Interfaith leader from Rochdale to live on £1 a day

Date published: 01 February 2012

A young interfaith leader from Rochdale will live on a budget of just £1 a day for food and drink for five days this week.

Usman Nawaz, 22, from Rochdale will join Charlotte Dando, 27, from London, in previewing ‘Live Below the Line’ - a new campaign which challenges the public to get sponsored to cut their spending on food and drink to just £1 a day from 7-11 May 2012.

In 2011, over 10,000 around the world were sponsored to ‘live below the line.’ In 2012, the plan is for over 5,000 people in the UK alone to take up the challenge.

The pair are two of 34 Faiths Act Fellows leading multifaith action in the UK, USA, Canada, India and Sierra Leone. They are working at Malaria No More UK as part of the year-long Fellowship to unite people of different faiths in projects tackling global issues such as malaria.

They decided to experience ‘living below the line’ for themselves this week before they engage and unite faith communities around the country to take up the official challenge in May and raise funds for Malaria No More UK.

Money raised will help save lives and stop suffering and deaths from malaria in Africa, where malaria is a lead cause of poverty, costing the African economy £8 billion a year.

Mr Nawaz said: “Living on just £1 a day for 5 days will be a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse into the daily reality of life for the 1.4 billion people who survive on this budget everyday.

“I hope it will inspire us to step up the efforts to bring a positive change to their lives.”