the millions

The good people at the World Bank say that 12 million South Africans live on less than $1.25 a day. Based on the current exchange rate, $1.25 will get you R9.20. Living on R9.20 a day is near impossible, yet 12 million South Africans are doing it everyday.

So today I find myself asking "what if I tried to live on R9.20 a day?".

I could definitely get 1 loaf of bread. Thank God for bread. But I would not afford a house, so that means I won't have access to clean water. I can forget about getting to work the next day. I will not make next month's rent. I certainly won't afford a car. No movies for me. Sorry KFC and McD, but I can't afford your cheapest menu options. Hope I don't fall sick, because R9,20 won't get me to the nearest hospital or clinic.

I have lived in South Africa for over 25 years and I know of its harsh and unforgiving reality, and if 12 million people are living in extreme poverty, you better believe it. The urban areas seem to be full of potential but there's an undercurrent of neglect and desperation. That is why pickpocketing and petty crime in some parts of Johannesburg can be directly related to extreme poverty. The rural areas are the most heartbreaking because the demands for help and the accompanying sense of dependency seem bottomless.

The challenge that we must all take up, as presented by the Global Poverty Project, is to realise that extreme poverty and the issues around it are important, urgent and related to all of us. Our generation can end extreme poverty and to overcome it we must join up in our numbers to make it happen.