Day Four -Almost over

(24th September)
Today, I was running late to school, so I brought my daliya with me in a little plastic container and are it at recess. Having breakfast later didn't make lunch time any easier though. I saw the fruit that New Zealand school children get each day. It's hard not to be able to have any. I set to work making my dinner straight after I got home. I had soaked my beans all day for making Boussan Touba, which my sponsored child, Nouridine might eat. But I had to work out which African sauce recipe to use. I had heard that Burkinabe usually serve meals with a sauce. I found a recipe with meat in it, and just left it out as well as some other ingredients. Here are my recipes followed by the links to the originals.

Bousan Touba with rice and sauce. - Live Below the line version

For the rice:
1/2 cup of rice,
(I just cooked it normally)

For the sauce:
3 tomatos from a tin.
slice of onion,
2 cloves garlic,
1/2 green chilli.
Parsely from our garden.

Chop the veggies, cook the onion and garlic and chilli, then add some water, add the tomato and parsely into that. Once my sauce had cooked a while and everything was mushy, I pure'd it.

For the Bousan Touba (bean cakes)
about 80 grams black eye peas,
One egg,
1/2 a carrot, chopped,
slice of onion,
salt and pepper.
3tsp oil.

Put the bean cake ingredients in a food processor, or in my case a jug with a stick mixer, and pure. This is quite a lot of egg to beans, so in hindsight, I could have scrambled the egg, had some scrambled egg with something else, and used half an egg in the bousan touba. In saying that, mine worked fine. The mixture was runny, but bound well because of the egg.

Spread tablespoons of mixture in the pan with just a little bit of oil. Cook for about a minute and then gently flip, and press down to flatten, and allow the edges to cook more evenly.

Serve Bousan Touba with sauce and rice with the sauce.

Recipes inspired by the more authentic recipes

For Bousan Touba; http://travelbystove.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/recipes-from-burkina-faso.html#.VgZkbPmqpxR

For sauce: http://rw7howto.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/how-to-make-burkina-tomato-sauce.html

Day three- Three meals! Why am I still hungry?

This is day three of Live Below The Line. And today, I managed to have lunch! My stomach is just settling down from the "Tacu tacu" Peruvian rice and bean cakes I had for dinner. How is it that the day when I had three meals is the day I feel more hungry than ever? Before school, My sister and I went on a walk to film the opening, morning scenes of a video we are making which I will post tomorrow. My school was re-opened today. At school, I found it really hard not to have any of the fruit New Zealand school children are having. I found some oranges on the ground. Would it be cheating to have one of those? Our children are obviously unapreciative of their priviledge. Today, my Dad said that he had taken in a lot from what I'm doing. It makes him more aware not to waste food. That's a large part of Live Below The Line. We may be a bunch of whiny, complaining rich people who can barely buy food on what one in seven of the world's population lives on. But we are agents of reality showing our friends and family the state of the world. I myself am now more aware than ever of the way I live.

Meal One;
Daliya, $0.60, see day one. I also had a sardine with it this morning.

Meal two, Left over 1/2 cup of Babenda, one sardine, and 1/2 of the left over dal, leaving one 1/4 portion of dal for another day.

Meal three, Tacu Tacu total cost (aprox) $0.80

This is the sofrito. Sorry, I kinda ate the tacu tacu before I could take a photo.

Roughly 1 cup cooked beans -$0.30
1/2 cooked rice (About a third of a cup raw) - $0.15
One tomato from a tin, -$0.15aprox
Herbs from the garden
-Oregano, parsely, and coriander would be ideal.
I ended up using Thyme, parsely, and basil.
1/4 tsp ground cumin - 1/5 a cent
Little onion,
3 cloves garlic.
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce.

Make a 'sofrito' by cooking onion, 2 cloves garlic, then adding tomato, herbs, and cumin.
I saved two teaspoons for my next Peruvian inspired meal. Then I rolled the beans in the sofrito. I then mashed the beans with a fork, and mixed them into the rice by hand. I shaped it all into one big patte, and then I fried some onion and the other clove of garlic in a teaspoon of oil. I fried the tacu tacu until the rice on the outside was browned, and served it with a tiny teaspoon of chilli sauce. While I was cooking it, it looked white. I expected it to taste bland. But it didn't! it had a wonderful flavour. My only problem is that there was not quite enough of it. I think this is a problem many people in poverty face.

Inspired by this more authentic recipe; http://www.piscotrail.com/2011/04/06/recipes/tacu-tacu-peruvian-refried-beans-and-rice/

Live Below The Line Day two- Dal Curry and a birthday party.

Today, my sister Amber is turning 8!
I've eaten Indian food all day. I had Daliya for breakfast again (see yesterday's post)
and for dinner, Dal -(Split pulse curry) with rice. It was hard going to a kid's party and being so hungry, but not being able to eat anything. It did make me think though, about all the kids who don't get presents or nice food on their birthdays. That sounds pessimistic. Especially those for whom living to such an age is an achievement. It's not that I'm trying to be pessimistic. It's simply a reality that we usually try to ignore in favour of our own problems. I don't know if we can really afford to ignore our children, the next generation of the earth.

Dal with rice -Aprox cost; 

$1.27 - plus an extra portion of dal.

1/2 cup dried rice -$0.20
(For Dal)
1/2 cup lentils or split peas (I used toor dal) -0.30
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp fenugreek
1/8 tsp turmeric - $0.02 (For all the spices together)
1/2 stem curry leaf -$0.04
3 tinned tomatoes -$0.45
1/3 onion -$0.13
1 clove garlic $0.10
1 teaspoons oil $0.03
(To garnish)
1/4 carrot chopped, $0.05
1 teaspoon chutney, $0.02
Pinch of salt $0.005 (Yes, I'm using half cents)

Cook the lentils until they are mushy. Toast the cumin and mustard seeds in the oil. Add the onion and cook. When it is translucent, add the tomatoes, garlic, and remaining spices. Pour in the mushy lentils, ideally cook until they are more of a paste than lentils. Then serve with rice. I had chopped carrot, and a teaspoon of chutney.

Inspired by the more authentic recipe at: http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/tomato-dal-andhra-tomato-dal/
You might also like to try this one http://onelifetoeat.com/2010/04/23/masoor-dal/

Shopping Day

I made this on Sunday, posted this on You Tube yesterday, and just realised I hadn't put it on my blog yet (Sheesh!)

Live Below The Line day 1 -"Welcome to the third world"

I have now survived the first day of Live Below The Line 2015!

I woke up to a storm that had wiped out our power. We had no running water and no way of heating food.  "Welcome to the third world" I thought. Most people living in extreme poverty don't have electricity. (They'd have to pay the bill from $2.25 per day). Just as I was contemplating the value of cooked food, the power came back on.

Today, I had two meals, and the total food cost for the day was $2.10. I did publish a meal plan last week, but I've had to change that around when I realised that I won't have time to cook tomorrow afternoon since I'm (If weather is better) going to my little sister's birthday party.

For breakfast, I  made my bowl of spicy idian style porridge -vegetable "daliya", except with less vegetables than I'd like. It was okay, which is good because I'm going to have this for breakfast every day. ...I might change which spices I add each day to make it more interesting.

Meal 1 -Daliya -Indian style spicy porridge Aprox meal cost; $0.60

This is sometimes eaten as a healthy breakfast in India. It could also be a dinner. I don't know what my Indian sponsored children eat for breakfast, or if they even have breakfast, but I chose it for it's fibre content, it's cheapness, and the feel of being like a 'real meal' rather than being a simple breakfast.

50g (1/3 cup) kibbled wheat, or rye.
1 tomato from tin
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
teaspoon oil
Sliver of onion, chopped
1 Clove Garlic
1/5 carrot
1/5 of a chilli

Boil the kibbled wheat until it's cooked, you can do this the night before if you like, it takes about 10 minutes. In a seperate pan, toast the cumin seeds, add onion and garlic. Pour in the kibbled wheat, then add chopped carrot and chilli.

Inspired by the more authentic recipe at http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/vegetable-dalia/

Meal 2- Babenda -dish from Burkina Faso.Total cost; 1.50

According to what I read in a diet book, the taste of strong things like mushroom, and strong cheeses is very satisfying because it is similar to the taste of meat. ...Or something like that. If that's true, the people in Burkina Faso have it going on with Babenda. It's apparently one of the staples, so I bet Nouridine eats it.
I substituted their traditional fermented beans with miso paste, and dried fish with tinned fish.
This made a really filling dinner, and I have about 1/2 a cup of Babenda left over!

1/4 cup peanuts -$0.22
A large handful of silverbeat -$0.03 (Cost to grow)
1/2 Tin of Sardines - $0.64 (Saved the other two sardines for a snack later)
1 1/2 Tablespoons of miso paste -$0.42
1/2 cup rice -$0.20

Grind the peanuts and mix well with the sardines and miso paste. Add the raw rice, and grind it a little to break up the grains. Put it in a pot with the silverbeat and 1.5 cups water. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the silverbeat. Lid off, simmer until the rice is cooked, (About 15 minutes) then cover and let it sit and soak up all the water.

Inspired by the more authentic recipe at http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/babenda/

My first video, with 19 day days to go!

Faces of the poor. They have names, they have stories. What I call a challenge they call life.

From the 21st of September until the 25th, I'll spend five days simulating living below the extreme poverty line.

I'm making a big deal about it because I want to raise money and educate people. But, part of me feels bad about the fact that I have to make a big deal about this. Because millions of people live in worse conditions every day of their lives.

Let me introduce you to three of these people; Aldair, Manthasha, and Nouridine.

This is Aldair. He is twelve and a half years old, and he lives in Peru. Aldair likes football, art, and ball games. He's a normal pre-teen. He lives with his parents and four siblings. His parents get short term employment in an area where the average adult wage is about $115 per month. Parents battle daily to bring food home.

Employment opportunities are scarce in Aldair's community. Multiple families can shelter into one house. They have major problems with crime, gangs, and drug addiction. Children and teenagers like Aldair often don't feel safe. This is often another problem caused by poverty, by the lack of hope.

But there is hope for Aldair's community. Aldair has been attending a Compassion 'child development centre'. I became a correspondent sponsor for Aldair (Meaning I write him letters while somebody else pays his sponsorship) a couple of months ago. I believe young people like Aldair can make an impact on their communities, and on society as a whole, but they need a helping hand.

This is Manthasha. I have sponsored Manthasha for about a year and a half now. In September, she will turn six. Manthasha plays hide and seek, and plays with dolls. She has many friends, and draws some really lovely colourings.

She lives in a slum in Mumbai, India. I've been told about 99% of people in her area are uneducated, but Manthasha goes to school! People there earn around $60 per month from manual jobs. It's taboo for women to work, so most families have to survive on this one income. Water is also still a problem for them. Children get diarrhea from drinking dirty water. Human trafficking occurs near Manthasha's community. There have been some raids on brothels in her area.

But since Manthasha is sponsored, she has seen a doctor, gets a meal each day, school resources, and she attends lessons in her compassion centre to as well as going to school. Mothers of the sponsored children are also attending classes in literacy and sewing, and some of them have started to earn an income from that.

This is Nouridine. He lives in Burkina Faso. Nouridine likes football and outdoor games, he especially loves to play builder with mud. His favourite food is rice. He is turning six in October. Adults in his community grow crops. They earn the equivelent of $25 per month. I think this estimate was made by deviding the money they would make selling the autumn crops over the entire year.

Right now it is September, which is hungry season. The crops from last year are running low, and people are eating very little until October when they will be able to harvest their crops.

I know at least Nouridine gets a meal each time he goes to the Compassion centre. I know Nouridine and his classmates also get their medical costs, tutoring and help to learn. I hope that he can grow up to be strong and healthy, so that he can create change in his community.


I got a letter from the pastor of Manthasha's church the other day. That letter broke my heart. This little girl who I love so much, lives in such a place. I knew I was sponsoring a child in poverty, but I didn't realise it was this bad. I wish nobody had to live in those conditions. The sponsorship work of Compassion/Tear Fund in their communities is obviously the silver lining. It is the one thing that offers hope to Aldair, Manthasha, and Nouridine. Please help to raise money to offer more hope to more people who have lived below the line every day. This year fundraising from Live Below the Line is going specifically toward freeing people enslaved in sexual slavery, which adds another thick layer of hopelesness. We can break through that. Sponsor me in Live Below the Line, donate, or sign up to do the challenge yourself today!

Help combat human trafficking - Live Below the Line with me!

Here's a way you can help to combat human trafficking - live below the line.
Live below the line is a challenge where first world people buy all our food for the equivelent of the extreme poverty line. It used to have an acronim of LBL which is quite unfortunately associated with something else. (Google it).
Let us not use that.

The extreme poverty line (Thanks year 12 social studies) is an amount of money; whatever is trading at the equivelent of $1.25 USD.  People below the line live in many different countries and circumstances, but people who have less than this to pay for their living expenses per day, are living below the line. The problem is that currencies are not all worth the same amount of money, and the cost of living varies a lot from place to place, which is why I don't like defining poverty by how much money you have. I've seen that poverty is more than the lack of money. Poverty is the lack appropriate living conditions, and, too often, the lack of hope.

But, I do like 'live below the line' because it gives us a taste of what a struggle life is for these people.

I did live below the line, I think about three years ago. Now I'm doing it again.
I'll be blogging my experience, videos, information, and my menu, here, and on my live below the line page.