations and ambitions. By no means are they identical, but the very existence of such desires it a staple of humankind.

                And so, it comes down to a simple question: Would you like to live in poverty? Some people like to frame this as a solely ideological point. It is not. You can argue for a more or less egalitarian society within this. The point is that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living.

                This brings me back to my injured friend. As a waited in the A&E whilst he was being x-rayed, I spoke to the woman sat next to me. She blamed the sweeping cuts facing the NHS on the number of ‘foreigners’ ‘we’ have let in. Politics and economics aside, it was startling how assuredly this comment was made.

There are numerous arguments for and against immigration. This is not the place to discuss them. However, one thing I will maintain is that most people seeking to enter the UK do so because of the opportunities afforded here. That is a compliment. As bad as things may appear at times – but that is life - the UK is a remarkable place to live in. So rather than simply rebuke those ‘foreigners’, it is better to ask why is this happening. The debate can progress from there.

Two more days to go.

Things have beginning to pick up the media. Here is an article printed in the Prestwich Advertiser:

http://menmedia.co.uk/prestwichadvertiser/news/s/1370341_student_peter_sheds_light_on_poverty

For those of you who subscribe to BT Broadband in the Whitefield area like myself: Welcome back. 

Day four:

                I arrived home at 9:30pm last night. Once again, dark and damp, I struggled through my front door and fumbled around for a lighter and candle.

                Here is an important piece of advice: Never shave in the dark.

                To my surprise, this campaign has been covered in the front page of my local newspaper. Other participants in this challenge have similarly been reported by their local press. Never be cynical about how small acts can make a difference. Silence results in stagnation; activism, at the very least, gives rise to the possibility of change.

                Back to the plot: what can you do in darkness? Think.

And so, here is a quote to think about. It is a reminder of the importance about how we look at poverty: it is a human condition and has particular import in this ‘age of austerity’. The quote is from Amartya Sen’s Poverty and Famines:

This ‘head-count measure’ — H for short — has at least two serious drawbacks. First, H takes no account of the extent of the short-fall of incomes of the poor from the ‘poverty line’: a reduction in the incomes of all the poor without affecting the incomes of the rich will leave this head count measure completely unchanged. Second, it is insensitive to the distribution of income among the poor; in particular, no transfer of income from a poor person to one who is richer can increase this head count measure.           

My fellow followers. The allegations are true. I, Adam Lewis, do not drink tea and did sabotage Tristan Humphreys' cuppa with chocolate cornflakes. Perhaps this was a result of his own poverty challenge, allowing others to make decisions for him, or maybe I'm getting bitter at the smorgasbord of drinks available to my counterpart.

So far so good with the h2o, although temptation has been there I've gone strong for another day with only a few more to go. Unfortunately for the residents of Yemen capital Sana'a they have less than seven years until their water supplies run out. Growing urban population puts a strain on natural resources and basic services such as water. In response to the recent terror threats, International Development minister, Alan Duncan, warned on Monday we must help Yemen before its "too late". Seven years, Mr Duncan. Start the clock.

Day Three:

                With a mounting workload to shift, I spent the day indoors. Even in the morning, with the sun shining vividly, the room seemed overcast.

                That was before it reached 4pm. The transition from grey to black was startling. So soon and so quickly I discovered the difficulties in trying to read by candlelight. Even now, two hours after completing my work, I have headache.

                Cooking was another matter altogether. For the first time I attempted to cook a wholesome meal, complete with boiled vegetables and a butternut squash. The candles barely sufficed to light up the room. Furthermore, when I finally began eating, I had no other option but to focus on what I was doing: I could not read a newspaper as usual.

                Energy poverty is often overlooked. Yet, a recent paper on this very issue estimates that 57% of India’s rural population are energy poor as opposed to 22% who are income poor. This is significant in a country home to one-third of the world’s poor.

Poverty is more than word: it is a living experience. My experience is negligible. It is a burden at worst. I wish I could say that in life, we are all in this together. But we’re not

I wish this photograph was accurate and that the candles burned this brightly.  

Forget any preconceptions you may have: there is nothing endearing about working in darkness

                Day Two:

                I expected last night to be calm and straightforward. After all, I only arrived home at 5:30pm and had plans to leave at 6:30pm in order to meet a friend.

                But as I walked towards my front door the cold, damp and miserable weather soaked my legs and belongings. This would normally not pose an issue, but I ought to have thought twice: I had to remove my shoes in utter darkness before fumbling around for a candle and lighter.

                Once there was light I had to quickly make and eat my evening dinner before changing my clothes and leaving. It seems so simple, but handling a candle which emits as much light as the glove compartment of a car makes the effortless exhausting.

                Remember too: time was of the essence as I needed to meet my friend.

                Within this, there is a point about development. People find ingenious ways of overcoming hardships. That is part of the human spirit. However, the burdens of living in poverty result in inefficiency. This may seem trivial, but in practical terms it can have a significant impact upon how poor people improve their lives. After all, if every task takes doubly long due to external factors, this will consume more personal time and energy.

There will be no big bang in development unless some of these more trivial aspects are overcome. Once again, I am reminded: there is nothing easy about poverty.

I think I've done pretty well here. My daily dose of Weetabix has remained at four. Showers and internet have been ringfenced. As for tea, fizzy drinks, smoothies and alcohol, in fact anything thats not water, have all been slashed in this weeks beverage cuts. This week the only thing I will drink is water.

The fact that this is even considered a 'challenge' exposes how lucky we are to have access to clean, safe water when over a billion do not. It is a challenge for Kalsun and Abdul in Bangladesh who risk arsenic poisoning from the water they collect everyday at local wells. It is a challenge for women and children in Africa to walk up to ten miles a day for water.

Like my chocolate and Facebook stalking, the international aid budget has been ringfenced by the coalition government. This is a great move we should all applaud, but it needs to be directed to overcoming global poverty. Redefining international aid to incorporate 'security' or national interests undermines the progress already made.

As for tomorrow's challenge, here's a few of the things I won't be doing. I won't sooth my aching throat with a hot vimto. I won't be exploiting the 'free refills' offered at Barburrito. I won't enjoy the match with an ice cold cider, watching the condensation drip down my glass to form circles of water on the table... this isn't going to be that easy is it? 

This weekend the clocks have changed. This means the evenings get darker even earlier. I am challenging myself not to use any electric lighting whilst at home. I want to try living without this one modern convenience. Electricity is an expensive resource and with the depletion of natural resources prices are only set to rise.

This week I'm only going to drink water.

I have studied poverty and devlopment with a special focus on Haiti - and with the recent earthquakes there this is a country that means a lot to me when I come to think about poverty. Climate change is putting island nations like Haiti even more at risk and I believe water is something we don't appreciate enough in the UK

I live in Bury and I'm asking my MP David Nuttall to respond to my challenge ... Follow my blog to see how I get on and if he responds!