Category $2 Challenge in Peru
Month Of TDC In Review 2014
The Month of the Two Dollar Challenge now comes to a close. I lived on two dollars a day for an entire month. The challenge caused me to change my lifestyle over the month, take on new perspectives about poverty, and witness my hyperactive metabolism at work. All of it made for an interesting physical and […]
Gaps In The Supply Chain
It’s interesting to get a closer look at just how a country works to help its least fortunate citizens. Recently I got to learn about the administrative supply chain of the Peruvian government that delivers aid to the poor. There are five large social welfare programs all subservient to The Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion […]
Lost To Alcohol In Poverty
Alcohol abuse is usually treated as a symptom of poverty, but the more I observe its proliferation amongst the poor the more I consider it as a problem in and of itself. Drinking is actually less in South America relative to Europe and the U.S. And of course imbibing is a vice in every culture […]
Incomes And Shocks On A Two Dollar Budget
What fun is a challenge without a twist to keep it interesting? As time goes on in the Month of TDC the constant trips to the market have allowed me to familiarize myself with exactly how much food two dollars can buy. The two-dollar budget hasn’t necessarily gotten any easier, but I suppose I am […]
Blood And Antiseptic. Cultural Sensitivity Part 2
I was dealing with cultural differences until she pulled out the knife. Everyone knows that practicing tolerance when visiting another’s home is good manners. Before sending students abroad my university preaches ‘Not weird, just different’ for confronting culture shock. Many factors contribute to differences in how people live their lives and that deserves respect. We […]
The Faces Of Tourism. Cultural Sensitivity Part 1
Tourism isn’t just for the sites. The first time I was in the small town of Huancarani I was passing through to the rainforest on the eastern border of Peru. Some middle school friends and I were on our summer vacation traveling with parents and our science teacher. There was a big tour […]
A Look At The Real $2 A Day
Take a pile of puzzle pieces and toss them over the floor of your house until they lie in every corner and behind every piece of furniture. If you can picture yourself coming home everyday and trying to construct a whole picture just from observing the little clues all around, then you have a sense of […]
The Cooking Game
I’m slowly learning to make the most of $2 a day. In fact I’m learning a lot of things that will hopefully prove useful in the weeks to come, like how work and eating conflict. The price of a pen to replace the one that ran out of ink costs the same as two peppers […]
Grades For Food. Cash For Food. Food For Food
Grocery stores beat it into our brains that food is abundant. Subliminally we learn to think of meats, fruits, and vegetables as edible objects with little individual worth, as one tomato is grown and processed in the same way as millions of others exactly like it. They’re just sustenance. If it goes bad, we will […]
Genie In A Microwave
Before leaving for my week at the clinic I found myself focusing on the subject of food which takes the spotlight in this week’s posts As I was staring morosely at my meager meal of chewy bits of cow and a cup of rice, broiling on the stove in front of me, I glanced up […]
Jeff Paddock
Suddenly-Human 