Category $2 Challenge in Peru
Why We Should Help The Poor
No one blames us for not donating to the poor, yet a vacant sense of culpability can still leave us feeling a little guilty when we don’t. I made my way back from the city market today and passed a lonely child selling candies on the street. For one reason or another he wore a […]
Why We Should Not Help The Poor
I don’t work and save money to give it to poor people. My objective is rarely so generous. As I scan over my packing list on the eve of volunteering in a rural clinic, I consider abandoning such a well-accepted idea as charity and see where it takes me. I found a muse in the words […]
I’m Making Fun Of Poor People
I’m pretending to be poor when I’m really not. The concept of a two dollar challenge draws criticism for this very reason. The argument stands that imitating a state of poverty does nothing but sling mud in the face of those who are actually living on less than $2 a day. It’s degrading and humiliating, […]
You’re One Too
The exchange rate in Peru gives me a little under 6 soles for $2 a day. A can of tuna at the supermarket costs five, which sounds daunting but does not mean the challenge is impossible. At my closest back-road market I find whole fish the size of my foot for only two soles. The […]
What Happens To Me When I’m Not Eating?
It has now been 69 hours since I have eaten anything. In the process of trying to find out what it’s really like to be hungry I am striving to go three days without food. The first year I participated in TDC I completed twenty-four hours, and the following year was forty-eight. Now going on […]
Everyone Can Live On Less. Imagine Those That Can Not
Unless the situation is truly dire, everyone can live on less. We do it frequently when we feel we have to, after our stomachs have turned over at the sight of a recent bank statement. We subconsciously budget ourselves in ways we don’t even notice. It’s a phenomenon of common sense that kicks in to […]
What It’s Like Around The World And In Peru
Contrary to what many people think, living on less is not simple. Of those living on two dollars a day in Peru 20.5% get their income from more than one source, according to the World Bank. That means working more than one job to get the same small earnings. Meanwhile those working single jobs are […]
Jeff Paddock
Suddenly-Human 