From 12 -19 September 2010 I'm living below the line... with your help, we can make a difference. This is what it's all about:
The issue
1.4 billion people around the world live on less than $1.25 a day. That's a figure adjusted to purchasing power - so it actually means people living in extreme poverty can at most afford enough rice, vegetables and cooking fuel to make to basic meals. No meat, no frills, nothing fancy - just two basic meals.
Then there's 10 cents left over for everything else in life - housing, transportation, education, clothes, healthcare.
Living in extreme poverty means living without choices, without the ability to make decisions and without any control over your own life.
So what's happening
We've made great progress - reducing the proportion of the world's population living in extreme poverty from 50% to 25% since 1980 - in my lifetime.
In 2000 196 world leaders came together to the UN to create the Millennium Development Goals - eight goals that will halve extreme poverty by 2015.
From the 20-22 September 2010, the UN are meeting to discuss the progress of the MDGs and how we can ensure we meet those Goals.
What I'm doing
This campaign
For the eight days leading up to the UN Summit on the MDGs, I'm going to be living below the extreme poverty line - in the UK that means 93p a day. The challenge is focused on food - so for someone that loves food as much as I do (clearly!) this is going to be ludicrously tough. It also means I'm going to actually have to cook every day!
For the next eight days I'm going to be blogging on each MDG, as well as my progress (expect some hunger whinges!)
A highlight will be on Wednesday, when I am representing theGlobal Poverty Project at a meeting with the UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell to discuss what they will be saying to the UN later this month.
The campaign is based on a fantastic Australian initiative called Live Below the Line - check it out to see what people can do if they put their mind to it.
Throughout the year
I'm a presenter for the Global Poverty Project, where I go around the country to present the issues surrounding extreme poverty to communities, empowering them to act. We talk about
- what extreme poverty is
- what we can do about it
- what is stopping us - and how can we get past it
- why we should take action
- what each of us can do in our own lives.
where your money will go
Camfed are a fantastic charity that invest in the education of girls in Africa- one of the key ways we can see a sustained uplift in the poorest communities (my mum loves that I wax lyrical about how good women are!). To find out more, check out the video on the left!
This is what the money we raise could buy:
£5 - school supplies for a year
£25 - a required school uniform
£90 - a 6 month scholarship for secondary school
£180 - a year's scholarship for secondary school
Thanks for your support - together we can change lives.
http://www.justgiving.com/Dennis-Marcus
No comments:
Post a Comment