Monday

Comment

Comment by Desiree De Haven on April 6, 2011 at 12:57pm

Hi Anne, I hope you got a chance to participate in the discussions last night. I usually have a hard a time explaining my reasons for doing things like this but it was nice to go around in our group and discuss just why we were all doing it and what we hoped to gain. It really helped me and I hope it helped you too! :)

Comment by Meredith Greenwell on April 5, 2011 at 6:45am

I've returned. It's not uncommon for even those familiar with the Two Dollar Challenge to question our efforts during Challenge Week. In the four years since the Two Dollar Challenge began, students at the University of Mary Washington who choose to participate in Challenge Week have faced a multitude of critics...As we should (I speak only for UMW though I am sure other groups have come across equal condemnation). If nothing else, I consider Challenge Week and the Two Dollar Challenge as an organization as an experience that should provoke self-evaluation as much if not more than "poverty awareness".

Discussions among the participants of Challenge Week can be equally if not more condemning than conversations with strangers. I find those conversations are one of the most significant aspects of the challenge. There are individuals, both participants and non-participants who find fault with the reality that we are "playing poverty". It's true. While we have an entire page of rules and regulations meant to approximate the living conditions of nearly half the worlds population who actually live on $2/day, we recognize that we can never completely understand their lives. Even the fact that we lump "them" into one entity reveals some ignorance on our part. (Even the poorest of the poor live very different lives in very different places with very different cultures and very different people.) Setting that aside for the moment, we've set up a makeshift shelter no more than 100 feet away from the nearest facilities which have clean running water, electricity, warmth. We live in a relatively temperate climate with a grocery no more than a mile down the road. We have campus security watching out for us every evening. And, in the event of severe weather we can run to the nearest academic building...Apologies again, I need to go get some food on my system and talk with some other participants. I will return to this post later to address these criticisms and more! I have a response, but no time to write it! So sorry.

Comment by Meredith Greenwell on April 5, 2011 at 5:59am

Annie. I'm glad to hear that people have been quick to cooperate. Though its been difficult to keep up with the 50 or so participants on UMW campus, it's nice to know that the unusual readiness to build connections with new people remains constant. I am continuously surprised by the swiftness with which challenge participants establish solidarity. (Note: To Be Continued. Please excuse the interruption as I need to go wake up one of our participants.)