Two Dollar Challenge - Spring 2008

Assessing the Two Dollar Challenge

Wow. I am sitting here at Hyperion Espresso as customers are picking up today’s issue of the Free Lance Star. The Two Dollar Challenge in on the front page. Their comments – well, let us put it this way – they are not so generous. I think they can be categorized as running the gamut from the mocking to some good-natured ribbing. Comments in the latter-category include “I wondered if they were using the facilities in dorms – if so that is cheating.” “They used a tarp – oh that is cheating.” “The challenge ended before the rain – oh that is cheating as well.”
These comments arose as a party of four was enjoying their espresso this morning.

I understand peoples’ skepticism. In the low-to-middle income neighborhood that I grew up in, there was not a lot of patience for do-gooders. Their “do-gooderness” was a luxury no one in my neighborhood could afford. Hell, it could have easily been me as a young man or some of my family members making those comments. These criticisms may sting a bit, however, they are beneficial in the sense that the legitimacy – indeed the appropriateness – of the living on $2 a day project hinges upon our ability to address them head on. However, it is not the Hyperion crowd that is my concern. I am primarily concerned with the people of Siete de Abril. If they were to bear witness to our circumstances, choices, and behavior over the course of the challenge, what would they think?

If they were to visit our mock-shanty town last Thursday or Friday, they would bear witness to one of the many limitations of the challenge. There is food everywhere: bagels, pizza, donuts, crackers, cakes, fruit, soda drinks, and coffee. Like I have stated on multiple occasions, the Two Dollar Challenge is conducted within the confines of a wealthy society. It is near the end of the week that word about the challenge spreads around campus. Members of the university community walk past, see us sitting outside our shelters, and ask us if they can help out. On a number of occasions they simply return bearing the aforementioned gifts. It is also the time of year that there are multiple events on campus where food is freely given out at cookouts and the like. It is only on Monday, Tuesday, and maybe Wednesday that we most closely approximate the $2 a day income constraint. The bottom line is that none of us live on $2 a Day. However, within this limitation lays one of the values of the challenge. It makes us aware of the abundant wealth that surrounds us. Whether that wealth is denominated in bags of bagels and donuts discarded at the end of every business day by local establishments or the generosity of our community, this is wealth that most of us take for granted. Some participants take advantage of that wealth some don’t but regardless of whether they choose to do so or not they recognize it for what it is – wealth and resources that those actually living on $2 a day in developing economies do not have.

If they were to visit our mock-shanty town anytime between 7 pm and midnight the scene can sometimes have the feel of a festival – participants may be playing Frisbee or flag-football or simply hanging out together enjoying each others’ company. The Two Dollar Challenge asks participants to rely upon each other. Every night we come together to pool together resources, strategize, and talk about the day. Individually we are more tired than usual and more hungry than usual; however, it is not all doom and gloom. The challenge is being taken by young people placed in unusual circumstances. Necessarily, there will be smiles and there will be laughter. Amusing stories are shared and consequently published in blogs. In this coming together every night, however, lays one of the strengths of the challenge. The shanty-town is an extension of the classroom. It is in that last hour before heading off to sleep under the tarp in Ball Circle that my students and I reflect most deeply about the challenge - recognize its limitations and talk about ways to improve upon it. Indeed, it was in one of those mid-night talks that we recognized that the challenge – by asking us to gather cardboard from dumpsters and bagels and donuts at the end of the business day – inadvertently makes us a source of competition for the homeless here in Fredericksburg - an issue that we have to address more deeply before taking the challenge again.

As I was leaving those four Hyperion customers, their conversation had turned away from some good-natured ribbing of the challenge to the issue of homelessness in Fredericksburg. That more than anything maybe the value of us living on two dollars a day – it is a conversation starter.


“You got two bucks man?” - Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I hold my Advanced Comparative Economics course (scheduled at 8 am) at Hyperion Espresso. I had not really planned ahead for this occasion. How was I going to legitimately use some of their scarce tables and chairs for class without buying a cup of coffee? With only $2.75 left over, I decided that I would only bring 75 cents with me. This course of action would commit me to my strategy which was to tell them about the Two Dollar Challenge and see if they would donate a cup of coffee. If that did not work then I would bargain to pay for half of a cup of coffee (hence the 75 cents). However, yesterday morning as I was walking from campus to meet my class, a homeless man stopped me and asked “You got two bucks man? It was cold last night and I want a cup of coffee.” The first thoughts that raced through my mind were “I know what you mean. It was cold last night” (I was still walking off the chill from staying in the shanty-town) and “Dude, I am living on $2 a day, and I cannot afford to give you any money.” Then that uncomfortable feeling came back. A feeling that can be summarized as follows: “Man, you are such a jackass. Give him the 75 cents in your pocket. You are playing poverty and have an exit. He more than likely does not.” Yet, I have friends who have worked with the homeless and they suggest that the best way to help the homeless is by donating directly to shelters. Then I start thinking how often I have used the line of reasoning to justify not giving handouts. But, have I ever donated directly to a homeless shelter? No. This battle is raging in my head in a matter of seconds. I gave him the 75 cents - more than likely because I was in the middle of the Two Dollar Challenge. On any other occasion, I would have said “Sorry, I only have credit cards”. Maybe that is the overall purpose – to engender commiseration. However, as an economist I do not want my actions to be guided by emotions.


You Have No Right

All week I have been trying to understand the font of that uncomfortable feeling. Indeed, as I am writing this I hear a voice of that little kid who came home so many times to the electricity, water and/or the phone turned off. I hear the kid whose bedroom window overlooked the driveway and witnessed the repo-man take off with the family car in the middle of the night. I hear the kid who used to peer out of the backseat window of a beat-up Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and watch surrounding cars warn us about the smoke billowing out from under the hood. Smoke we were already well aware of and accustomed to. This kid is screaming “You have no right! You have no right!” This kid has been screaming this at me all week.

We are privileged. We can afford to take the Two Dollar Challenge. Maybe more importantly, we have an exit. That little kid believed he did not. Even if we can afford to take the challenge do we have the right to do so?

Here is part of a reply to the blog entry above from one of my students:

"This afternoon I went into the Presbyterian Church office to follow-up on a potential donation, and there was a sign that read "Are you a woman who could use a fresh change of clothes? A shower? A hot meal served-family style?" and then gave information on a women's support group. For once, I could answer "Yes" to all of these questions.
I think we have a right to create/participate in social experiments like this because it allows us to better address economic issues such as poverty. I think we can all say now that we have a better understanding of what it means to be poor, and what a poor person truly needs (in terms of actual goods in addition to resources) to improve their standard of living. This is one of the few ways we can gain perspective on their lifestyle."



19 cents -Monday, April 14, 2008

I have $2.75 remaining after my trip to Giant and the Dollar General. I purchased white bread, crunchy peanut butter, 2 bananas, 2 apples, a bag of black beans, and some duplex cookies (more about those in a later blog). At Giant, there was this older gentleman (a retiree) checking out in front of me. He had paid in cash and his change came to 19 cents. He did not move. Looking at his hand, he repeated “I only got 18 cents back” a couple of times. The teller gave him a look of “you are not really going to make a fuss over one penny.” But, he did and he did not move. She dug into her pant’s pocket, pulled out a penny and handed it to him and he went on his way. Like him I was counting pennies as well; but, unlike him I was choosing to do so. There it was again that uncomfortable feeling I have come to associate with this project.


Playing Poverty - Sunday, April 13, 2008

Shin - the co-founder of SHH - and Yappa – an incredible individual who is the first to leave the Copprome orphanage and pursue a college degree – visited my Economic Development class this past Thursday. Before introducing them to the class, I spent some time getting my students organized to begin the Two Dollar Challenge. “All right everyone, the Two Dollar Challenge starts this coming Monday. As you know for five days we will be living on $2 a day…” I felt a bit awkward completing this sentence. Here is a young woman who more than likely may have lived on two dollars a day at some point in her life. It is definite that she knows of people who have had to or continue to survive on that meager amount. And, here she sits in a classroom of 39 relatively privileged individuals who are listening to their professor organize them to play poverty. I felt awkward then and I feel awkward again as I sit, less than 15 hours removed from the Two Dollar Challenge, fretting over having to be uncomfortable for the next five days. I have been anxious about it all week - the caffeine withdrawals, lack of sleep, and downward spiraling performance. Simultaneously, I am thinking about the people of Siete de Abril. Their faces flash through my mind: Glendy, Danny, Miquel, Don Benjamin…I respect every one of them. I want to earn their respect in turn. But, if they were to ask me about this Challenge, how would I explain it? What would I say? What would they think? I do know that I would feel uncomfortable answering these questions. For the foreseeable future they will wake up every morning to the same impoverished reality. Myself? I will be playing poverty for five days and four nights and then conveniently return to prosperity at exactly 4 pm this coming Friday. Yet, I still fret. Yet, I know that there is value in this exercise. Clearly defining that value for the people of Siete de Abril by the end of this week is my goal.