I have been sooooooo blessed in my life. I am a woman, living in The United States of America with enough food, clean water and a safe place to live. I have basically won the life lottery, and I count my blessings every day! When my friend Alixia Buffiere in the UK contacted me about helping her with her #belowtheline challenge this year, I jumped at the chance to bring awareness to this important issue! I also asked her to share her experience with you all! Please visit her link below to donate to this worthy cause to help those people all over the world who live in extreme poverty or take your own challenge, I know it will open your eyes! Thanks friends!
My name is Alixia Buffiere. I am a French girl, living in London, trying to make a difference. I am quite passionate, which is why I was so excited Sally asked me to guest post and share my story… I have been so blessed in my life. I have a great family, great friends, I’m studying what I love. I am grateful for every day with plenty of food, safe shelter, and so much happiness. But I know there are billions of people around the world who have not been so lucky. Children, men and women, suffering everyday when I get to smile and laugh. They are the reason I have been Living Below The Line for the past 5 days.
I have been participating in the Global Citizen movement #belowtheline, where I have only $5 for all my food and water for 5 days. That’s only $1 per day! It’s pretty tough, as you can imagine, but, really, I have it easy. There are 1.2 billion people around the world who have to live on around 1 dollar a day. And for them, that $1 includes everything they need for daily living, not just food.
That is extreme poverty.
And that is why I wanted to raise awareness to this devastating situation. This is the third time I’ve participated in this Challange. The past two years I survived on only pasta and rice for 5 full days. It was miserable. This year, I knew I could do better, so I reached out to Sally, who (as you know) is a Wellness Coach and dietitian, to help me make my challenge as healthful as possible.
This is what she advised me to buy:
• 2lb bag of brown rice: $2.12 has ~20servings, which is 11cents/ serving of 3/4cup cooked
• 1lb bag kidney beans: $1.19 has ~12servings which is 10cents/serving of 1/2cup cooked
• 1 15oz can of diced tomatoes $.99 has 21 1TBsp portions so will be 0.05/ 1Tbsp serving.
• 1 bag of frozen broccoli (or other simple frozen veggie) is $1.98 with 10 servings: 20cents for 1/2cup portion cooked
• 10 fresh eggs
• 1 tiny Apple
And so it began.
I was full of enthusiasm for my first breakfast #belowtheline, even though I only had a soft boiled egg (honestly, this was really not a problem, because I have been in the (bad) habit of skipping breakfast most mornings). Lunch consisted of rice, beans, with chopped tomatoes and an egg. It was a little bland, but okay.
Then came dinner, a whole 7and 1/2 hours later! I was SO hungry, I had had a long busy day at work and when I got home at 9pm, I was ready to eat. I started preparing myself the frozen veggies I had planned for dinner. I prefer fresh vegetables, but Sally pointed out how important it was to have some of the nutrients from vegetables, and frozen vegetables are in my 5 dollar a day budget. SO I went with those. An hour later, I was staring at my cupboard with that little voice in my head saying “You know there’s some delicious Swedish chocolate in there…” “SHUT UP !!”. I felt like Golum. So I decided to distract myself and work on a few other projects. I knew that watching TV wouldn’t help. Who doesn’t eat when watching TV? Yeah, not me…
Needless to say, when I woke up the next morning I devoured my egg! I was starving! The second and third days were about the same. It is so hard going from a place of plenty to a place of want. But my spirits were lifted on these days because my fundraising efforts were starting to pay off, and I was beginning to reach my #belowtheline fundraising goal. Part of what makes this challenge so rewarding are the connections I have been able to make with like-minded people all over the world.
Then with the fourth day came the intense sugar cravings. I am pretty surprised it took 4 days to start! I’d been saying for a while now that I am hooked on sugar and should think about quitting, but man oh man, this is a hard way to do it…very intense! So to calm these cravings I had my little apple and it was probably the best most delicious apple I had ever had! The 4th day marched on; I had my usual eggs, rice, beans, and veggies. Normally I would have gone on a run, but I was just kind of worn out after work and lack of food, so I just went home and watched an episode of the new series IZombie. What better way to forget you can’t eat what you want than watching a pale, undead girl eating brains?
The last day, day 5, I woke up wondering
“Hmmm… What should I make for breakfast tomorrow ?” I say wondering, it’s more like obsessing. Then it struck me again how lucky I am that I have a tomorrow filled with more food, a comfortable bed, a safe place to live, and clean water. I was only living #belowtheline for 5 days, and there are millions of people around the world who permanently live #belowtheline. Don’t get me wrong, I am not feeling guilty for my gifts in my life. I just know I need to be thankful and aware of them and most importantly : give back. So that is what I will try to do every day, say Thanks and give back to the world where I can.
I am proud that my efforts and the campaign reached so many people. It will make a difference. And you know what? The good news is, you can be a badass and take the challenge too! It runs until the end of June!
Just sign up on the Live Below The Line website https://www.livebelowtheline.com/
Or you can also choose to sponsor me here https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/alixiabuffiere
Every little bit counts! Thank you!
Bye bye! Until next year…
Alixia.
