Living Below the Line

Hello!

So today is the first day of my Live Below the Line challenge, and it isn’t going all that badly to say it’s been a WHOLE TEN HOURS. Live Below the Line (LBTL) is a huge event that takes place across the UK, the USA and Australia, and involves about 20,000 people raising money for all manner of good causes. The challenge is to set a budget of £1 a day for food and drink, the equivalent of the UK poverty line, for five days, so as to raise awareness for the 1.4 billion people in the world who live every day in extreme poverty. In my case, I am raising money for International Service, an international development organisation who work to support the rights of some of the most disadvantaged groups of people in Bolivia, the occupied Palestinian territory, and Burkina Faso.

I did my LBTL shop this morning, and spent a good half hour putting things in my basket and then taking them out again when I realised I couldn’t afford them. Things learnt so far: #1 I put precious little thought into what I eat, #2 Morrisons before 10am on a weekday isn’t actually that busy!

I based my shopping around one of the suggested menus on the Unicef website, failed on an attempt to go veggie, and came out with:

Sausages - £1
Little loaf - 35p
Can o’ beans - 26p
Rice - 40p
Frozen mixed veg - £1
6 Eggs - 85p
Satsumas - 50p

Subtotal - £4.36

Plus oats (55p) = £4.91, leaving me with 9p for sugary porridge, which I think works out ok by the gram.

Brekkie was porridge made with water, always a treat, and for lunch I had 2 eggs on toast. Dinner will be a combination of rice, sausage, and veg, which I’m sure will lost it’s charm by about day 3.


At this point I should probably point out the irony in that, of course, most people who live in extreme poverty don’t do it out of choice, nor do they get to go back to eating what they want to eat after five days. However, judging from the response I get from people when they hear what the challenge involves, as well as the fact that Live Below the Line 2012 has so far raised £344,443 for a number of fantastic charities, it’s become clear that many people are moved by the concept and are just incredibly willing to give. I know that my choice to live on a pound a day is not going to change much, but if it changes anything at all for the better, I think it is 100% worth doing.

It’s all getting a bit real

Hi guys!

It’s nearly two weeks now since I received an email offering me a placement as an ICS volunteer in Burkina Faso and, having handed in my last essay on Monday, things are finally starting to sink in! This post is just to explain a little bit more about what I’ll be doing and why I’m doing it and hopefully describe things in a bit more depth than I seem capable of providing in person.

ICS (International Citizen Service) is a volunteering scheme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), in partnership with six leading development organisations, and provides people aged 18-25 with the opportunity to work for 10-12 weeks on projects which impact directly on some of the world’s poorest communities. When you apply you can specify the organisation you would like to work for and in my case I applied to International Service, an international development charity which works to protect and promote the rights of women, people with disabilities, children and young people and people living with HIV and AIDS.

I applied to ICS in April, after realising that I wanted to spend some time doing something that could potentially make a real difference. I said this to my personal tutor at uni and she mentioned that ICS might be something I’d be interested in, and that my (dubious) French skills might be of use as well. Cynic that I am, I never even expected to get an interview but, following an assessment day in York, International Service offered me a placement in Burkina Faso, west Africa, starting at the beginning of July, less than 8 weeks later! I accepted the place and the last two weeks have since been a whirl of vaccinations, health forms, mosquito research and not to mention the last exams and essays of my degree and, hopefully, the foreseeable future. I have also started fundraising for International Service, and will spend next week taking part in Live Below the Line, an event which involves living off no more than £1 a day for five days, the equivalent of the UK poverty line. If anyone reading this would like to make a donation (if you’re optimistic that I’ll succeed!), my sponsorship page is here. Donations will be welcomed with cake and hugs (please specify if you really would not like a hug). Big thank you to everyone who has donated so far, you lovely people you.

Ryan McGinley

I was quite late to the party but when I got there it was just. pure. joy.

View high resolution

It’s been a while. I have been, and still am, writing a dissertation about this^. I will be back..

Andrea Galvani

(Source: enchanting, via frogsandcrowns)

Backie, anyone?

Crikey, it’s nearly Christmas and procrastination levels have reached an all-time high so thought I’d share with you my current objects of unparalleled lust: Papillionaire Bicycles.

Based in Melbourne, Papillionaire are purveyors of Dutch-style bicycles in retro yet timeless styles. They are sold in two customisable styles, Classic and Sommer. Having been gazing wistfully at second hand bikes on ebay since time immemorial it’s great to find a place where modern materials are combined with the level of design that we now associate with the past.

All I need to know now is how to get one over here in the UK. For now I will have to settle for my old school mountain bike. Had it since I was eleven, still haven’t grown out of it. Oh yeah.

Anna-Wili Highfield

Find Anna-Wili’s website here, and fall in love.

LIFF25 - Part 2

Double post all the way!

Got two films closer to a total overdose this evening so thought I might as well write about them!

My Magic 

LIFF25 - Part I

Can’t believe I haven’t blogged about this yet! Over the past two weeks I have been volunteering at the 25th Leeds International Film Festival and so far it’s been a blast. Having never been to a film festival before the only comparison I could make is with a music festival where there’s so many good bands playing that you can’t possibly see them all (but the ones you do see are great so it’s all good). The Festival is running from the 3rd to the 20th November so there’s still lots going on but I thought I’d just do a quick run-down of my highlights so far.

Best Intentions

Summer Camp