Christian Student in Britain Lives on $1 a Day to Help Poor
A Christian man studying MBA at University of Westminster and living with a wife and two kids has started a project that involves living on less than $1 a day to raise money for an orphanage in India and spread awareness about the lives of the poor around the world.
In the first 13 days of his monthlong $1-a-day “fast,” Nathan Adair, a Baptist, has saved $229 just by cutting down the cost of daily meals, according to his blog. And he is urging others to join him for a weeklong fast beginning Monday.
Adair, who attended the First Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, during his early years, wants to fund a solar power micro-enterprise project that will provide electricity to a community in need and sustainable revenue to an orphanage and mission in India.
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Adair’s family spent just $0.70 on Friday as they ate oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, spaghetti with tomatoes and pinto beans for lunch, and egg-fried rice with sautéed potatoes, carrots and peas for dinner.
Adair, a Baylor University graduate, finds the fast enriching as he is beginning to experience what it is like for the more than 1 billion people globally who live on $1 a day or less.
“Although my spirit is gaining strength, my body is slowly becoming weaker,” Adair said. “I feel great and have a decent amount of energy throughout the day, but I am clearly losing muscle. I can feel and see a dramatic difference.”
But, he adds, there is nothing to be alarmed about, “just interesting how quickly it happened.” He plans to make a trip to the gym Saturday to test his strength, or lack of it, and get a “small glimpse at what a laborer, on this sort of diet, may experience.”
Adair understands the value of food. “When you’re really hungry, twenty-five-cent canned soup tastes like it came from a five-star restaurant,” he said in a statement. “People who live on $1/day or less see food as an essential fuel to stay alive, and they don’t take that for granted.”
The first four days were the most difficult for Adair. “A combination of eating approximately 35 percent of the calories normally consumed and giving up caffeine made for a miserable beginning,” he said.
“However, the overwhelming support and prayer from my wife, family and friends gave me the resolve I needed to press on and not give up.”
Other difficulties include the logistics of planning daily menus, and a substantial lack of energy.
When Adair and his wife, Lindsay, attended West University Baptist Church in Houston, they met Kirby Trapolino, director of Peace Gospel International, the beneficiary, and began to support his ministry, according to Associated Baptist Press.
When he was planning for an MBA project, Adair spoke to Trapolino about the needs at Peace Gospel, which seeks to improve the lives of people in the developing world. As he learned about an orphanage in India in a place with unreliable power supply, they decided to start the project.
“In an effort to resolve this issue and generate much needed revenue for the orphanage, we are designing a solar system that will power the facility as well as charge batteries,” Adair was quoted as saying. “These batteries will be rented by members of the community to power lights, fans and small appliances in their homes, drastically improving quality of life.”
Adair added that growing up in a Christian home and attending Baylor allowed him to go beyond his comfort zone and trust God’s plan for his life.
“It is not a coincidence that I became involved with Peace Gospel, studied for an MBA and began working on this project. It is clear that this is God’s path for me.”
