From October 6th till October 10th there is an event taking place called Live Below the Line. It’s a tough but extremely worthwhile thing to be part of. The challenge of Live Below the Line is for individuals to cover all their food and drink costs with only $2.25 (or whatever amount it correlates to in your country’s currency) per day – the international poverty line. The point of the challenge is to reshape how we see poverty and to raise funds for the work of some incredible organisations working to combat extreme poverty around the world.
Together with my wife, I am doing Live Below the Line for the amazing organisation I work for, TEAR Fund. Any money we raise will go towards the ground-breaking work TEAR Fund’s partners do to combat the evils of human trafficking and slavery, an issue intricately connected to poverty due to the fact that extreme poverty leaves people, particularly women and girls, vulnerable to the tactics of traffickers who are more than willing to rob them of their freedom and dignity. My wife and I completely endorse and support the work of TEAR Fund’s partners – Share and Care Nepal, and Nvader – as they work on protecting the vulnerable through prevention, rescue, prosecution of traffickers and slave owners, and rehabilitation of those who have been set free. To find out exactly what we’re supporting, check out the info and real stories from TEAR Fund.
If you read the confession in my last post you’ll know that this comes at an interesting time for me as I enter a journey of reshaping my whole approach to food. Live Below the Line is not a diet, rather it could be considered a fast of sorts, but one that involves trying to eat healthily across the week within very strict parameters that call us towards truly thinking about what we are consuming, with the point of serving others and bringing freedom to their lives.
As I go on the journey of reshaping my approach to food, Live Below the Line presents a good challenge and opportunity along that pilgrimage to mindfully consider the justice elements of how we eat, examine what we truly need vs. what is simply luxury or mindless indulgence that leads to waste; and in the context of the issue of slavery, to internally address where I am enslaved to my own addictions, cravings and lack of self control. In that sense, this year Live Below the Line will be a spiritual discipline for me. Live Below the Line offers a chance to experience freedom – to literally bring freedom to others entrapped in the very real evil of human slavery – and to experience freedom from my own mindless consumption.
We would appreciate your support in our effort to Live Below the Line this year. We would personally love your prayers and your donations. Any donation you give in support of us will go towards preventing those who are vulnerable from being caught in the evils of slavery, rescuing women and young girls who have been enslaved in brothels where they are used and abused daily, prosecuting traffickers and slave owners, and your donation will help to bring love, care and support to the lives of those who have been freed.
You can also support TEAR Fund by purchasing the phenomenal One Helping cookbook.
