Clarice’s challenge to live for 5 days on £5!
It might seem a while ago now, but we thought this story from Harvest Fast Day might be interesting as we think about cutting back after the festive period.
Clarice do Amaral Corfield took on an extraordinary challenge for this year’s Harvest Family Fast Day—living on just £1 a day for five consecutive days to raise awareness of global hunger and poverty. While her feat is nothing short of extraordinary, it also reflects her strong will and deep commitment to CAFOD’s mission of supporting vulnerable communities around the world.
Reflecting on her experience, Clarice shared:
“As the Harvest Family Fast Day was approaching I decided to do something for it. I decided to try to live on £1 a day for 5 days.
I ate porridge and muesli in the morning, lentils and rice for lunch and lentils again or bread for supper. It is not possible to eat anything fresh with £1. Even coffee is too expensive. The main thing you try to avoid is being hungry, therefore you eat carbs with fibre to fill you up.”
Clarice’s candid recount of the challenge reveals how quickly hunger can affect both body and mind.
“The first day was okay, but then you start feeling hungry as time goes by. Then you cannot concentrate or work properly. I imagine hungry people having to do hard work and children walking to school on empty stomachs and going to bed hungry day after day.”
Living on £1 a day is something most of us could hardly fathom for a week, let alone a lifetime. Yet, as Clarice reminds us, “Millions of people in the world do this every day of their lives. Many with less than £1.”
For Clarice, this challenge wasn’t just about raising funds; it was about shedding light on the extreme inequality in our world.
“Then when I go to the supermarket, I see the absurdity of the inequality between us and the poor of this world. But ‘sharing’ is a very difficult message to spread. Human nature is greedy. There is enough for everybody if we share; the world produces enough food for us all but we don’t share.”
Her reflection leaves us with a profound reminder:
“I find it very difficult to put myself in the shoes of people who suffer hunger. There is very little that one can do. Apart from raising awareness about poverty, asking our political leaders to act and giving a few donations every now and then, it is difficult to know what to do. But Jesus is not asking each one of us to solve all the world’s problems. He is only suggesting that we could try to do what is possible for us.”
Clarice’s challenge touched the hearts of those around her, and the generosity of her sponsors did not go unnoticed.
“I am very grateful to the people who sponsored me. Their hearts are with the poor.”
Thank you, Clarice, for using your voice and stepping into such an inspiring challenge. You remind us that every small act of compassion can have a lasting impact in the fight against poverty.
If you’d like to take on a challenge like Clarice, please email events@cafod.org.uk.