$2 a day Dan
May 19, 2011 by J-Wire Staff
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Leading Jewish journalist Dan Goldberg updates J-Wire on his latest mission…raising funds and awareness for those living beneath the poverty line by surviving on $2 a day…
Hello, G’day, Shalom
I’m over half-way through living on $2 a day.
The good news is I’ve almost raised $3000 thanks to many of you!
And the better news is that I’m currently No 8 on the leaderboard as of 8am this morning, so a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported me.
But the best news is that the 6000 or so Aussies doing this charity fundraiser have almost raised $1 million!
That’s some serious dough that will go towards building schools in PNG, Timor and Cambodia, and providing education for kids who otherwise would not have that fundamental right.
A couple of observations:
1) I woke up in rural Victoria on Monday morning without my sack of Coles branded basics. It wasn’t until I got home at 4pm that I ate…and bleached white bread and a stick of celery never tasted better!
2) I made a stew with my rice, potatoes, a can of tomatoes and celery. Man, it was baaaaaaaaaaaaaad. I’m ashamed to say I purposely forgot to take it for lunch yesterday – I figured not eating would be marginally better – and binned it today. A cruel irony and a disgrace really. But what surprises me is I’ve still got a kilo of rice left! $10 can actually go a long way when faced with no choice.
3) The hardest part of the journey so far was a lunch meeting yesterday at a fancy restaurant in Wolloomooloo. I sat there drinking tap water as the others feasted on steaks, greens and some of the finest chips I ever saw, washed down with ice-cold beer. Russell Crowe walked past. As far I could tell, he’s not living on $2 a day!
4) Finally, it’s not that bad: I’m fast running out of bread, I’m dying for a coffee and I’m a bit over plain rice, but I’ve still got about half a kilo of oats and a few spuds. My celery is looking a tad weary but I have a bed, hot shower, TV, and a gorgeous wife and kids.
Anyway, it’ll be over tomorrow night and my veins will once again be infused with caffeine.
And the Global Poverty Project will receive more than $1 million, thanks to you all.
You can log onto my page here
$2 is basically meaningless to us these days. But what I’ve learned is can actually go a long way – not just to survive on but to help educate impoverished kids.
