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  Our $19.67 spent well

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  Our week's supply of food

We have finished our living below the line challenge having lost 2.5kg this week. Amazingly I wasn't hungry when I woke up this morning! Once I started cooking my vegetarian big breakfast my mouth started watering big time.

Thank you all for your support this week it's been a wonderful experience and has opened my eyes to the fundamental challenges people living below the poverty line face.

Until next time!!

Live Below the Line 2010 for The Oaktree Foundation

Schools 4 Schools – South Africa

The Oaktree Foundation’s Schools 4 Schools Program has partnered with the Generation of Leaders Discovered (GOLD), a government accredited and Commonwealth Award winning peer education program. GOLD was established in 2004 in response to the rapidly increasing HIV infection rate among South African young people. GOLD has been implemented in 122 of the most under-resourced and needy communities in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. Since its inception, the GOLD program has trained 8,710 young people to realise their self-worth and ability to make a valuable contribution to the future of their country. The GOLD program is about equipping influential young people with the skills to impact their peers through positive peer education and improve their communities by acting as positive role models and raising awareness about the issues they face.

The Schools 4 Schools program supports GOLD in 19 local state schools in South Africa’s provinces of KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga. The spread of HIV/AIDS has become so prevalent in South Africa that 350,000 adults and children have died as a result of the disease, the highest figure in the world. In particular, the provinces of KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga are one of the highest affected by HIV/AIDS. Essentially, the Schools 4 Schools program partners Australian schools with schools in South Africa. In Australia, the students are educated about the challenges of global poverty, particularly the challenges faced by the students of their partner school. They then plan and execute fundraising events within their school community and the money raised provides the funding required for their South African partner school to participate in the GOLD Peer Education Program.

Fund a New Educational Initiative in Cambodia


Just over 30 years ago Cambodia was ripped apart by a war and genocide that left millions dead and destroyed the social and economic fabric of the entire country. Cambodia today is yet to recover with one in three people living in extreme poverty. Education is critical in enabling Cambodians to lift themselves out of this cycle, but the devastating reality is that over 85% of young people don’t even start secondary school and even then the quality of school education is extremely poor.

That’s why we’re investing in an innovative new model of education that’s set to change the lives of 1350 school students in the Kampong Chang province, and revolutionise the education system of the rest of Cambodia. We’re opening three schools in some of the poorest areas of Cambodia. Through scholarships and outreach programs we’ll ensure that every child has the chance to go to school. By creating a completely new model of governance, teacher training and accountability we’ll make sure these schools are some of the best in the country. This new model of public-private charter schools will serve as an example of excellence to the rest of the country and we’ll be working to get the government to adopt these standards of quality education for all schools in Cambodia.

$50 = scholarship for 1 student for 6 months
$100 = scholarship for 1 student for 1 year
$200 = teacher education workshop for 1 teacher for 1 year
$500 = scholarships for 5 kids for 1 year