Global Solidarity Challenge: Day No. 1

Oh man, the Global Solidarity Challenge! There it is and I don’t know how to deal with it. Ok, that is not completely true, I had already thought about living on 1.25 Dollar or 2,750 Tanzanian Shilling per day and producing less waste. Nevertheleless I had not taken any precautions to move from riches to rags all of a sudden. Fortunately I live in Tanzania which means that food prices are extremely low compared to Western countries. Moreover, as a volunteer we are theoretically assigned a food budget of 2.50 Dollar per day, which is just twice the Challenge budget.

To support the campaign, visit my page at VIDEA: http://solidarity.videa.ca/participantpage.asp?fundid=1846&uid=3438&role=1

And that is how my first day went: I woke up and was feeling hungry. I thought of the plan to make bread since one kilogram of flour costs just 1500 Shilling (a bit more than 0.50 Dollar), then I thought of the oatmeal I had bought the day before and the yoghurt in the fridge and decided to take a shortcut. In total, my breakfast took 2,200 Shillings, so that one Dollar was already gone when I left the house to design prototypes at a local crafts NGO workshop. By noon one of the workers brought me a dish of Ugali (Maize porridge) with vegetables. Since he belongs to the group of persons who probably really live on 1.25 Dollar per day I decided to accept his invitation as an escape to save my budget. After a day at the workshop it was time for dinner. The salad ingredients took 600 Shillings, the sip of Coke 300 and the Pilau (Spiced Rice) from the day before was ca. 300, too. After dinner I snatched an orange from the fridge, 200 Shillings. The water I drank over the day was mainly boiled tap water which I count as free. In total I used 3,600 Shillings for food, which is 1.64 Dollar. That means that I did not completely fail for the first day, but more care can still be taken. Tomorrow is becoming a challenge since I am invited to a regatta at the Yacht Club where Western prices prevail. For the lunch on board I am baking bread and preparing red lentils, estimated personal budget for these two dishes: 1200 Shillings.

The waste challenge went well today. One banana peel, a yoghurt bag and one plastic bag for the salad ingredients went to the dustbin since I forgot to use the bag I had brought to carry the vegetables.

Tomorrow: How the regatta was and where we buy what we eat.