$2.10

My favorite is iced coffee. I love sipping on iced coffee- a tall, but in a venti cup. I add about a 1/4th a cup of milk, a dash of cream, and 5 packets of sugar. I cheat the system: It tastes just like an iced latte but it’s a couple bucks cheaper. Sometimes I even add a free shot of carmel or peppermint to it to spice things up.

With $2.10 spent on my coffee, I have already gone over the extreme poverty line by 85 cents. We can go more into the definition of extreme poverty some other time, but even accounting for inflation and differences between Rich and Poor Nations, it is VERY hard to survive on only $1.25 a day.

But, that is a fact that means nothing to me. It doesn’t relate to my life; you might as well tell me the sky is purple. Or pink. Or mocha.

The Live58 guys know this. That’s why they created the “game” Survive125.  More aptly described, it is a tool, giving us a glimpse of what this statistic means for the 7th of our world’s population, our neighbors, who do live in extreme poverty.

So, what am I asking you to do? I’m asking you to play this five-minute game. See what it is like to live off of $1.25 a day in a poor nation.

You just might, or might not survive.

Play Survive125 

Honestly, I will probably still buy my $2.10 iced coffee. I am not convinced this is wrong. But I think it’s good for me to be aware that my coffee is more expensive than the means of those who struggle the greatest. I believe the tension I feel is healthy.

Tell me what causes you tension. Should you act on that tension, changing your lifestyle a little? And when you are done with Survive125, tell me if you made it through the month. I did, but just barely!

 

Related posts:

Action: Only Drinking Water (No Coffee!)

Christians vs. Poverty: A Review of 58: The Film and its Movement

Malaria 101

What is Famine? Defining Hunger Around the World