How Do You Survive On One Dollar Per Day?This Group Of Friends Spent 56 Days In A Guatemalan Village Living On Just $1 A Day According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world.[1] Globalissues.com states that 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day, a fact that became the catalyst for the four university students documentary. Armed with only a video camera and a desire to understand, they spend just 56 dollars each for 56 days in rural Pena Blanca, Guatemala. They battle E.Coli, financial stress and the realization that there are no easy answers. Yet, the generosity and strength of their neighbors, Rosa, Anthony and Chino gives them resilient hope. They return home transformed and embark on a mission to share their new-found understanding with other students, inspiring and challenging their generation to make a difference. It is discovered very quickly the dire challenges poverty poses: The real empathy presents itself with the introduction of the local village family previously mentioned: Rosa, Anthony, Chino and two other newborns. Its a reality experienced by over a billion people every day no access to clean water, sanitation, or proper nutrition, and no protection from natures unforgiving fury. Yet even in such a deficient environment, the locals maintain an inspiring sense of gratitude for what they have. This concept is eventually taught to the entire village, and while not the end-all-be-all to their situation, in just three years the knowledge has begun to help meet the needs of the community at large, instilling a new hope for their future. Coming back to the US, the boys were in rough shape. They were covered in scrapes and bed bugs, they had lost over 20 pounds and one of them had contracted a severe case of E.coli. But there was a pressing question which was on all of their minds, What do we do now? Now thousands of miles away from Guatemala, the boys spent countless hours condensing over 300 hours of footage into a one-hour documentary. Next, they presented their story at a Tedx talk, where they advocated that poverty isnt about statistics, its about hopes and dreams of living people. Moving forward, we want to mobilize all of the world to develop a solution to global poverty. Their project went viral around the Web. From there they launched their own non-profit called Living On One, taking their film on tour to students all around the United States. They were amazed by the amount of young people just like them who were searching for a way to make a difference. They even got to go back to Guatemala to share the film with the village to show how their story was inspiring people all over the world to create change. Its work like this that really makes a difference, bringing the reality of poverty and the worlds unethical class segregation into the homes of the masses. The good news is that together we can fix this, with a just a little bit of effort from all of us. Much love! Check out their amazing project HERE! References: 1.) http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats#src4 Jeff Roberts is another soul searcher like you my friends, trying to make sense out of our human experience. Ive been with CE for over a year now, where this article first appeared, and its been an awesome ride so far. Simply put, I love to write, whether its fiction or non-fiction If you have a question or wanna chat you can contact me at jeff@collective-evolution.com 