It begins again. Every week this month, scores of people will choose to spend no more than two dollars per day. Some of them will sleep in cardboard boxes. Others will forgo hot water showers. These people are braving Challenge Week, an annual poverty awareness campaign hosted by Two Dollar Challenge. Among the participants are students from the University of Mary Washington, Indiana University, Front Range Community College and the University of Chicago, who have partnered with Opportunity International in an effort to raise $10,000 for Opportunity Trust Groups in Kenya and Columbia.
Last year the participants spanned nearly twenty colleges and universities across the country. For some the challenge was merely a game to be won. But for most participants the challenge of living on two dollars a day offered them a compelling perspective on the meanings of life and wealth. Michael Downey, a participant from the University of Mary Washington, offered these concluding remarks at the end of the final day:
I grew up in a poverty stricken home, and yet this challenge opened my eyes to the plight of the most extreme poor who have no home. There is a huge difference between those who live on the streets and those just making under the poverty line. Most including myself would have instantly condemned the former as being lazy, but to fight on when you have no hope is almost impossible. The moral: if we see our fellow man or woman down, then we should try as individuals and try as a society to help them, because it could just as easily be you or me.
This year promises to reveal to many people the moral that Michael spoke of. Throughout the month we will interview participants to learn how they are dealing with the discomfort and what they are learning about the world.
Challenge Week participants share their experiences (2009).
