Are You Ready For This???

Recently Kari and I were challenged by someone here in the Dominican Republic we have known for almost year. He did not accuse us based on what we were or what we did, but what we weren’t and what wewould never do.He told us that we were not Dominican because we have never known what is was like to not have enough food to give your family or wonder where our next meal would come from or how we would fill up the one gallon gas tank on a scooter. He was right.

While most of my youth was filled with thrift stores and used cars and not very many nights going out to restaurants, there was always gas in the tanks of both cars and the fridge was stocked with food. I have used the phrase starving college student to describe myself but that is a total lie. There is nothing remotely sensing of starvation when the college forces you to buy a meal plan that you would have to go to glutinous extremes to get your moneys worth. And what about now? While we don’t exactly earn a salary and I won’t be buying a new car anytime soon, our basic living costs are already covered (at least while there are groups- which is most of the time and when there is not there are plenty of leftovers). Even if things went downward as fast and hard as possible Kari and I still have a savings account and family who would put us up and fund us until we could put our college education back to work. Clearly our friend was right. I would never know his life first hand.

In this Man’s case he earns 5,000 pesos a month or about $33 a week and he has 6 kids to raise by himself. How is someone suppose to survive off that? I won’t go into things like food, clothes, transportation, school cost, medical bills, etc for now, how about just food. I was proud of myself for eating off $35 a week after college and I went out to eat on a separate budget often and I was alone. But, $33 for seven people?!?!?! Could you do that? (keep in mind it is actually less because he has to buy other things with that $33 per week). You would have to eat only rice or go hungry or perhaps both. What would your life be like? Would your kids (if you have them) have enough to eat? Would you ever eat steak again? I wonder what i would be like. In fact this would be a good experiment for those willing to try. Between my starting this blog and finishing it i have had a long time to think about this, talked to a friend to see what they thought and decided to throw it out there:

It is Challenge time. Regardless of how big your family is, try to go one week with only $33 for any from of food for your whole family. Bluntly this means don’t touch anything already in the pantry or fridge, no eating out, no soup kitchens, no meal plans at school, no meals at friends houses, no condiments you didn’t buy with that $33. What would you do to make that work? Coupons probably won’t get you even close unless you are single. Can you make it off of only rice and oatmeal for a week? Ultimately, I don’t blame anyone who is not up to the challenge. It’s hard to go hungry when you don’t have to. I do believe there is something to gain from this though. So please join me going from this Sunday to Saturday (Feb 5th-11th) only $33 for food for the whole family. No free meals, no leftovers, none perishables, spices or condiments from previous weeks, empty start (I’m going to have to convince Kari now). For those of you with larger families and young children you have my sympathy but please still try.

I don't do this naively thinking that in a week I could possibly understand what it is like to survive a life of poverty, but I do it because I want to understand MORE. I want to sacrifice MORE. I want to love MORE. I hope that you feel the same. I am most interested to see about your what your week is like. Please let me know in a comment if you are up for the challenge of doing this with me. I will keep you updated on my week’s progress through the blog...

- Dan