5.15pm.
It’s already starting to get dark and Tassie winter is kicking in. However, this does not deter us Generators! Our room has ‘homely’ feel about it. We have comfy seats and the walls surrounding us are plastered with Live Below the Line and Roadtrip posters, as well as our ‘gracious space’ poster.

There aren’t many of us, but that’s okay. We have a close knit group and have all formed strong relationships with one another.

For me, Generate is something that I look forward to doing every week. It truly is a gracious space. A space where I feel welcome, supported and loved. In a few short weeks I have gotten to know everyone who is part of Generate really well, and I feel as though they know me really well too. I can be myself and I have the confidence to speak in front of the group, voicing my opinion or sharing my ideas.

The post A page from the TAS Generate diary appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

You have no idea how good it feels to wake up and know that today will be the last time you have to suffer through eating rolled oats and water for at least the next 12 months. So, with that thought in mind I woke up ready to face the challenges the final day had to offer.

Needless to say, by day five you would think I would have managed to cook the rolled oats in the microwave without boiling them over, but alas again you thought wrong.

As I started Live Below the Line Sunday night at 7pm, I was counting down the hours I had left all day until the clock finally struck, symbolising the end of what has been a challenging but inspirational week.

Somehow I channelled energy from within and for the first time this week I was actually able to do some exercise. My lack of energy all week had meant I had not even considered it until now.

All day I had people asking me what my first meal after Live Below the Line would be and all day the answer kept changing.  For it seemed my possibilities were endless. I could have pretty much any meal in the whole entire world, for I now had the means and money to do so.

It was these endless possibilities that I found symbolic of my own life. For I know I’m privileged enough to do anything and achieve anything I set my mind to. People say you’ve got to work hard to get where you want to go, and until now I considered this to be true.

But, I didn’t work hard to born into a middle classed family, in a first world country like Australia. Nor did I work hard to get the chance to go to primary school… it was just expected. For it seems hard work can only do so much.

I’m privileged and blessed to have the lifestyle that I have. But I did nothing to earn it.

Live Below the Line was my chance to give back. It was my chance to say thank you for the life I have been blessed with and my chance to do my bit to help make the world a little bit better.

It was with certainty that I knew once the clock stuck 7pm my life would return to normal. Although this thought was so overwhelmingly exciting, I was also a little nervous. For I did not want to forget all the lessons that Live Below the Line had taught me over the last week.

It is this certainty we take for granted in our own lives. It is with certainty that I know I will wake up in the morning, it is with certainty I know there will always be food on the table and roof over my head.

For 1.2 billion people around the world the future is not so certain. It’s time we earn our place in the world and help make it so.

Made it to day five!

The post Generate lives below the line – Day five appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

Day four was pretty uneventful. I neither had uni or any uni work to do. I didn’t plan for a movie and pyjama day but it just sort of happened that way. My lack of energy had finally hit me. Needless to say it was not the usual movie day complete with popcorn and chocolate. Even simple pleasures like these, it seems we take for granted.

The time to start work came around all too quickly and, believe me, the last place I wanted to be was surrounded by deli meat and freshly cooked roast chickens. I might be over dramatic but I seriously felt like a slave preparing food for the rich people who could afford it. There was no way my $2 budget could afford even one drumstick of the $9.99 chicken.

Although usually a deli pro, my skills were a bit off today, I was more careful than usual to not slice my fingers off when using the meat slicer. Lack of food it seems affects everything.

Today, I felt like a second class citizen. Different and discriminated because of my lack of food and money. People around me continued to go about their daily lives, not giving a second thought to the deli girl who looked a little too longingly at the salami and twiggy sticks.

I realised that there are billions of people around the world that feel like this. Not just those living in extreme poverty overseas but the people living in poverty here in our own country Australia. From my Live Below the Line shopping experience I realised it’s hard to go into a supermarket only spend $1.30 and come out and not be judged for it. Yet for some people this is a daily reality.

Why is it then that we judge so quickly? We don’t know their story. Nor do we know the stories of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty. For, after all, each of those numbers stands for a person, a person that could have just as easily been you or me… not just another statistic.

What world do you want?

The post Generate lives below the line – Day Four appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

TOTAL: $1.59

The post Generate lives below the line – Day three appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows how much I enjoy food.  Breakfast is no exception.

Usually I wake up 30 minutes early just to have a good breaky, a coffee and read the paper. In fact, I swear by it.

However, this morning when I woke up, for the first time in my life I wasn’t looking forward to breakfast.

Why? you might ask. Well, eating something that resembles glue is hardly something to get excited by.

This morning I was faced with an extra challenge… my oats overflowed in the microwave.

Day two drama

What do you do? Throw it out and start again? Or scrape it off and pretend it never happened? Well, with my limited food supplies what do you think I did?!

Although I was initially angry at the microwave (as my patience is seemingly wearing thin), upon reflection I realised that the microwave had in fact taught me a very valuable lesson today.

People living under the extreme poverty line can’t afford to throw food out and start again, even if tempted with the choice to do so.

The other realisation I came to today when sitting in my maths lecture was that there are so many maths problems involving food.

Johnny had 20 lollies and gave 4 to Grace. How many lollies does Johnny have left? Well if you’re doing Live Below the Line the answers none, so don’t even worry about the mathematics.

All day I found myself thinking about food, constantly surrounded by different smells at uni and at home.

For goodness sake, I couldn’t even escape it in a music lecture, where one of the theorists turned out to be born in Hungary in 1879.

I don’t know about him but I didn’t care how you spelt it. Hungary or hungry, I just really wanted lunch!

After reading this blog it would come as no surprise that it was concentration which I struggled with most today.

I guess that’s it really, when you’re feeding yourself off less that $2 a day, concentration is quite literally the last thing on your mind.

Even if children affected by extreme poverty get the chance to go to school, without proper food how are they meant to concentrate in order to learn? I know I can’t, so how can we expect them to?

FOOD DIARY –  TUESDAY

Rolled Oats 15c

Apple 39c

Pumpkin Soup 15c

Pear 22c

Pasta 16c

Carrot 18c

Lentils 29c

Pumpkin 10c

TOTAL $1.64

The post Generate Lives Below the Line – Day Two appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

Day one of Live Below  the Line officially started with some delicious rolled oats and water, with a side of apple.

I underestimated just how long it takes to prepare what would otherwise be a seemingly simplistic meal. I’ve quickly learned that $2 a day is definitely not convenient nor up to fast food standard.

You know it’s bad when your cat won’t eat your leftovers!

Needless to say, I found myself running late to my own brother’s graduation. As I sat there among graduation gowns and certificates it dawned on me just how lucky we were to be there.

While I grew immensely proud of my brother, I could not help but reflect just how lucky he was to have had the opportunity for a university education.  A privilege only offered to a small percentage of the world’s most wealthy population.

It was with this realisation that I was determined to continue for the rest of the day.

Although I never actually felt hungry today, like I expected to, I was surprised by how quickly my energy levels were depleted.

Not to mention the beautiful headache I befriended all day from what I expect to be sugar withdrawals.  Although my concentration is lacking at the best of times, spending hours in a supermarket and scanning all the foods you never thought to buy until now really begins to take its toll.

I have survived day one. I take comfort in the fact that come Friday it will all be over. While I’m already planning my first meal (feast) after Live Below the Line, I’m reminded that our brothers and sisters living in extreme poverty know no other world than this.

It is the certainty that, come Friday night, my life will return to normal that will get me through the week and the hope that the conditions of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty might just change one day.

FOOD DIARY: MONDAY

Rolled Oats and 1 apple = 65c

Pumpkin soup and a carrot = 50c

Rice, lentils and mashed pumpkin = 57c

TOTAL $1.72

The post Generate Lives Below the Line – Day One appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

Oaktree gave me my why.

Recently, I was asked what my ‘why’ is. Basically, what my reason for living is.

Nothing major, but then I got to thinking about it and I realised it’s not something that is considered or thought about that often, let alone said out loud.

Since I started volunteering at Oaktree I’ve been talking about my ‘why’ out loud and proud. That’s just how the Roadtrip made me feel and I have that very same feeling in Generate.
For me, both the Roadtrip and Generate have begun to blur into this amazing tunnel of positivity that generates (see what I did there?) these kinds of conversations.
My ‘why’ is simple enough… I want every living human being to feel love and freedom.

That is my hope, my wish, my driving force, my reason for living and, ultimately, my ‘why’. That is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. The ‘what’ and ‘how’ are the parts I’m still working on.

That’s where Generate comes in. Generate has begun to build on the foundation of the Roadtrip.

It’s giving me the skills, the knowledge and the confidence to do big things and to continue on this journey of being a change-maker.

Gulp. So I guess decisions about life need to be made soon, but I have the ‘why’ so I have the big part sorted. I think. That’s usually the thing people spend their whole lives looking for and I have that.

My main issue is deciding what to do and how. I believe that Generate will help me make those decisions when I’m ready.

I am sure about one thing though. Oaktree will be a part of my life post-Generate.

I thought that when the Roadtrip ended and I still think that half way through Generate.

I want, and need, to keep doing the work that Oaktree are doing because I don’t ever want to forget how making change and the work it entails makes me feel. Work that I am so incredibly passionate about and inspired by.

This is the stuff I’ve been dreaming about for such a long time. This is how and when the change happens because my generation will not sit idly by as people live in this world and suffer in extreme poverty.

It is a colossal task, but it is not insurmountable because the past couple of months have shown me just that. I have seen that young Australians do care about ending poverty and they will not be silenced. This just reaffirms my own faith and purpose.

It gives me my ‘why’.

The post Why try to change the world? appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

After participating in the 2013 Roadtrip to End Poverty, something compelled me to allow this cause to become the focus of my energies.

I had realized that this was to become a tremendous passion of mine. The motivation behind all of this was the Oaktree Foundation’s focus on self-learning and sense of self. I realised that the only difference between myself, and the 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty, is the pure chance of birth.

The fact that fate delivered me a life of privilege, where privilege means access to food, shelter, safety, education, political rights, and so on so forth.  And guess what? I am absolutely, in no way, the tiniest bit more deserving than those who go without these things. Who am I to sit here, and spend money on items which in no way improve my character or quality of life, when there are people suffering beyond comprehension?!

All it took was one moment of reflection, on the floor of a dusty scout hall. I realised that if it were me who was so disadvantaged that I could not guarantee my own future, or the safety of my loved ones and someone had the potential to help, I would urge them to do so.

So to imagine being trapped in the dire circumstances of extreme poverty, and hear someone say they can’t help because they need a new handbag, or rims on their car, or designer sunnies, would be baffling. Not just one, but THOUSANDS of human lives, carry less value than a wrinkled up piece of leather with an LV insignia on it? What. A. Ridiculous. Notion.

This all ran through my head in about three seconds. I could have sworn I was literally transported to a slum and hearing the ‘first world problem’ excuses as to why no one could help me.

From that moment in March, my life completely changed. I went from being the ultimate, designer label-wearing , tote-bag carrying, diamond-loving princess, with an underlying commitment to philanthropy, to selling my shoe collection on eBay, becoming vegan,  revealing a completely different side of myself and uprooting a materialistic lifestyle.

Since then, it’s been challenging. In fact, I’ve lost important relationships, because people think it’s stupid not to want luxuries like a new car or expensive heels, and don’t want to support me in that. Thankfully though, I have Generate!

Generate provides me with a space and time each week to immerse myself in the cause, and be around people who are aware of and engaged with the issue. It reminds me that there was a reason I once felt the inherent need to change how I live my life, and subsequently change others lives.

To have people look at me with kindness and understanding, and know that my goals are supported is the reason I am able to commit myself so wholly to ending extreme poverty.

Bess

The post Bess is looking at the world in a whole new light appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

So a couple of weeks ago as I was procrastinating my way through Facebook, I came across a link for something about the Oaktree Foundation and Generate program. Filled with mild curiosity I clicked on it, read through the details, realised how moulded the program actually was to my personal abilities, and suddenly here I am.

The phone interview gave me more of an idea of how serious the organisers were about getting down to some serious business which I was more than happy to accept because even though my time is stretched pretty thin as it is with uni, hey! This is actually exactly the kind of thing I love doing.

So the two day of ‘retreat’ – our informal camp out in a deserted ANU was pretty sweet. I actually feel like I’ve known everyone for years already.

The facilitators made us all super comfortable with awesome ice breaker games and inspiring talks on the journey ahead, breaking up concentrating learning in the class to getting outside in the fresh air for fun brainstorming activities.

On a serious note, it was a little saddening and overwhelming to see all the work that needs to be done to end poverty, but change can be made starting from the simplest gestures of kindness and giving – which is basically how this all started.

From the retreat it was also really cool to learn things about public speaking which had never really crossed my mind before in the same realm as any aid giving. But the Live Below the Line people and our own facilitators got us up and sharing our passion through some more fun activities – which can be applied to anything in life.

All in all, I am so excited about this program, I know I and all the others are going to get a lot out of it… as well as anyone else I can find to listen to me go on about it!

Kate

The post Kate shares her Generate journey so far appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.

Tara is one of our Ambassadors for The Roadtrip to End Poverty. This blog post was originally published on Tara’s blog, which can be found here.

Imagine the Possibility, Join the Movement

The post Roadtrip Ambassador Blog: Tara appeared first on The Oaktree Foundation.