Sorry it’s been two weeks rather than one, a lot of final deadlines for university!
Last week was Christian Aid Week, and Christians have been widely donating and campaigning to bite back at hunger. I, along with many others, have been praying for rain for Notani Munkuli in Zimbabwe. Dabane Trust, a partner of Christian Aid, uses the motto, ‘We begin with water’. We need water for sanitation, for drinking, for growing crops.
We are baptised in water. Those of who baptised old enough to remember it, or confirmed and had a remembrance of their baptism in the service, can remember what the water felt like in that special moment. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi describes the effect of his baptism:
The water trickled down my face and down my neck; though just a beaker’s worth, it had the refreshing effect of a monsoon rain.
V for Vendetta is a powerful film for me, which remembers that God is in the rain. When it rains we can remember our baptisms, our re-births. Water can be refreshing and life-sustaining. Please, though Christian Aid has now passed, continue to pray for rain to come to those in need of it.
If you’d like to donate broadly to Christian Aid you can click here, though if you’d like to donate to them through my Living Below the Line fundraiser then you can click here. I’ve raised £430! Thankyou to everyone who has donated, including bloggers Jemma and Simon.
Total for my final day = £1.26
Total spent on myself in five days = £4.57
Living on £5 for five days was hard. Me and Florence spent many minutes deliberating over what to spend the money we had saved up on for a treat on our final day – cookies and a filter coffee. And the five pounds I had did not include water (17p for two litres), or my room with a bed and a shower and heating. Many of the people in poverty do not have somewhere like Sainsburys nearby, they must toil for their food, and walk miles for their water. This experience was a tougher one than I anticipated, with a very limiting and basic diet, but still this is not much difficulty compared to what so many people are going through. I see their pain, and am ever so grateful to all who have donated to Christian Aid through me Living Below the Line. So far I have raised £390, and have just discovered that I am 13th on a list of 236 people raising money. Wow! I did not expect to get this much raised, and with donations still appearing from friends and anonymous donors, I need to say again thankyou so much for helping.
Together with all the charities being worked for through Live Below the Line £648,074 has been raised, Christian Aid this year, £26,302 so far.
In St Peters Church Lampeter yesterday morning at the 8am Eucharist, Fr Chris Webb spoke of the hospitality of Abraham (Genesis 18:1-15). When Abraham saw three men appear, assumedly tired and hungry, he offered them rest, conscious of their possible embarrassment at asking for help said that he would bring only a little bread and water to sustain them, but actually hurried to prepare them a feast. We cannot be sure from the Bible passage that he knew they were angels, which emphasises this example of hospitality. Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Hospitality of Abraham, Andrei Rublev, 15th century
Raise your voices, raise your voices
Praise to Him thy living word
To the Heavens high ascending
Raise your voices to the Lord
Though your nights be dark and fearful
Though we face the dimming day
Though the heart be sad and tearful
Trust Him, He will light the way
Raise your voices, raise your voices
Praise to Him the living word
To the Heavens high ascending
Raise your voices to the Lord
Through the mists in this vale of sorrow
Through the glass we but darkly see
We will rise again tomorrow
Then our eyes will lifted be
Raise your voices, raise your voices
Praise to Him the living word
To the Heavens high ascending
Raise your voices to the Lord
Long the road that has no ending
Far the path that has no turn
And the soul is never wending
To the place it first was born
See the host of Angels singing
When they hear that trumpet sound
When the piper’s call is ringing
Then shall my soul be ever homeward bound
Raise your voices, raise your voices
Praise to Him the living word
To the Heavens high ascending
Raise your voices to the Lord
Mountains tall and seas will thunder
One unceasing chorus ring
Heaven and earth will sleep no longer
Then the universe as one will sing
Raise your voices, raise your voices
Praise to Him the living word
To the Heavens high ascending
Raise your voices to the Lord
Raise your voices to the Lord
As you’ll see from the list below, the food we have is very basic. I’m hungry, and having spent the day with something of a headache, suffering from caffeine withdrawal, I am wishing coffee wasn’t so expensive! I also wish I could have a chocolate yoghurt round about now, and some cheesecake would be great too. Today I’ve eaten two pieces of bread, two scrambled eggs, pasta with meatballs, and two carrots. Bear in mind that all this food was Sainsburys basics brand!
Already my eyes are opened to how tough it could be to be living on so little. If the cost of water was included in this challenge then 2 litres for the day would have cost an additional 17p. If I was living in somewhere like the poverty-stricken parts of Africa I wouldn’t have easy access to clean water, a toilet, soap, toothpaste, freshly cleaned clothes, and there wouldn’t be a Sainsburys with which to buy even the most basic food, having to spend the day toiling for it rather than studying in a quiet room as I have done… lots to think about already.
Tomorrow I begin Living Below the Line, where I will be eating and drinking on £1 a day for five days, joined by one of my university flatmates: Florence. The Living Below the Line statement…
In today’s world, extreme poverty and inequality are unjustifiable and unfair. Live Below the Line demonstrates the problem in a concrete way, while raising money to address the problem. Support me (and/or Florence) as I live below the line by donating now – your generous support will go towards fighting extreme poverty.
I’ve already received £130 of donations to Christian Aid through this project, but if any of you can donate, please do by clicking the links above found in the statement and by clicking the profile pictures.
I’m going to post each day to update you with my progress, and a video either each day or at the end of the five-day period depending on time.
Thankyou for all your support, those I know of and those who have given it anonymously. Thankyou. God bless.
