Last year the Sanctuary’s co-founders, Jill Andrews and Liz Baddaley, joined thousands of other people in the Live Below the Line challenge… to raise awareness about the 1.4 billion people living on less than £1 a day. You can read last year’s diaries here…
This year we’re preparing to go below the line again – well, at least one of us is…
The determination and resilience needed for those taking part in this activity of spending only £1 a day for five days on food is of course not in any way comparable to what is faced every day by those living below the line for real.
But it is a chance to raise awareness of the scandal that is world poverty.
And we are always keen to take up those.
Which is why we wanted to do this exercise again – and once again record our resulting reactions, thoughts, reflections and prayers.
But this year, at the Sanctuary, our co-founders are adding a new twist. We’re going to eat all our meals together… but in rich girl, poor girl style.
Liz will be living below the line on just £5. And Jill will be living as normal – not extravagant mind you… just normal.
Jill’s food shop is usually about £30 a week and she’s not going to spend any more than that. But we’ll be comparing shopping lists, images of food, nutrition, energy levels etc etc …
…and crucially how it feels to be face to face at the same table with such different food.
The heart behind this isn’t a gimmick.
It’s honestly to ask ourselves – who claim to care about this issue so deeply – how different would our actions to end hunger be if we couldn’t choose to turn away and forget about it some of the time?
Also honestly, it wouldn’t be dramatic to say that we’re a bit afraid of finding out.