Why?!

Why am I choosing to live on $2AUD a day? How is me feeding myself on less going to make a difference to anything?

This is a question which has been levelled at me by some people this month, as I explain to them that between the 16th and 20th May, I am going to be feeding myself off $2 a day, and raising funds for a host of critical anti-poverty initiatives as part of the Live Below the Line campaign.

Perhaps the strongest voicing of this argument is that which was put forward by Herald Sun commentator Andrew Bolt, who summed up Live Below the Line thusly last year:

"No real reason for this torture, other than to make you realise what it must be like to be some starving Bangladeshi, wishing you were lucky enough to live in a country where you had so much to eat that you’d, er, starve yourself instead. Out of sheer, mindless guilt."

It is an easy criticism to make from a distance, but it fails to understand that Live Below the Line is a campaign which acts on several fronts to make tangible progress in the fight against extreme poverty:

• Fundraising: the funds raised in Live Below the Line go towards two fantastic causes. As I'm fundraising for the Oaktree Foundation, the money I raise will create educational opportunities in communities living in poverty, through teaching scholarships and essential infrastructure. On the other hand, Global Poverty Project is working to eradicate polio, support the international anti-corruption movement, and campaign to bring about the institutional changes necessary to break the cycle of extreme poverty.
• Awareness: This is something which is frequently thrown about. And it's true that awareness alone isn't enough. People have to know how they can use their awareness and understanding to take action. And they have to feel that the action they take will mean something. So once participants and those around them begin to comprehend the realities of extreme poverty in a more real sense, they can also realise that they can fight for policy change from their government. They can give their support to non-profit organisations who are efficiently and effectively taking action.
• Movement: As the campaign gains traction, and more people become impassioned to take action on extreme poverty, a movement is formed. People from across Australia (and in the US and UK), including citizens, businesses and politicians, realise together not only that extreme poverty is unacceptable, but that it can be ended, and that there are ways we can do it. This provides a climate in which governmental policies addressing extreme poverty are expected and encouraged.

That's why.