By Mukunthen Muthuramalingam

This Christmas, English student from the University of Nottingham, Polly Moss lived on £10 for 10 days raising almost £400 for children in crisis. The Rosie May Foundation’s Christmas Campaign was an incredible effort, raising £4500 to get children into classrooms in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The Christmas Campaign 2018  aimed to give the gift of life and get children back into school in both Nepal and Sri Lanka. We  raised  £4500 to provide all 25 Nepalese children in the earthquake resilient Meselme Primary School with free, nutritious meals and 160 Sri Lankan children with school supplies. For every £10 donated, one Nepalese child received free nutritious meals for a whole month-just 42p a day! Likewise, in Sri Lanka, a £10 donation provided school uniforms and a backpack containing a lunchbox, water bottle and socks; 100% of the donations went towards the meals, uniforms and backpacks! Preparing children for school and providing nutritious meals improves attendance and classroom performance- ensuring children get the education they need and deserve.

After visiting the Rosie May Foundation office in Bingham, Nottinghamshire to interview founder, Mary Storrie and learning more about the work done by the Foundation , English student and writer for UoN’s advocate magazine,  Polly Moss, was massively inspired to help out the charity to reach Christmas campaign target. To show her dedication to the cause, Polly set up Justgiving page of her own and challenged herself to live off £10 for 10 days from 28th November to 8th December. £10 covered all her food, drinks and amenities. She did not spend outside of this allowance at all.

‘After interviewing the co-founder, I was inspired to help out by what a great cause it is- I think it is quite easy to forget how lucky we are in the UK and 10 pounds does not stretch that far,  but it is amazing how far it goes in Nepal’.

Without the work of incredible fundraisers like Polly, we couldn’t help children in crisis in Sri Lanka and Nepal and we are hugely thankful for Polly’s support.

While interning at the Rosie May Foundation Office in Bingham, I interviewed Polly to see how she was getting along living on £10 for 10 days.

What have you been eating so far?
For breakfast I usually have toast and ham. A loaf of bread in Aldi is only abouy 50p and a jar of jam is about 20p. For lunch I have sandwiches using the bread; jam sandiwches etc. Then I probably have chips, cheap chocolates. Or some days I have spaghetti hoops on toast. My average day is:

Breakfast- toast and jam, loaf of bread is only 50p from aldi, I have jam for about 20p
Lunch -using the bread to make sandwiches-jam sandwiches, cream cheese, chips, cheap chocolates, snacks, spag hoops on toast.
Tea-different jars of pasta sauce-tomato and bacon, bean casserole, tins of beans chopped tomatoes.

So far I still have 3 pound left!

Has it been difficut?
Well it’s not difficult because I’m hungry! but in terms of simple snacking, I can’t just pop into the shop to get a packet of crisps like I would normally do. Usually it’s the little things which I usually take for granted. For example I can’t have a coffee if I wanted to at anytime. But I did get cheap teabags for my caffeine cravings. Of course I miss fresh food. I’ve been only having chopped tomatoes and tinned food. Basically it’s the little things we don’t really think about and you cant really have, that’s the hardest part.

How are you finding this while you have deadlines?
I do have deadlines and exams coming up. But i’m not going out and spending money-like going to the pub, so i just stay home and do work! That’s just some of the comforts I’ve been missing.

Why did you do it?
Mary made a good point.- Christmas is a time when you overindulge- everyone has a bit too much to eat and drink.
Everyone knows Christmas is expensive time of year, but you don’t register how far the money spent at Christmas can go into helping people from a different country like Nepal. £10 can feed a child for a whole month! That’s 42 p a day! 42p doesn’t even cover a loaf of bread in Aldi- it costs 50p- It’s this kind of thing I have noticed which we don’t really think about normally,£10 pounds in the UK can just about feed us for a week -it’s mind blowing!

How many days have you got left?
I have until Friday(2 more days). I can’t wait until Friday midnight to order a nice large pizza!

 

Thank you not only to Polly, but to anyone who joined us in our effort to give the gift of life this Christmas!!