PovertyChallenge

Mood?: Excited!! :)

Hungry?: Yes. :(

Tired?: Rather! :/

Inconvienced?: Not for much longer! :)

Last day of the challenge... has been pretty easy actually! Due to cold weather I didn't buy any food today as I needed to get to longton this afternoon after work, meaning I had to use my £1 for the day on petrol. Luckily, I did have one packet of pasta left from the other day which I had for tea :):

These used to be my favourites, honestly, I don't think I'll be eating any more pasta for a while!

I am very much looking forward to not having to choose between food and travel and also having choice with what I eat! However this week has taught me a lot about appreciating what I have and I will definately be trying not to take things for granted and act on my discoveries from this week. I hope that anyone who has been reading this has also found this as eye opening and interesting as I have and I would also hope it has encouraged you to go out a make a difference in whatever way possible!

I am actually too exhausted to write anything else... my last entry will be tomorrow night so I'll make sure it's a good 'un :D

Sorry I didn't write last night, I wasn't home until rather late!

Mood?: Really good actually, work was lot's of fun as was the bonfire/after party! :)

Hungry?: YES! :(

Tired?: Pretty exhausted by the time I got home, I thought my legs would collaspe underneath me! :(

Inconvienced?: You know what I'm going to say :P

Yesterday started off really well actually, after dreading getting up and having another (6th this week!) walk into town I actually enjoyed quite a leisurely stroll in the morning sunshine! I'm starting to think I'll walk rather than get the bus more often, it's really quite fun when the whether is nice :) So I took some pictures on my walk to share with you:

How pretty does the Ribble look?! Very unusual...!

I also saved my money for the evening, as after Longton Fireworks, we went back to my friend Aimee's house for a kind of after party for soup and cake. Although Nic (her mum) wouldn't accept the money off me, I will donate my 90p (remember, I went over by accident yesterday!) to OXFAM today at the bookshop :) I also saved my pasta that I bought the other day for today, since I'm not going to get chance to buy anything else before I toodle off to the bookshop.

Here's a picture of the lovely soup I had yesterday:

Yummyyyyyyyy :D

It was also nice to feel included again, since everyone else was eating the same thing as me. It's strange really, but when you have to make a seperate meal to everyone else or just have to sit and watch others eat because you can't afford that meal it makes you feel somewhat excluded and like a little bit of an outsider. You want to be enjoying what everyone else has and sharing in the experience with them. I don't know whether that is just a personal thing or not, but I would imagine that it is a feeling shared amoungst many of the poorest in the world. Although I cannot possibly imagine the feelings they must experience in comparison to mine, I have a strong sense that the longing to belong is something that every human experiences in many different ways.

Thanks for reading, todays update will be with you later!

Mood?: You don't want to know! :(

Hungry?: Surprisingly, not really! :)

Tired?: Rather! :/

Inconvienced?: Ouioui! :( (but you already knew that one was coming!)

The no travel aspect of my challenge meant that today I walked just over 6 miles extra than I usually would have done and cycled just under 10 miles! However, I've found that it is getting increasingly easier for me - this may be an aspect of my challenge I will try to keep up, I'm becoming a lot more fit than I was! On the other hand though, my poor little legs are rather tired, which I think is partly to do with the lack of food as well as the increased amount of exercise, even if my CALVES OF STEAL are returning for the first time since Lourdes two years ago (sorry - 'in' joke, a few people will get that :P).

On the food side of things, I was back down to one meal again because my squeaky bread ran out that I bought on day one. I managed to last most of the day without losing my concentration too much, I completed all my work on time and I only caught myself daydreaming once or twice - which is good for me on a normal day!! :) However, I did receive a fair few comments today on how pale/ill I looked, even if I didn't feel it! So I made sure to make my tea a whopper of a meal:

And I ate it ALL :D Chicken flavoured noodles (veggie of course!) and TWO garlic naans. Definately a candidate for the best meal of the week, it would even give th onion omelette a run for it's money!

Unfortunately today though, due to a silly maths error I did manage to go over my budget by 10p, however it was on some pasta which I did not eat today as technically I couldn't afford to eat it. So that will be saved for tomorrow and taken off that budget! Good save? - I hope you think so :)

Just one thing I wanted to discuss a little tonight is a theme that seems to be coming up quite a lot with my fellow students when I ask them what poverty means to them. A common answer is that. because we are so far removed from those living in poverty, there is almost a numbness towards it and as we have no genuine connection to the people, we can never truely relate to their situation or how they are feeling (Aimee and Laura's interviews both mention this) and therefore cannot answer the question, as we just do not know what poverty is. An interesting discussion came up in german conversation class about this when I mentioned how if I had accepted all the handouts I'd been offered this week, I would have had every meal and every bus fare paid for, so would have had a normal week with just everything for free. Sally, my teacher, made a good point about how all my friends and family offering me money would happily give it to me because we have a relationship and know one another, where as many of these people (including myself!) would walk past a person in the street begging and completely ignore them without giving them a second thought. Now I am not for one minute saying it is bad thing to give generously to those that you love, but I am suggesting that maybe it is worth considering whether the person in the street selling that copy of the big issue for £1 deserves or needs the money more than you or your friends do - this is going to be a challenge for me too, I am as guilty as th next person!

Just a thought :) Let me know what you think!

Also wanted to add this picture by Banksy, although it is a tad contradictory to what I just said, I love it!

Heute, dachte ich dass ich soll ein Blog-Spezial schreiben für alle meine deutsche Freunde :) Also, hier sind zwei DEUTSCH Interviews über 'Was bedeutet Armut für dich?' :)

Viel spaß!

Sally McCann, mein deutscher Lehrerin

Aimee Callander and Laura Higgins, meine Freunde von meiner deutschen Klasse

Und hier sind die Verbindungen (ich weiß nicht, wenn das das richtige Wort ist!) wenn man nicht die Videos sehen kann:

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view&current=IMGP0688.mp4

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view&current=IMGP0689.mp4

(For all you none german speakers, I decided to do two special interviews today with my german teacher and some friends from my german class as a treat for some of my german readers! There will be some english posts later on, I promise! :P)

Food diary time!

Today, the hunger has finally began to set in and my stomach rumbled SO LOUDLY in history that I actually broke out into a bit of a fit of giggles and had apologise to poor Andy sitting next to me. How embarrasing. :P As a resut of this, and the fact that I'd managed to save 28p from the past few days, I just had to treat myself to a nice big breakfast of:

Beans and hash browns - yum yum! Although this did eat 81p of my days budget, it was soooooooo worth it! :)

I had another moment of weakness today, after a particularly frustrating spanish lesson, when I bought one of these bad boys...

... remember when they used to be 10p?!

This left me with about 30p (give or take a few pennies) to buy some tea, although luckily I did still have some tomato puree and my last piece of bread left to eat - I won't put another picture of that up though, I'm sure you know what it looks like by now! To go with the bread, I found this reasonably priced pasta packet thing at Home Bargins for 29p:

Let's just say, it wasn't the best meal I've ever had! If I'm lucky I might be able to get some better bread tomorrow, however I do have to agree with something that Sneha said in her blog, about how quantity rules over quality every time in this challenge unfortunately! Hopefully, I'll just be able to buy some that doesn't squeak when you slice it...

Ok so I said I'd provide you with another action you could take... http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/climate_change/ :) This link will take you to OXFAM's take action page for climate change. Climate change is a massive issue effecting millions of people around the world, and whether or not you believe it's caused by man or just a natural cycle, the truth of the matter is that many of the people who are being hit by it are those who contribute to it the least and do not necessarily know how to handle the serious changes in weather conditions. I'd recommending reading the page and if you just want to do a quick action, clicking the 'Lobby Chris Huhne' button. It takes about 2 minutes and could convince our Climate Change Secutary to do something amazing. You know you want to ;)

And finally, unfortunately I am experiencing technical difficulties with my photobucket account so can't upload the second video - hopefully this will be fixed by tomorrow!! :)

My poverty challenge has raised a few interesting debates among my friends (none of which I have been able to add my opinion to :/ ). A few of my (more pedantic) friends argued that ‘Thankyou’ could be considered an opinion as I would be choosing to be polite. I’m not quite sure I agree, though I can only say that on here so I hope they’re reading! Another idea was that I wasn’t to laugh, as that would be voicing my opinion of how funny I find something.   Any thoughts?

So far, I have found my task extremely difficult, I constantly forget and have started talking to myself. A lot. I find I get the best answers ;) and I’m the only person allowed to hear my opinions this week so I've been airing them to myself in a constant stream of mutterings . So I think an apology is needed to anyone I may have scared when sitting next to me on the bus!

Mood?: Slightly better actually (I think I'm just learning to control it better though!) :/

Hungry?: Beginning to hit me.... :(

Tired?: Actually alrighty at the minute! :)

Inconvienced?: Yes. :( (I'm beginning to see a pattern in this one...!)

Walking has been pretty much the same again today, wet, rainy, windy and a bit chilly! But luckily for my I have the access to things such as a waterproof jacket and wellyboots to keep me dry and warm throughout the day despite what the weather may throw at me. This makes me consider myself a very lucky chappy indeed :) Especially when so many don't even have the access to basic rights such as clean water and sanitation. Well I think instead of going on another rant tonight I'll give you access to some practical things that you can do, that will make a difference, even in the smallest way :)

Firstly, you could support the robin hood tax - a small tax on banks to raise millions for those who need it most. Go on: http://robinhoodtax.org/?ecid=em_CPD_CAM_09_btn&ito=4169&itc=0 to sign up and support!! It's literally your name and your email, and you can unsubscribe to the emails as soon as you get them is you really want :) Read the page and watch the video to find out more and comment on this blog to let me know if you did it :D

And I'll put some more information about what you personally can do to help on my next blog post, but for now here's tonights first installment of my 'What does poverty mean to you?' interviews:

William Hart, Student at Newman College and one of my best friends :)

Here's the link if you can't see it: http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view¤t=will-1.mp4

At a gathering with some friends tonight, I faced my biggest challenge of the week so far... turning down FREE ice cream. But not just any ice cream, oh no. I spent the evening being tortured by some of my so-called best friends - they know I love them really ;) - whilst they feasted on Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough and Phish Food ice cream.

Aimee, taunting me with her lovely bowl of ice cream.

Everyone (but me!) tucking in!

....Now that's what I call a challenge!

(Unfortunately not had a chance to make an interview video today, but will make two tomorrow to make up for it!)

:)

Mood?: Not so good... :(

Hungry?: STILL not hit yet! :)

Tired?: Very. :(

Inconvienced?: Again, rather. :/

This is how I currently feel, in a picture. I am currently experiencing the worlds worst headache (ok, I'm exaggerating a little) and feel rather faint. However, I am unsure of whether this was down to this challenge or the stress from parents evening tonight at college, I'm not too sure!

Nothing exciting on the walking front to report today, except after yesterdays disasterous walk home kitting myself out properly with the full rain attire proved to work a charm! :)

Which leads to food for the day...

Breakfast

Lunch

AND tea?!?!

And for some reason I feel the worst I've felt so far. Up until now this challenge has been an exciting new thing for me to take on and test to see if I can push myself to new limits. However for the first time today I found myself wishing for it to be over and looking forward to the end. AND I'm lucky enough to be eating far more than many people do each day and also I'm still open to many more options, even with a restircted budget, than mny people living under the poverty line as not all countries and communties are lucky enough to have the access to cheap food shops such as Home Bargins and Aldi. If there is one thing I have learned from this challenge so far, it is to appreciate the things which I have access to and that are available to me, because I am so lucky to be in a situation where things such as cheap food, the internet and heating are just 'the norm'. Moreover, I have learned not to take for granted smaller things that I never really considered a luxury before, such as the weather forecast and warm clothes to wear.

Also, I have learned to appreciate the amazing friends that I have, who are constantly offering to buy me food (despite the fact that I keep denying it!), walking me home from college and frequently checking up on me to ask about my progress and how I'm feeling. I realise that not everybody is lucky enough to experience the love that I recieve and often take for granted in my day to day life. This thought process came about after re-watching last nights interview with my mum, about how often poverty is something, such as a lack of love, which you can't really see, but is a vital emotion that every human being craves to experience. I find it difficult to comprehend how anybody facing extreme poverty of food everyday, could possibly survive if they didn't have loved ones to help them through it. I'd find it difficult to make it through this challenge, let alone face real poverty without any community or friendship to support me.

So my challenge to you is not just to donate your money or possessions to the poor, but your genuine emotions and love towards them. :)

Thanks for reading!

Weather forecast - checked!

(looking great eh?)

Wellyboots - check!

Waterproof - check!

And I am ready to face the day :)

Ok so today's food budget consisted of:

Two hash browns for breaky :)

and...

1 egg and a tube of tomato puree

which became my tea of...

Tomato puree on toast (using the bread I bought yesterday) and onion omelette (using half of my onion from yesterday) and still have 21p to spare! And yes, tomato puree on toast tastes AMAZING and at only 33p a tube from Aldi, I couldn't resist!

The main thing I have learned from today has got to be how much diet can effect mood. I touched last night on how I was beginning to feel more irritable and frustrated about things that wouldn't usually bother me and today was no different. I got extremely offended by someone giving me a dirty look (which apparently I misinterpreted) and had a generally low feeling today in college, but when I got home I was feeling really happy and helpful towards everybody (remember that this is straight after my walk home from hell!). It's a strange feeling not being able to control my emotions, as this is something I haven't really experiences before. I also count myself lucky that the hunger pains haven't quite kicked in yet, as I know some of the others taking part in the challenge are already beginning to experience this.

Here's the next interview installment:

Janet Heller, Children's Centre Early Years Teacher and My Mother :)

And here's the link for anyone like me who can't see that! - http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view&current=IMGP0675.mp4

Mood?: Changable :P

Hungry?: Still not yet! :)

Tired?: Again, still ok :)

Inconvienced?: VERY. :(

My walk home from college today was... interesting to say the least! I don't like I've ever had a more cliche bad walk home from college - it was cold, wet windy, I got DRENCHED by the spray from a bus (like, completely soaked!), I had no umbrella and was stupidly wearing shorts, fish net tights, dolly shoes and had no hood on my non-waterproof coat... But then I should have checked the weather forecast! This got me thinking of how we take valuable resources such as the weather forecast for granted and how lucky we are in this country to have them so readily accessable to us. I mean in many countries, they have to live day by day, hoping and praying for the right weather in order to grow crops that will provide the families income, or weather that won't totally destroy their livelihoods (see http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/climate_change/ for more information on how you can take action in helping those who are effected by these serious weather conditions and climate change).

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of myself looking a state after the walk home as I was in too much of a rush to hop in a warm shower and grab a lovely warm hot chocolate (this made me glad that I didn't choose to go without hot water for the week!!). However, here is a picture of what my street looked like just after I entered the house:

And I looked kinda like this...

Post on my food and the next interview will be up soon! :)

A full account of today's adventure (yes, I chose the word 'adventure' for a reason!) will be coming later but for now I thought I'd show you this video that we watched at CAFOD group yesterday. I apologise for the horrendous music choice but once you get past that there is some really thought provoking stuff in there :)

and the link just in case that doesn't work... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4639vev1Rw&feature=player_embedded#!

:)

Waking up this morning I began to dread the coming week, I wished I had chosen a more tangible challenge that I was less likely to forget I was doing!So I stuck my yellow badge on my top, hoping it would be enough of a reminder, and went downstairs to breakfast after refusing to comment on whether my sister’s bum looked big in her new trousers ;).

Breakfast proved to be another minefield of opinions. Did I want 1 sugar or 2 in my tea? Did I like the new strawberry jam? What did I think of the special offers in the junk mail? I suddenly realised that I will have very little to say this week, and I certainly can’t speak without thinking over what I am about to say (several times). I am finding it difficult to communicate without using opinions, or turning into a mime artist - as I have discovered that actions dont' seem to lead to as many opinions as words do. 

I am going to live on a pound a day for a week; this includes travel and food which means that I’ll have to walk to college everyday.

In order to experience the difficulties that some people face when working long hours for small amounts of money. I want to be able to try to relate and show my solidarity with the day to day problems that people face when they don’t have enough to buy food and travel in the same day.

I live in Preston and I'm asking my MP Lorraine Fulbrook to comment on what I'm up to - what do you think about it?

This week I am trying not to voice my opinion about anything. Love it, or hate it I must hold my tongue. I am doing this in solidarity with all those people who cannot have a voice, or who are not listened too. So often their situation and the change that needs to happen is taken out of their control. I want my MP, someone who really does have the power to make a change and who can weild lots of power to think what this challenge means.