By NICOLE VALICEK
TODAY $2 could buy you a burger at a fast-food chain or a piece of fruit, but imagine if it was all you had to survive every day.
Williamstown resident Ebony Dwipayana will get a taste for how the 1.4 billion people around the world living in extreme poverty survive as she tries to live on $2 a day.
The 23-year-old will join thousands of young Australians to give up their daily treats to live on $2 a day for five days as part of anti-poverty campaign, Live Below the Line.
Now in her third year participating in the campaign, Miss Dwipayana said it did get easier but it would always be a challenge.
“I definitely think it will be a struggle, but hopefully I will have a sense of fulfilment at the end,” Miss Dwipayana said.
The determined young woman said she had always been interested in social justice.
“I don’t want to sit back and say in my life time I didn’t try to make a difference.”
The science student from Monash University said she was inspired to take part in this new challenge to raise awareness and money for people around the world living in extreme poverty.
“I wanted to raise awareness to the public about the nature of poverty. Extreme poverty has been halved in the past 20 years, and through donations, we are well on the way to eradicate it forever,” Miss Dwipayana said.
She encouraged others to give it a go and is hoping to garner the support of her community.
“It’s only five days where you have to give up the extra things in life, and you’ll feel a lot better through the week knowing doing you’re doing it for a good cause to help people have a better life.”
Earlier this month, Ebony joined 1000 other young ambassadors in March for a week-long journey to fight for one of the world’s greatest injustices, extreme global poverty.
The group travelled across the nation to marginal and key electorates to encourage the government to increase foreign aid from 0.34 per cent gross national income (GBI) to 0.7 per cent GNI by 2020.
The road trip ambassadors met with more than 90 members of parliament and advisors to discuss these issues.
Visit www.livebelowtheline.com.au to sign up or to donate to Ebony.
