A group of about ten people at St. Aidan’s read Eyes of the Heart by Jean-Bertrand Aristide in June 2009 and were moved by the plight of the people in Haiti. It also made us realize that many in the world live with substantially fewer resources than we have access to here in the USA. Wanting to experience the idea of “living with less” in a meaningful, though admittedly partial way, we proposed to “eat for a week with the food that $2/day will buy.” After much discussion we proposed a week with alternatives for folks to choose from so “we can live with less” as a first step in both raising our awareness of how others live, how we might use what we have to be of service, and how we might live with less more often.
Purpose:
1. To help people living in our community appreciate the challenges of living with less.
2. To develop personal connections with individuals in Haiti.
3. To realize that the benefits of connections with individuals in parts of the world different from our own can be mutually beneficial.
Activities:
1. We want to offer a menu of options for participation so that everyone at St. Aidan’s can raise their awareness of how we can live with less including:
• Praying each day for those who live with less around the world not by choice but by necessity and for our own awareness of their situation so that we might realize ways in which we can be of service through our offerings to others and by changes in ourselves.
• Eating no more food than $2 will buy each day for the period of a week.
• Estimating each participant’s usual food expenditures and donate the difference between the usual per day amount and $2/day to a collection for the CO Haiti Project.
• Designating one faucet in your house as your water source and use that for all your water needs, including drinking, bathing, cooking and toileting.
• Keeping a personal log of consumerism for the week noting what you bought, the purpose of the purchase, and the cost.
• Keeping a rough record of what was eaten and the cost each day.
• Communicating daily with all those participating in the project by reading and commenting on project blog at http://wecanlivewithless.wordpress.com (no passwords or codes needed; all welcome; placeholder has been set up for the blog that can be viewed now). This will help us to track the myriad ways our awareness if raised through this practice. (Examples so far: borrowing two books from the library saved one couple $41 when they would have usually ordered the books from Amazon; asking how we would budget our food when we expect to have guests during the week; realizing our emotions of serving our “project” food to others…do we feel embarrassment or shame or pride; feeling concerns about how we would talk about this experience with those who always “live with less”)
• Communicating (via artwork, photographs, email, penpals??) with people in Haiti.
Ways we help one another:
1. Developing menus of what we might eat.
2. Use project blog, http://wecanlivewithless.wordpress.com to exchange the experiences and questions of participants. We can include information relevant to living with less.
3. Keep info on a flip chart at St. Aidan’s…like a bulletin board.
4. Buy food in bulk.
5. Share if someone runs short.
6. Considering issues:
• What if I’m invited to eat at someone’s house?
• What if I have to go to a restaurant?
• What if my entire family doesn’t want to or can’t participate?
• May I use food from my garden?
• May I use food that I have preserved myself?
• What if I have guests, either expected or unexpected?
Launch:
Invite all to a community evening that would include:
1. Bishop Rob O’Neill’s homily on mission.
2. An overview of what touched us in reading Aristide’s book and how that led to the start of our “We Can Live with Less” week.
3. A call to action for attendees to join in the effort at whatever level they feel possible for them. We would encourage all to stretch a bit doing more than they would feel comfortable doing, but not so much as to be harmful.
4. Invite others who have been to Haiti to speak about their experiences and how this week might help us to raise our awareness of living with less.
5. Share a meal.
6. Make a personal commitment to be posted at St. Aidan’s.
7. Participate in Eucharist.
Follow-up:
1. One week after the launch, we will gather again to share experiences and consider next steps. These next steps might include:
a. Considering reducing the quantity and type of foods that we eat regularly.
b. Considering other ways we can “live with less” in sustainable ways.
c. Considering setting aside the money that we save by living with less and donating it to an organization that will assist others, like the CO Haiti Project.
d. Reviewing the effects of our week and how we might expand the experience and how we might “go upstream” to understand better the what might cause some to be trapped in a cycle of living with less out of necessity rather than by choice.
e. Identifying how we might encourage others to live with less by choice.
2. We will consider sharing our experience so that they might consider launching something similar. We would submit stories to:
a. Colorado Diocesan publications
b. Daily Camera
c. Colorado Daily (especially if students participate)
d. CO Haiti Project publications
Timeline
1. The first group to read Eyes of the Heart last met on 29 June; the second group will meet until 31 August.
2. Members from the first group suggested this draft plan but want to include input from the second group as well so that the project “belongs” to all. We would like to attend the last meeting of the second reading group to present the project plan.
3. A special prayer for use throughout the project will be found or developed.
4. A few people will “live with less” as a trial of the proposal the week of 17 August. Their experiences will inform the process so that all might work more smoothly when launched.
5. We must establish contacts/make inquiries to learn if folks in Haiti would like to communicate with us.
6. We would like to include students through Canterbury to be involved in the project.
7. We would propose to launch the project in early September.
8. The project would last for one week with next steps expected to continue awareness raising.
Possible next steps to consider:
• Communicate at intervals with volunteers in Haiti via Skype with video.
• Exchange music, art, drama.
• Exchange worship service via Internet.
• Explore how Kindles might be used to bring a diversity of books to Haiti.
• What microlending options are there to Haiti?
Other contacts:
We would like to include other people who might be willing to offer input and suggestions for enhancing the project and the relationship building with folks in Haiti:
• Paul Casey
• Pat Laudisio
• Sarah Hartzell (Just Faith organizer at St. John’s)
wecanlivewithless
