Living Below The Line

'Living Below The Line' 

The week from 7-11 May, I lived on $2 of food a day. I lived under the Australian poverty line for five days.

I am not going to lie. This week was difficult, but that is the harsh reality of 13.3% of the Australian population. For 2.9 million people, each day is a challenge within itself – the goal: averting starvation.  Getting my daily cup of tea or my little chocolate fix are all luxuries in a life of necessity.  These are all pleasures we do take for granted.

Growing up in a household where I have had access to a wealth of resources - food, furniture, and opportunities - I have been told on various occasions that I ‘am lucky’.  But hearing this as a five-year-old child, this statement was just words.  It couldn’t show me my good fortune; it didn’t demonstrate to me how living in Australia, in a safe household with a beautiful family and having the chance to attend school every day to learn, is a privilege.

That statement was still quite vague, even in later years.  Luck is a term associated with success and failure but, in my life, I hadn’t been able to see past that.  Through my 16 years of life, I have gained an appreciation for my surroundings – being able to love what you have. But Living Below the Line has awakened me to envisage a new form of appreciation; it has redefined my sense of fortune.

Being introduced to the incredible organisation Oaktree, helped guide me into taking part in such a brilliant cause, although I knew my love for food may be manipulated over the course of the five days.  Every other morning, I wake up, inspired and excited for breakfast and what the day has instore.  I am eager to be in the kitchen, cooking for myself and my family, using an abundance of nutritious ingredients that make me feel nourished and full of happiness and joy.  I have always seen food as something that is to be enjoyed, as it is a pleasure. But this week has taught me that food isn’t always a pleasure, it is fuel and it is a necessity for your body to function, a basic commodity.

I learnt that sometimes fuel isn’t exciting. It can be bland, but it is energy.  It is what your body thrives on in order to function in daily expenditure. My passion for cooking and creation was not restricted by the small variety of foods I had to play with.  The lack of seasoning and flavour didn’t stop me from making meals I began being excited for, began seeing as a pleasure.

I am aware that the appliances I had access to during this week helped guide me in making more advanced meals, but it still made me release that the mottos I would normally live by, regarding depriving and pleasure, were slightly altered.

During the week, I managed to make a basic pizza, burger buns and kidney bean patties, along with a soup, tuna pasta and peanut banana porridge.  Using basic ingredients is the reality of many households, even those above the poverty line.  I believe that getting creative can be the solution to pleasure in meals. It can help you enjoy your fuel and not feel deprived.

In saying that, Living Below the Line for five days was an eye-opening experience.  It allowed me to develop my outlook on food and on life.  I am now able to appreciate my luck, and view my fortune as a privilege and, hopefully, you can, too.

Mia Davis

Year 10