Day 3: Halfway there, oh and now I have to make dinner

It's halfway through the Live Below the Line challenge, and the IOE team has raised just about 600 pounds (1012 dollars). Woo hoo! I'd like to send a heartfelt thank you to those who have donated and of course to anyone who has been reading/learning a few things here and there.

One thing I have learned is how yummy and filling carrots and peanut butter is...because it caters in a small way to my sweet tooth.

Portable, highly palatable and just 25p....carrots for the win :) 

Tonight's dinner attempted to re-enter the domain of protein with beans and rice...actually a rather common staple combo around the world. I have to admit, despite being happy to choose what I eat and keep up with my vitamins, living below the line has taken the edge off the energy flow, limited the hours I can actually keep (oops, I guess laundry will have to wait...), and has shortened my fuse considerably.

However, tradeoffs are the key.

Besides this full English breakfast (sorry to my vegetarian and vegan readers for not being inclusive...)

Look at all that protein...mmmm okay don't drool on the keys Bethany! That's 4.95 and out of reach this week!

which may or may not have lured you into this blog, what else could that 5 pounds for Live Below the Line get you? How far does it really go?

A meal at the ubiquitous Pret a Manger, if I had given into temptation one day,
it could have been a hungry four other days!

The load of laundry I was supposed to do today!!! (yes, I broke up with my handwash basin after a complicated year long relationship, so I shell out for the laundromat) 

Approximately a return tube ticket from zone 1 to zone 2 in London. This would not be enough for me to get to and from school from my place in zone 3.

Approximately a pint of cider for you and a *lucky* friend in Acton, but for that same cider in Central London prepare to tell the "lucky" friend to bring his/her wallet with 5 quid in it

So you see, Living Below the Line is not an easy thing. Though the limit is to represent food and drink, people living below the level of extreme poverty are faced with a number of trade-offs. What were some of the things you didn't see on this list...want to get prescription medicine? Sorry, not in the budget. How about a new shirt...good luck with that one! 5 pounds amounts to a mere 8 hours of rent in my humble bedsit (studio) in Acton. 

So...the next time you see images like these: 

Think about the tough trade-offs these people face! 

Day 2: Tube Strike Tuesday

Yes, it's that time of year again...a Tube (London Underground= the metro/subway) strike has made getting to work/school a wild ride for me today.

Deep breath, bound for Central London...6.7 miles away!

But first, for some good news:

Thank you to everyone who came to the bake sale yesterday (a special shout-out to my classmates in Gender, Education and Development). We raised just over 50 pounds. Every little bit counts. For those of you reading this from overseas, sorry to tantalise your tastebuds with the delicious baked goodies. You're always welcome to donate to Human Care Syria (sidebar) and I promise you a cookie next time I'm in your neighbourhood.

Today, I breakfasted on a glass of water and part of the carrots and PB assigned to lunch to get me going. Here was a chunk of my commute to school (Acton-> Central London). For the safety of all concerned parties, I spared you footage of my awesome defensive driving around buses on Oxford Street.

So today was a bit of a hassle to say the least for most of London. The bike commute is not out of the ordinary, but normally I do it on a bit more than the tasty carrots PB and this dinner I cooked after 8 hours of job training today (3 frantic months of searching and 4 interviews later, I finally got a job administering a phone questionnaire to UK university grads to work back my costs).

A new quick and easy favourite of mine: fresh baby spinach leaves, tomatoes, onion cooked down with olive oil, lemon juice, and minced fresh garlic. While this pairs nicely with bread and chicken, the simple version costs just 75p!

With all the bother in London over the Tube strike [insert polar vortex, roadwork, or any equally annoying situation in your city here] it's easy to get caught up in the aggravation. That's why, other than feeling miserably tired when I got home, it was good to be living below the line this week. Imagine if your life wasn't just aggravating, but truly a perilous situation like our colleagues in Syria have been facing for the past few years.

The conflict in Syria first came to my attention when it broke out in the spring of 2011. At the time, I was taking an Environment and International Development class (module) for my Global Studies degree and the teaching assistant (a tutor) for the course was Syrian. After class, he made a particular appeal related for us to consider what was happening, as that session we had a focus on individual efforts which can contribute to problems and solutions in the environment, to avoid the sort of inexcusable ignorant response (or lack thereof) on the part of the "international community." The conviction in his appeal has stuck with me these past years, although I admit to a poor job of keeping myself informed.

If like me, you have been listening to the occasional report or reading a few articles on an NPR or BBC phone app, I'd encourage you to take another look. This CBC site on the key facts is not by any means in-depth or comprehensive, but it's a good start.

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/syria-dashboard/ 

 I feel equal parts saddened and baffled by the violence occurring in Syria which has taken the lives of more than 100,000 people and displaced 2.4 million registered refugees (surely among others yet uncounted). That's as if the entire population of Paris or Nairobi proper, the greater Manchester area, or the people that live in the entire state of Nevada fled. Not only did they flee, but people affected by the conflict have seen or experienced unimaginable violence. The tragedy of uprooting themselves and their loved ones for an uncertain future, sometimes in a neighbouring country or far away where they are caught in the middle, "welcomed" but not necessarily accepted and sometimes outright stigmatised.

This image of Homs, an industrial centre and counted the third largest city in Syria, before and after bombing in 2012 shows the physical effects of conflict. But it fails to tell the whole story. What of the stories, the lives of the people who are in the top photo and disappear from the next one:

Centre of Homs, Syria

The Live Below the Line team at IOE has chosen to support Human Care Syria because we recognise that there is much to be done in response to these horrific events which are life reality for the people they affect. I'd like to spotlight the work that Human Care Syria does involving the psycho-social in addition to basic needs, such as ensuring the distribution of bread.

Follow this link to learn more:

http://www.humancaresyria.org/work/rehabilitation

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

Day 1: Focus, Focus, FOCUS!!!

First of all, happy birthday to my beautiful sister Robyn! We'll eat some serious Mr. Yoghato next week to toast to your birthday :)

Today is also my first day of the intensive module (class, for us Americans) called Gender, Education and Development which is 9:30am-4:30pm. Since it's a new subject to me, and not one that garners as much interest as others, it's going to take a lot of brain power, on no breakfast.

While normally not the best breakfast eater these days, as a kid my parents were able to be rockstars about food-setting out breakfast at 6:45am so I could enjoy before heading to school. I was the queen of the world when in kindergarten, my dad treated me to breakfast in Oakview Elementary's school cafeteria with some of my classmates and their parents/guardians.

 This is not the case for many children around the world. In the UK, 1 in 7 children go to school hungry. (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/one-seven-children-go-school-2269726)

 While I didn't have much time today to crunch the numbers, I can imagine how much higher the figure would be in many places around the world. Last year, this hit close to home for me while enjoying delicious isombe, ibishyimbo etc. at the school cantine in a country where 42% of preschool age children are anaemic and 40% of households are food insecure, some of them no doubt in my old neighbourhood, Kicukiro. (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NUTRITION/Resources/281846-1271963823772/Rwanda.pdf)

The gritty determination of the non-caffeinated face as I substitute (thankfully nice and cold) tap water for the morning cuppa tea or coffee with a dash of milk and sugar

The face in this picture actually isn't all that fair. We need to look at the bright side:

• that tap water is clean (no typhoid or cholera or any of that fun) which is not the case for 1.1 billion people in the world 

• tap water came from my kitchen faucet, so it's safe to access and no more than 3 meters away from me at any given time in my flat compared to the four miles the average woman in a low income country has to carry water per day (WSSCC, 2004)

•  it's just me right now, I don't have anxiety about how I'm going to feed small children 

• I'm not going to dig in a field, work for minimal pay in a dangerous factory, or anything of the sort. Today I am using mostly fine motor skills and minimal effort on the commuter train to school. 

• I am a lucky girl to be going to school for an MA. Just 30% of tertiary (university/college/post-secondary certification) aged youth are enrolled in tertiary education. In some places, this is not really an option for women outside a tiny minority. To take just one example, let's look at this comment about South Sudan: 

“…imagine a country with a population probably now in excess of 10 million, that is bigger than a city like New York or London, with just 400 girls in the top grade of secondary school,” said [Kevin] Watkins [Director of the 2010 UNESCO Global Monitoring Report] 

Lunch for today is pea soup (12p for half can of peas plus 6p for the soup stock). I skipped the picture of the green stuff to avoid grossing you all out...though I thought it was quite tasty.

Also today was the IOE Live Below the Line Team bake sale. Despite some chilly weather, thanks to all those (shout out to GED classmates) who came and bought the baked goodies! Stay tuned for pictures and results next post.

Cheers! Happy Monday

Here we go!

Back from Lidl and time to look over my haul for the five days:

I assure the skeptics- the large amount of carrots is not for the guinea pig I really want to sneak into my flat (apartment) those are actually for me to eat with the peanut butter

It's got some common features from the usual week- rice, beans, fresh fruits and vegetables help me live the student life in London. You might catch my cost saving strategy- stock cubes, though high in sodium come down to 6p each and can be mixed with free tap water and either an onion or peas to form a filling soup (that's lunch for three days).

You'll notice some stark trade-offs here...this diet is not balanced and not really sustainable for a long period without potentially damaging health-good thing this is a five day exercise. I went crazy for vitamins (partly because I don't have a freezer and I already had a lot of sodium in the plan there is a lot of fresh veg) and made an attempt at minerals (yay Spinach for being cheap and high in iron) but it's lacking in protein and probably barely making it with carbs.

In order to eat this (and pay for the 35p can of coke as the one treat during the week) I am planning to eat two meals per day, which you'll see more of in the coming days.

Some of you might recognize this type of picture. Hungry Planet gives examples of what "typical" families in various countries buy in a week to eat. While my family is not typical of the US example, take it with a grain of salt (it's okay- that grain won't count towards your 5 quid limit) and check out some illustrative examples on this link: http://time.com/8515/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/ All credit goes to Time and the Hungry Planet creators...I'm just using it for educational purposes.

I pulled a few examples too...I want to invite myself to dinner all these places. Anybody want to trade for some carrots and peanut butter?

In all seriousness, take this as an example that the world is a very diverse and unequal place.

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina. Food expenditure for one week: $341.98. Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken.

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo. Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53. Family recipe: Okra and mutton.

Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis. Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15. Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream.

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo. Food expenditure for one week: $31.55. Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage.

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp. Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23. Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat.

China: The Dong family of Beijing. Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06. Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce.

T minus 2 hours: Shopping on a fiver ($8.35)

Two hours left until I'm living on 1 pound a day for five days to raise awareness about food security issues. Shopping time! Though for logistics' sake, we'll be preparing our own meals the team met at Lidl (low cost food retailer) in Stockwell (South London) for a solidarity shopping trip.

We'll see how far these 5 pound notes go for us.

Later in the week, I'll give the non-Londoners among us some ideas about how far 5 pounds goes...but let's just say for now it's not too far. Since I often cook in my bedsit's kitchenette (two burners, a toaster oven, and a mini-fridge no freezer) and try to pack lunch as often as possible, I generally spend 15-20 pounds per week on food ($25.05-$33.40) Planning the menu this week took a solid hour last Thursday of unit-cost number crunching and questions such as "Do I trade off fresh veges for more carbs? Where can I squeeze in protein?"

You'll see by our varied purchases, there is no one answer to the "what should I buy?" question though bread, rice or lentils, and bananas were all popular.

Now a little about the rules: 

• you must account for all food and drinks during five days (this includes ingredients like cooking oil, salt, etc. that is stocked in your house)
• no free food (so skip the random university event or SOAS Hare Krishna queue this week) or donated food (sorry loving friends and family)
• food from your own garden, eggs from your chickens, etc. is in bounds (but alas, I live in the cobblestone jungle with no garden) 
• tap water is counted as free (hallelujah! woo hoo!) 
• Sharing food is allowed, so long as you count your unit cost

 So way to go girls for economising to the amused looks of shoppers in Lidl 

All in all a productive trip! 

I calculated out a menu which brings me just under 5 pounds for the five days, which was a struggle, but one that some Londoners struggle with every day. Here's a telling excerpt from the London Assembly Health and Environment Committee from just last year:

"Food poverty is a complex economic and social phenomenon. It manifests itself in many different ways: from bare cupboards in the kitchen to the reliance on the cheapest, least healthy fast foods; from hungry children trying to learn with just cold chips in their lunchboxes, to frail older people admitted to hospital with malnutrition. There is a correlation between food poverty and income poverty, but it is not entirely caused by a low income; careful budgeting, cooking skills – and chance – can keep a low-income family from food poverty. One food bank client we met explained how she would find herself with £1.50 to spend – this would go on the option of a bag of frozen sausages that could provide three meals, rather than a bag of apples." -from: "A Zero Hunger City: Tackling Food Poverty in London" March 2013

You can read the full report here: http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/A%20Zero%20Hunger%20City.doc.pdf

London is a divided city when it comes to income- many people are well-off and others struggling, as is true in the UK as a whole and many other places.



Is your community affected by hunger in more or less visible ways?

T minus 8 hours: Putting Food Security on the Table

If you are alive and reading this, then food is definitely a part of your life- and probably more so than you think on a daily basis. Food and drink can be a focal point when celebrating major life events (if you are the person always charged with the birthday cake, you are nodding your head now) right down to dinner parties, happy hours, office treat days, you name it. Food isn't just simple energy or nutrition either. Just 8 hours before starting to Live Below the Line, I was a guest at a Feijoada meal put on by the church I have been attending. It brought back all sorts of memories of past church dinners, family meals, ad hoc friend dinner parties (which rock!)

Luther-Tyndale choir ladies enjoying the delicious Feijoada!

 This wonderful meal and all the others I've shared with people up until that point made me realise how my social life is going to shift- even in 5 short days, because of what I can and cannot afford to eat.

Feijoada- my first time eating what some call Brazil's national dish. Also re-learning how to make "origami" kid-style while it was being served ;)

Food even shows up unwittingly in conversations. If you have ever taken a carrot and stick approach to life, had your cake and ate it too, or given someone food for thought...need I go on? It's clear that food is important and integral to each person's life in some way.

That's why I'm doing the Live Below the Line challenge, to realize in small ways how blessed and fortunate I am to have had access to a secure food supply (especially growing up, the yummy dishes that came out of my mom's kitchen and off my dad's charcoal grill). It's also a time to reflect in other small ways on those who do not have this same access, out there and also in our own metaphorical backyards, such as those who are living below the level of extreme poverty, defined as £1 (approximately $1.67) per day.Throughout the five days, I’ll try to spotlight some of the global and local issues surrounding food security. I’m no expert on this topic, so I am imagine this will be as much of a learning curve and journey for me as it is for some of you.

 IOE has selected Human Care Syria to support during the challenge, for their work with the conflict-affected in Syria supporting pscyho-social rehabilitation, opening a bakery for baking and delivering the staple bread, and reaching out to orphans and vulnerable children. To read more about Human Care Syria follow this link: http://www.humancaresyria.org/

Feel free to donate to support this good cause. But even if you count yourself among the cash-strapped, as is often the case with me, please do follow the blog to learn more about critical issues related to food in a personal way.

Thank you for your support <3