YOUNG TASMANIANS DINING BELOW THE POVERTY LINE TO CREATE AWARENESS FOR ANTI POVERTY CAMPAIGN

This morning Sandy Bay was treated to an unusual sight – three young people eating jam sandwiches around a dining table on the Long Beach Pontoon.

The stunt was performed by Live Below the Line campaign participants Molly Port, RobHortle and Ian Kamwho braved the cold water to attract attention from the public and encourage them to take on the Live Below the Line challenge.

“We wanted to do something creative that made people stop and take notice. We wanted to start conversations about extreme poverty and ask people to challenge their own perspective on what it means to live in extreme poverty” explains Molly Port,a volunteer on the Tasmanian Live Below the Line team and participant in the stunt.

“Live Below the Line is a unique anti-poverty campaign that challenges participants to feed themselves on less than $2 a day for 5 days to better understand the challenges of extreme poverty.” says RobHortle, Live Below the Line participant and Tasmanian Director of the Oaktree Foundation, the organisation behind Live Below the Line.

“Participants seek sponsorship to take on the campaign and the money raised will provide educational opportunities to young people living in extreme poverty in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.”

The scene attracted many puzzled onlookers as the trio ate their 50c meal on the pontoon.

“While we didn’t have anyone join us for some dinner table conversation on the pontoon, I think we started conversations about extreme poverty and got people thinking about taking on the challenge themselves – definitely worth swimming through the cold water.”

Rob, Molly and Ian will Live Below the Line next week, May 6 – 10, along with over 400 other Tasmanians and over 7000 Australians.

To join them or sponsor them, head to www.livebelowtheline.com.au and sign up to take the challenge.

Oaktree Foundation