Showing posts with label Global Solidarity Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global Solidarity Challenge. Show all posts
I owe everyone one more story for the Global Solidarity Challenge. Unfortunately I got rained out on the friday (as did the entire city) and last week turned more than a little hectic with last minute work. In addition to being my last GSC story, this will also be my last story about market women in Tanzania as I fly out to my city and job in London tomorrow.


I would like to introduce Consolatha Cleophas, a tailor in Ilala market who is one of the most energetic paralegals in our programme. All by herself she started using what she learned in the paralegal training to conduct legal awareness sessions in the market. I interviewed her on Tuesday and I would like to share her story.

Why Did You Apply to Become a Paralegal?
When I saw the advertisements for paralegal I didn't know what a paralegal was. Then EfG came to the market and explained which made me curious. Even thought I didn't know a lot about it, I thought it was an opportunity to learn. Now I really like what I am doing and I am happy to be able to help my community know the laws and help people settle disputes.

Why did you start also teaching even men in the markets about legal issues?
I have been teaching both women and men traders in the market. At first I only taught women, but then the men wanted to know as well so I started to teach them. Mainly we talk about marriage and inheritance laws. I discovered that men also don't know the laws. If I only teach women it can create conflict. Men are happy about the teaching and are even asking for publications. I'm happy to share publications with the men because they go home and teach everyone in their household, including women and girls about the law.

What are People Most Surprised to Learn About in the Laws?
Most people are surprised to learn that any property bought during a marriage is joint property. Both women and men usually think that only men can own property but even a housewife is entitled to property bought by the husband during the marriage.

People are also surprised to learn that if a woman and a man live together for two years in a community they are recognized to be married. If they divorce, the women has the same rights to support and property as in a registered marriage.

Why is it important for women to know their rights and the laws?
It is important because laws affect the daily lives of women and they need to be able to defend their rights. Right now married women buy land secretly and keep the title with a friend because they are afraid of their husbands. A lot of women suffer abuse but “only god knows” because they don't understand their rights and where to go for help.

How has being a paralegal changed how you feel about yourself?
Being a paralegal has really changed my status in the market. I have discovered that I love to teach people. Now as I go through the market both men and women call me “Mama Law.” I am respected and people seek me out for advice.

What has been the most exciting thing so far about being a paralegal?

I travelled to Dodoma and I got to meet with an established paralegal unit there. They started just like we are starting but now those first paralegals even train other paralegals. There are some paralegals who have gone back to school and now hold law degrees. When I see that, I think even one day I could become a lawyer.

Working with Equality for Growth has been an amazing experience and the nine months I have spent here were incredible. Thanks so much to everyone whose followed along and read my blog. I plan to continue to right though in a slightly different vein in London so please stay tuned for updates!
Day 4 of Global Solidarity Challenge and I wanted to visit with some of the women who do tailoring in the market. Not all markets have tailoring section so I haven't met very many of them over the past few months and this seemed a great opportunity to see another side of market trading.


I've visited tailors before in Zambia to get clothes made from kitenge (local fabric). However, what I found here in the market was nothing like the small tailoring booths I'd seen before. It was more like being on a factory floor than visiting a tailor. Whole sections with women and men crammed together back behind the clothing shops of the market, working away on pedal sewing machines.

I met with Rukia, she has been working in the market for seven years, ever since her daughter was born and she needed to get income for the both of them. She learned to sew from a class she took in her home town before moving to Dar es Salaam.


Rukia doesn't actual sew for individuals coming in off the street. She's another piece of the used-clothing industry. After used-clothing vendors have bought clothes from people like Betty, they do one of two things with them. If the clothes are good quality the go straight to resell them. But some clothes are bought with an eye to make alterations. This can be as simple as making pants into shorts or they can be made into completely different items. Rukia spends her time making skirts, typically out of oversized dress shirts that are considered too big to sell.

It turns out, a lot of the clothes being sold in Tanzania is "recycled fashion." Now, some of my favourite items of clothing come from a Toronto based store recycled clothing store called Pre-Love where a lot items sell for over $100. However, here recycled fashion isn't a eco-trend. Its part of a waste-not want-not philosophy. Just because an item is too big or a bit ripped doesn't mean it should go to waste!

Being more common its also not nearly as highly priced. Rukia is paid 400 Tshs or about $0.18 for each skirt she makes. On an average day she'll make about 35 skirts, which makes her take home roughly $10.  This is about twice what a vegetable seller would bring home buts it a lot of work to run a pedal machine all day.


I talked to Rukia about how recycled fashion is more of a luxury where I come from. She says that unfortunately they don't get to set their own prices. The clothing vendors are the ones who determine the cost of all alterations and if you don't accept that price they'll just find someone else. This is why Equality for Growth wants to investigate starting a social enterprise among the women tailors. If women came together, they would be able to bid as a group to produce and get better prices overall. And women like Rukia would be able to make a better living, working in a better environment.

Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
Day three of the Global Solidarity Challenge and I headed out to see a very different side of market trading. There are hierarchies in market trading. How high up you are depends on two things; the volume of goods you move and what type of goods you have. Therefore it is the wholesalers, those who sell good to other market traders, who always make the most profit. And the most profitable goods being sold in the markets are used clothes.

Have you every wondered what happens to all those used clothes at Goodwill or Value Village? There are far more used clothes than people buying them in Canada. Well whatever isn't sold in Canada, is sold to exporters who ship it off to Africa where alongside clothes from USA, China and Korea its has become a major trade. By the way I've been informed that clothes from Canada are the highest quality and go for the highest price (and the women tried to get me to start exporting to them).


There is a fair bit of criticism of this practice- mainly that it has destroyed most local clothing production in Africa which would provide a lot more jobs than the used clothes industry. But for the people who make their living in the industry its a vital part of business. Importers buy the clothing bales at the port and then sell them to clothing wholesalers in the market. Women like, Betty (the one with glasses) buys 8-10 bags of clothes a week. Bag cost vary by item and quality but a typically a bag the size of a hay-bale goes for 200-300 dollars.

Every day Betty will open up one or two bags and auction off items to the crowds of men and women who buy them to resell the items to customers. Each item can go for $5-$10 dollars. People come from all over Tanzania to buy clothes from Ilala market where Betty works. She says its a lot easier to be a wholesaler than to sell direct to customers because she is never without clients.

Unsurprisingly, the hardest thing about being a clothing wholesaler is to put together the capital to be able to buy the bales. Its taken Betty years to build up the capital to do business on the level she does. She started as a wholesaler in 1999, after coming to Dar Es Salaam from district up near the Ugandan border. She's taken a lot of risk with loans to get the capital to buy her goods and sometimes she's lost her stock because of it but she's managed to make it work. Through her business, Betty doesn't just support herself and daughter but also supports both her elderly parents and helps out brothers and sisters.

The market has given Betty a very good income. But she says the crowded conditions in clothing markets, lack of ventilation and heavy dust from the fabric are a major problem. The biggest concern for her is that Tuberculosis is rampant among traders. While improving her own business is important, she wants to be able to come to work without worrying that she's going to come down ill. Thats why Betty became the chair of the women's association to help campaign for a better market. Because she believes just because the market gives great opportunity for business, she and her fellow traders shouldn't have to put up with bad conditions.

 Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
Today for the Global Solidarity Challenge I headed out of the downtown and away from the high rises to Gongo La Mboto market. Far from being well off, its one of the cheapest communities to live in that still has relatively direct access to the city core so lots of people live out that way.


At the market I met with Sihaba, a 34 year old trader who runs a business selling drinks and plantains. Sihaba started trading four years ago. She is a single mother with two children- a girl of thirteen and a boy of seven. Her decision to trade was simple, she needed money but had no real skills. Trading was the obvious choice so she started to look for a good location. It was her brother that told her to look in Gongo La Mboto market. She started off by selling plastic bags to traders and customers in the market, but since bags sell for less than $0.01 she wasn't getting ahead. She switched to selling plantains and eventually got enough funds together to start selling cold drinks.

Because she mentioned her brother, I asked Sihaba if her family had helped her set up her business. Her response was that they didn't offer and she didn't ask. Its not uncommon for women to struggle with finding support for starting business even within their own families. Women aren't seen as a "worthwhile" business investment. So its not surprising that Sihaba has had to make it own her own.

Sihaba actually has a great location in the market. Its a proper stall but its mainly empty. She wishes that it could be more like what we might call a "corner store." Her dream is for it to be stocked with everything from food goods to drinks and cleaning supplies. However, to get the capital to invest in all those goods is way beyond her means. However, next week she and all the other women traders will get back their years worth of savings from their saving and credit group so there is hope for growth in the future.


Unlike Rose, from yesterday, Sihaba is more focused on making ends meet. But then she doesn't have the support of a husband to help share the financial burden and let her invest in her business. Right now the fact that she doesn't need to relying on anyone else and is able to send her two kids to school is a lot. Being able to stand on your own two feet is no small thing. She is someone who does what needs to be done and finds a way to make it work. Market trading has given her the financial means to be independent and make her own decisions. That is a lot of be proud of.

Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
This is the first day of the Global Solidarity Challenge 2014. As promised I'm spending time every day with market women this week. Unfortunately, due to the injuring my shoulder, I won't be able to do all day in the market, but I will still take this week to introduce you to these amazing women.

So today I headed out to Kisutu market, a very old market. Its located near the centre of town, making it one of the better off areas. However, that doesn't mean that it much nicer inside than any of the other markets. Walking inside, its hot, dark and the lack of air keeps the musty smell mixed with rotting vegetables pretty much constant. There is hope that it will be rebuilt, but there is always a problem of where people work during construction, especially because construction tends not to proceed very quickly. So for now they are all making do.


We went to the market because one of my coworker was conducting legal empowerment sessions in the market. Taking advantage of a savings group meeting, our Legal Aid officer, along with a couple of paralegals, gave women an overview of the requirements for official marriage in Tanzania. In the word of the women's association chairperson "Marriage can be a dangerous thing for women. We should all learn as much as we can about the laws."


I got the chance to sit down and chat with Rose, the chairperson for Kisutu market and hear her story about about working in the market, which she gave me permission to share with all of you.

Rose has been working in Kisutu for 14 years. After getting married, she realized that she couldn't expect her husband to provide everything for her family. At first she did small catering out of her home but eventually took the stall in Kisutu because she thought the visibility of being in a public market would help her to better advertise her catering.

Now Rose has seven girls working with her. She sells food in the market but also delivers meals to people in nearby houses and businesses as well as contracting for events. Recently, she took a micro-loan to acquire supplies to improve her business, but it was very risky. The institution only gives loans to groups and if one of the women fails to pay her share, all the others have to chip in or they will all loose their investments. She says she wouldn't take a loan micro-loan again and hopes that the savings and credit group will help her grow her businesses without the fear of loosing what she gains.

Working in the market environment is sometimes an advantage and sometimes a barrier. One one hand it gives Rose access to a lot of customers because of its location. But sometimes when prospective clients come and visit her and see the environment where she works, they doubt that she will be able to deliver good services. Rose says she and her girls have cooked at weddings where they've fed 800 guests but looking at the stall she's working in, its can be hard to believe she's so successful.

What drives Rose in her business? The future for her two children. Rose says she and her husband work extra hard so they can send their children to an international school (a good quality private school). Their daughter just sat her final exams and placed in the top 10% in Tanzania. She plans to become a doctor or a pilot some day.

I'm in awe of what Rose has accomplished and I think the women in Kisutu market is lucky to have her as a leader and mentor. For me, Rose's story is what I wish the story was for all market women. Its not without challenges and hardship but the market has been a step up for her. Because the market should be a place of opportunity for women. It should help them grow their income. And ultimately  it should give women the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and provide their children with a better and brighter future.


This was an awesome first day and please go to my fundraising page to help support VIDEA and their amazing partners.


Last July, I and my good friend @AliaK_ spent one week living on $1.25 a day to raise awareness on poverty and inequality worldwide and raised $1650 for the Victoria International Development and Education Association. It was a crazy week of trying to cook cheap food, feeling pretty hungry and realizing that we both would be very bad at being poor.

The Global Solidarity Challenge is co-ordinated by VIDEA (my Canadian partner organization). For one week, people from all over Canada raise awareness and support for ending extreme poverty.

Your Long Distance Neighbour will be spending five days this week, getting down and dirty in the markets, working alongside women market traders, sharing their stories and learning from their life experience and wisdom. I'm in for some pretty long days and I will try and share as much as I can about my experience with you all through this blog.

My goal is to raise $500 dollars during this challenge. The money that I raise will go to VIDEA to support programs that build partnerships between Canada and local African organizations to end poverty and make a more just and equitable world for everyone.

We hope you are interested in supporting my activities. To donate please visit our Fundraising Page on the Global Solidarity website and help us reach our goal.




Disclaimer:  I do not get any money from this venture nor does this blog. This is just one of the ways I hope to give back the Canadian community and overseas organizations that are supporting me in all my work.  

My final words on the Solidarity Challenge is that it really was a challenge. That sounds like a bit of a funny thing to say but I think its important to acknowledge this. We did have some good times learning to cook from people and sharing food but it was really hard for a number of reasons.

    The Planning
    Each meal had to be planned. We had to think ahead on what we would eat next and hold back food for lunch the next day. There was a detailed budget on how much money we had to spend and what we could afford. Everything that you did involving food required extensive thought. My week became consumed with what we could eat when.

    The Cooking
    Everything had to be made from scratch. I like cooking but most of what we ate required a lot of prep time. There were no quick meals. We ended up eating a lot of raw vegetables at the end of the week because no one wanted to cook any more.

    High Carb Diet
    I found the whole diet could really turn my stomach. There was so much rice and potatoes and other types of starch. Even if I was hungry there were times I'd starting to eat and then I'd just want to put down my plate. I'm never been one to advocate for low carbs but after that week I may be taking a break from them.
The week also got me thinking about what an impact this sort of lifestyle had on people around us. We stopped eating out for the most part so the women who sell us breakfast and the place we eat lunch at suddenly had no business from us. We were just four but if you multiple how many people in the world can only eat what they grow or the few things they can buy or trade for that are still in raw form, the impact on business and growth is huge. No room for selling "value-added" products means a very small economy.

Last Solidarity Day Meal

Breakfast- Tshs 250
Toast and a banana.

Lunch- Tshs 650
Leftover beans on a piece of toast


Supper- Tshs 900
Peas with coconut and rice.

And the our celebratory meal the next morning! No more solidarity challenge!



Last of all I just want to say thank you to everyone who supported us by giving to the challenge or sending us encouraging messages. It was a great help to have that community around support me. In total we raised $1535 dollars for the challenge!

 I also want to give a big thanks to my partner @AliaK for documenting the challenge in Toronto. She is a big part of what makes this blog happen even when she isn't writing and I couldn't do any of it without her!
Day 7 has come and gone and it was over before I knew it. Here's a very quick breakdown of day 7

breakfast:

  • Egg - $0.22

Lunch:

  • Rice - $0.22
  • Yam - $0.11
  • Mixed Vegetables - $0.15

Dinner:

  • Rice - $0.22
  • Yam - $0.11
  • Mixed Vegetables - $0.15

    total for the day: $1.18 ($0.07 under budget!)

 First I would like to thank everybody who donated to the Global Solidarity Challenge. Our team collectively raised $1,535.00 and the total amount raised was $46,028. These funds will be helping VIDEA support human rights programming in Africa. Secondly I would like to thank the Long Distance Neighbour herself Adrienne, for introducing me to the idea of the global solidarity challenge and inviting me to do it along with her.


Post Challenge Thoughts

Variety - They say "variety is the spice of life", but I now know that this phrase should really be "variety is a luxury to those who can afford it". With having access to all the world's foods at my fingertips (for a cost) it was difficult knowing that realistically, food variety is something of a luxury. When living below the poverty line the important thing to worry about is how many calories can you get for your money, not how many days in a row you have to eat rice.

Calories = Energy - A calorie literally is a measure of energy. Eating far fewer calories than my body needed not only lead to me loosing weight very quickly (5 lbs total over 7 days), but also being very tired. By day 4 I found myself less able to concentrate, and wanting to sleep about 10 hours a day. Having to do any significant labour on this type of diet would entirely deplete any energy I had.

Food Security - Throughout the week all I was thinking about was food; what food I could have, couldn't have, really wanted to have etc. It raised my awareness about what it must be like to constantly wonder what your next meal will be, how you will budget for it, or where it is coming from. I obviously was doing the challenge by choice, and not necessity and could never really know what it is like to wonder these things, but never the less those nagging thoughts were very real. For those who are interested you can check out The Global Food Security Index and see how your country fares.

Overall - Ultimately, it was challenging and incredibly rewarding. It wasn't anything like I expected it to be, but turned out to be a total success! Thanks for all the support and hopefully I'll see you again next year!

-Kaila
Here we are on day 6 and all everyone in my house seems to be able to talk about is what they wish they could eat. We went to the market at the end of the day and I had that giddy feeling that occurs when you are really hungry at the supermarket and you want to buy everything (though some what limited by the fact there is only so much you can indulge in at a fresh food market). We picked up a number of things to eat starting on Sunday and here is what I'm most excited about:

  1. Pineapple 
  2. Peanut Butter 
  3. Pasta 
  4. Other Vegetables like broccoli, beets, and also fresh herbs!
  5. Having more than 1 egg
  6. Eating the bacon that's in our fridge
  7. Grilled cheese sandwich
  8. Soda
  9. Chocolate Bar 
  10. Not eating another sweet potatoes for a long time

Breakdown of the Day-  Tshs 1850

Breakfast
I worked out in the morning so I splurged and bought 2 chapati for breakfast for an expensive Tshs 600. I didn't think I was actually that hungry until I started to eat and then I realized I was absolutely starving!

Lunch
We left work early to visit a partner organization so we just ate quickly when we got home. We had some bread and mango for lunch which also cost about Tshs 600.

Dinner
We picked up beans and vegetables at the market and made a sort of vegetable chill.
 


One more day and then we are done. At least tomorrow is Saturday and we can stay home and relax!
Now that the solidarity challenge is just about over, I'm really starting to get into the habit of things. I can tell approximately how much a portion will
cost me and while strolling through a store I can't help but portioning things out into $1.25 a day meal options. 

Unfortunately my Internet has gone down  buy thankfully I have the power of mobile phones. 

Day 6:

Breakfast - banana $0.14
Lunch - 
  • Rice ($0.11)
  • Lentils ($0.08)
  • Garlic ($0.01)
  • Zucchini ($0.15)
  • Yam ($0.11)
Dinner - the same as lunch 

In order to have yams and zucchini and lentils in one meal I needed to cut my rice, lentil and zucchini portions in half. Despite having less food I was completely full for the day! Only one day to go! 
We've been living on a $1.25 a day but our house is in a Muslim neighbourhood and most of the people there aren't eating at all during the day. Though its not entirely the same, I do feel a sort of camaraderie with them when I come home at 5:30 pm and I know they must be at least as starving as I am.

For the last couple nights, we were invited by the group of guards, cleaners and their friends who seem to congregate around our front gate at all hours of the day to join them in breaking their fast (or Kufuturu in Swahili). We have relied on these men to help us navigate the neighbourhood, get taxis and they were some of our first friends in the neighbourhood despite the fact they only speak Swahili. It was really special to be able to sit down and share a meal with them.
This meal usually involves rice, some pasta in a tomato meat sauce, bananas cooked in coconut and other "soft" foods. I want the recipe for bananas and coconut, it was really good!!!

Breakdown of the Day

Breakfast- Tshs 465
That morning we finally ran out of our Mandazi, so I calculated we could actually buy some Vitombua (the rice buns) with our breakfast. Though both are fried, I found them quite heavy and sweet compared to my breakfast the rest of the week.

Lunch- Tshs 530
The night before we wanted to pick up beans for lunch but we were too late getting to the market and the seller was closed. So we made do with sweet potatoes with fresh veg for lunch. I would really like not to eat sweet potatoes for awhile when this is done.

Diner- Tshs 700
We made a sort of egg scramble with veg for diner (which also featured more sweet potatoes boo!). But was at least a switch up from eating rice. I'm feeling very protein deprived after all of this and it was a nice boost.
Only 2 days left. We are starting to plan what we are going to eat on Sunday. The first thing on the list is going to be a full English-style breakfast!

 A lot of people I have told about the challenge seem to have the same reaction, and it is something like this:

"You're going to do what?! What will you eat?!"

To which I respond that they probably aren't aware about how much they can really get for $1.25. And that got me thinking. While this week I am living on $1.25 a day for all of my food, it occurred to me how expensive things can really be. So I came up with a list of things that you could get for around the same price of an entire day's worth of food.
  1. A medium coffee at Tim Hortons
  2. 1/4 of a latte from Starbucks
  3. A stamp to send a letter from Canada to USA
  4. Dollar drink days at McDonalds
  5. Bubbles at Dollarama
  6. A chocolate bar
  7. A song/app on iTunes
  8. A donut
  9. 1 can of tuna (on sale)
  10. 1 box of Kraft Dinner
 If you can think of others please leave them in the comments below!

Like I said in my post from Day 4 today I was taken out to lunch for a work function. Looking at the menu I tried to pic something that was nutritious and not too expensive (to keep in spirit with the challenge). What really struck me was that the least expensive thing on the menu was a side of white rice for $2.00! That's still $0.75 over an entire day's budget.

Today is way under budget because my lunch was paid for so that puts me at $0.14 for a banana and $0.56 for dinner (I'm having the same thing as dinner on day 2).

As the week is winding to a close I find myself wondering what life would be like if I wasn't doing this out of solidarity, but out of necessity. Now that I'm just about done day 5 I seem to be getting used to eating little and the same things often. I can't say I will be missing this when it is over, but I can say that going back will be difficult and that everything will taste a little sweeter and I'll be a lot more mindful about what I'm spending my dollars on.
Today is the day that I began to understand what hungry feels like. On day 4 it finally started to get to me. Out of curiosity I checked how many calories I have been eating over the past few days and on most days I've been hovering somewhere around 700! The average person world wide requires at least 1800 calories a day (See here for details about calorie requirements world wide). This means that I've been eating around 1100 fewer calories than the bare minimum anyone should have.

On top of being significantly hungrier than usual, Toronto is being hit with a heat wave to make things worse. Along with making sure to drink lots of water I decided to draw some inspiration for my dinner from a warmer region of the world with a lovely curry!

My breakfast as usual was the delicious banana ($0.14) and my lunch today was my dinner from last night ($0.63). Dinner tonight was the real winner!

  Curried Lentils (sort of)




  • Rice ($0.22)
  • Lentils ($0.15)
  • Green Onion ($0.03)
  • Garlic ($0.01)
  • Curry Masala ($0.05)
Cook rice according to instructions, cook lentils separately.  When lentils and rice are done saute the garlic and green onions quickly and add in the curry powder or curry masala. After heating the curry and green onion/garlic mixture add in your lentils and give it all a stir. Serve over white rice and eat!

Total for today was under budget by $0.02!

Day 5 I will be going to a work lunch (which was scheduled before the I knew when the challenge was) but the rest of my meals will all be challenge meals! Even though I'm not paying for it (and would technically be under budget) I will still be very conscious of what I'm eating and how likely it would be that I could afford it on a $1.25 budget. Wish me luck!

-Kaila
So yesterday I got up early and I did my laundry. We do all our laundry by hand because (of course) we don't have a machine. This involves washing everything in tubs, rising it out twice, wring it out and hang it to dry. In other words its a lot of work and afterwards I was starving!


Unsurprisingly what you do during the day makes a big difference for the challenge. Sitting in an office all day, its not so bad and I can manage on the food I have but its amazing what a difference a little bit of manual labour makes. If I had to labour all day it would be a totally different story. And of course most of the people who are living on $1.25 are exactly the people who are doing exactly that.  I couldn't imagine, for example, being this guy and trying to get by on $1.25!

Day 4  Summary - Tshs 1443  

Breakfast - Mandazi and Banana again
Lunch- Rice and Vegetables
Dinner- Sweet Potatoes and Vegetables

Food is becoming pretty standard at this point (and very boring because of this). We had to go back to the market last night to buy more fruits and vegetables. It was almost closed and because its Ramadan people start packing up at 6 pm so they can break their fast. We actually got some really good deals because it was the end of the day and people wanted to clear their stock.
Day 3 started out the same as my other days; with one banana for breakfast ($0.14) and leftovers from the dinner from the previous evening.($0.56)

It was only day 3 and this challenge had really got me thinking about I have been trying to make my $1.25 budget turn into glorious and delicious meals, that resemble what I would normally make on my usual budget. Dinner on day 3 was one of these attempts that worked out really well, however I had to cut out some significant ingredients that I would normally just go grab from the store.

This amazing meal was my homage to a great recipe that I discovered in Fine Cooking magazine (found here).

In the original recipe you make a has a hash of sweet potato, carrot, and zucchini covered in eggs and smoked cheddar. While I was leaving out the carrots and smoked cheddar I was able to make a very similar recipe within budget. If I didn't already have some of these items I would have been well over budget, but as Adrienne is experiencing in Tanzania, it is better to use things you already have than to let them go to waste.

Ingredients:
  • Zucchini ($0.30)
  • Yam ($0.11)
  • Egg ($0.22)
  • Sage (already had)
  • 1tsp olive oil (already had)
- chop fresh sage and fry in a small amount of oil
- Cut your Sweet potato/yam into 1cm pieces and add to sage in pan
-Cut Zucchini in 1cm pieces and add when sweet potatoes are half way done (no one likes really mushy zucchini...unless you do, then you can put it in earlier)
- cook egg in your preferred way and add on top of cooked vegetables

Very simply but absolutely delicious. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and potassium. This meal is low-cal and high in nutrients; it's definitely one to keep for after the challenge is complete!

-Kaila

Our co-workers have been a little concerned/confused about our challenge. Usually we eat lunch everyday at the local restaurant with them and this week we haven't been. We have tried to explain what we are doing with mixed results. Some people thought we were fasting (which is further confused by the fact its Ramadan). Then the thought was that we were trying to save money.

But what is truly touching is even though people don't really understand why we are doing what we are doing, they are eager to help us out any way that they can.


One of our co-workers, Evah came back from the market with a 1/2 kg of peas because I had asked about them on Friday but said that I wouldn't be able to buy them this week. To me it was so symbolic of how communities here will help each other out in small but significant ways when someone is having a hard time. So last night we cooked them for diner and ate together! It was such a good end to an otherwise very dull food day.

Breakdown of the Day - 

Tshs 1600 under budget because of the gift of the peas

Breakfast- Tshs 550
Mandazi and banana again.... I don't have a picture. I could maintain it was because I thought it would bore you all to see a picture of fried bread and banana again but it was actually because I ate it before I remembered to take the picture. Guess I was hungrier than I thought...

Lunch- Tshs 500
Left overs from the night before beans and sweet potatoes. I have to say, sweet potatoes here are always a bit dry and sitting in a container overnight does nothing to improve them. I was terrible unimpressed by it all. This one has no photo because it was too depressing to contemplate.

Dinner- Tshs 550
The saving grace of the day! We cooked our peas with tomatoes, onions and coconut milk and had them with rice. They were delicious! Unfortunately, this meant we ate them all and are making due with just rice and chopped vegetables for lunch tomorrow.

Recipe for Peas and Coconut milk
1/2 Kg of fresh Peas
2 finely chopped onions
4 chopped tomatoes
oil
1/3 of a cup of coconut milk (and not the low fat kind).

  1. Boil peas until cooked and strain them keeping back about 1 cup of the liquid. 
  2. In a saucepan heat oil and then add onions, sauté them until they start to turn brown.
  3. Add chopped tomatoes and sprinkle generously with salt. Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Mash the tomatoes up with so that you have a tomatoes puree.
  5. Fold in peas and let cook for another 5-10 minutes.
  6. Add coconut milk. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes or until the coconut milk is well combined.
  7. Serve on a bed of rice.

I only wish there had been enough for lunch on Day 4. They were delicious and we plan to add them into our regular food rotation next week!
I am not a vegetarian. I've dabbled in cutting out meat here and there, but I always come back to animal protein as a staple food choice. During this challenge the biggest change for me is that I have had to cut meat (along with dairy) from my diet entirely.

That however has not stopped me from making delicious meals that fit my $1.25 a day budget and I have a new found respect for those eating vegan and making yummy things.

 

Breakfast:

A Banana - $0.14. That's it. Just a banana.
 

 

 

 

Lunch:

Remember that delicious stirfry I made for dinner on day one? it served me for two meals and I brought it for lunch the next day!
  •  rice noodles ($0.20)
  •  zucchini ($0.30)
  •  green onion ($0.03)
  •  garlic ($0.01)
  • bok choy ($0.04)

  

Dinner:

A bit of a mish mash of things but it was incredibly delicious and did not having me missing meat even a little bit!
  • White Rice($0.22)
  • Lentils ($0.15)
  • Lemon ($0.06)
  • Mint ($0.01)
  • Garlic ($0.01)
  • Roasted sweet potatoes ($0.11)
This meal has also been divided into two (the prices listed are for just dinner; lunch tomorrow will be the same.
Grand total for day 2: $1.28 only 3 cents over!

-Kaila
I learned during day 2 of this challenge that it turns out I'm not very good at eating because I'm hungry. Since becoming a grown-up able to make my own food choices, I eat what I like. If I don't have food that I like, my inclination is just to not eat anything at all. Obviously if you are truly hungry this isn't something you can choose to do so I'm trying not to take this route. I feel a bit like a kid who has to eat what is put in front of her. Makes you realize what a luxury being able to have choose what you eat really is.

Breakfast - Tshs 494 + $0.10 for Tea
So we are eating our Mandazi which is holding up okay along with a banana. I also milked everything I could out of my tea bag for the morning

Lunch - Tshs 513
So we had our leftovers from the meal before. Not bad but not particularly appetizing cold. 

Dinner - Tshs 520
For dinner we cooked up some beans with Tanzanian sweet potatoes. The meal was definitely filling but the potatoes were really quite dry and it was all very boring. We've got the same thing again for lunch tomorrow and I don't think having it sit in a container overnight is going to particularly help.

So far I'm not feeling too hungry though I have a bit of a cold so that is helping to dull my hunger a bit. We'll see whether that will still help come Day 3!

           Toronto is a city that can be described by many words; fun, exciting, busy, crowded...inexpensive is not one of them though. The difficulty with doing the Global Solidarity Challenge in Toronto is that the price of food can be quite high, especially when shopping at chain grocery stores like Loblaws or Metro. My regular weekly grocery shop for two people usually consists of lots of produce, a protein for every meal and good hearty and healthy breakfast items. On food alone we can spend up to $100/week!

A regular weekly grocery shop (excluding meat)

For the week of the Global Solidarity Challenge I will be cutting my weekly grocery spend by nearly 98% in order to live on $1.25 a day. My secret to eating healthy, eating enough and staying on budget is shopping locally at a nearby Chinese supermarket. 

bags of rice
zucchini on special!

My Global Solidarity Shop:

  • Bananas
  • Rice
  • Lentils
  • Green onion
  • Yams
  • Bok choy
  • Bean sprouts
  • Rice noodles
  • Zucchini 
  • Garlic

My first meal of the challenge (and my lunch the next day) is  a simple stirfry with rice noodles ($0.41), zucchini ($0.61), green onion ($0.07), garlic ($0.02) and bok choy ($0.09). With my banana ($0.14) for breakfast I'm at a grand total of $1.34 for all food for a day. Only 9 cents over my budget

This delicious meal is filled with greens, has tons of flavour and is unbelievably filling. I consider myself a bit of a foodie (you can see many of my food pics over on Instagram) and this week means a lot less variation in my diet which is a big change. With 5 and a half days to go, I'm going to have to get creative!

-Kaila

So the day started off with meal planning and shopping. We had a bunch of fruit and vegetables left over in the fridge and we wanted to include them in our budget. However, there was a pineapple which we wouldn't have otherwise wouldn't have bought on $1.25 bought because it cost Tshs 3000! Even split by four this was over 1/4 of our budget for the day. We had a lengthy debate about whether we could afford to eat the pineapple but the ultimate decision was that wasting food was not in the spirit of the challenge either so we just had to figure out a way to work it in. Here is how we made out...

Breakfast - Tshs 216
For breakfast we finished up the left-over Mandazi. We planned to make more so that we would have some for the rest of the week. There were some technical difficulties however (too much oil/yeast not working?) and the dough did not rise properly. We managed to still cook them but they resemble hard biscuits more than donuts. We also got a lot less out of the dough so we'll have to give it another go later in the week. (Recipe is in previous post)

Lunch - Tshs 1235
We made chapati myai (chapati with eggs) which are a lot like crepes. You can have them savoury but we had them with fruit (including the luxurious pineapple!).


Recipe
2 eggs
About of cup of water (Add more if necessary)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 Kg flour
Oil for cooking
  1. Beat eggs with the water until well blended.
  2. Add salt sugar and flour and beat until smooth.
  3. Add more water if necessary so you have a very thin liquidy batter
  4. Take a ladlefull of batter and pour it into a small frypan
  5. Turn the fry pan so the batter makes a thin coating over the whole pan
  6. Cook both sides, flipping once so that both sides are cooked and have golden brown patches
  7. Slowly pour a little oil around the outside of the Chapati, and also a very little on the top. Once done flip the Chapati again.
  8. Do the same on the other side, Flip it and its ready to serve.

Dinner - Tshs 513
We went with one of our house classic, vegetable stir-fry. We found out that we could get ginger at the market for pretty cheap so that helped boost the flavour along with some very dark soy sauce. Because we are working, we decided our diners had to also stretch to lunch the next day. So the extra is packed up in containers and waiting to go!

So grand total was Tshs 1954 which puts us pretty much right on the nose for $1.25! We managed, though I have to say, I was still pretty hungry after lunch. I was only saved from hunger because cooking the Mandazi required some taste-testing which helped hold me over until diner. We'll see how Day 2 goes!