Looking back...

Things I learned:

Two dollars is not a lot of money. Of course I was aware of this fact before I had undertaken the project. However I was not aware of the extent to which living on $2 would make it difficult to function as a university student. I got both of my tests back and they were not good. I got the lowest grades I have had this semester. The amount of time and energy required to live on this amount of income made it impossible to be a successful student.

My social network provides me safety not enjoyed by those in poverty. I was overwhelmed by the amount of help that was offered to me by my friends and community when they learned that I was hungry. “Let me buy you lunch” or “Here is a couple of dollars” were common responses. This network does not exist for those living in poverty. Those people living on two dollars a day don’t have a church community to donate them $270 dollars in a week. They don’t have parents who are college professors. They don’t have friends who can comfortably afford to buy them a Chipotle burrito. This safety is one of the key factors that prohibit me from ever truly living in poverty. Living in poverty is not simply a matter of money.

Rice sucks. Enough said.

Questions I have:

Is it wrong for me in my position to voluntarily give up what so many people long for? This is a question that has always bothered me. For this project I feel comfortable because we are giving money to a good cause. If someone living in poverty in Kenya knew what I was doing, would their response be, “Thanks for raising a little awareness about the situation of the world” or would it be “You have no idea what it is like to live in poverty you rich fool.” I would like to think it is the former response, but my gut tells me it would be a combination of the two.

Why has this project gotten so much publicity? We are on Fredericksburg.com, the Free Lance-Star, WTOP 103.5, the Daily News Record, and a number of other media outlets. Why is it news that a bunch of wealthy students are doing a project and not that almost have the worlds population is living a $2 a day?

Would I do the project again? Not during school. I would do the project if I didn’t have the obligations that come with being a student. I think that I did learn a lot, but my GPA will suffer. Unfortunately education is not measured by knowledge, it is measured by a number.

-Will