On Campus News

A student club at the University of Arizona, Loans Across Borders, is holding a documentary screening of the critically acclaimed Living on One Dollar documentary to raise funds for Milaap.org, a microfinance organization in India. The student group, which seeks to promote awareness and student engagement with microfinance, is hosting this event in conjunction with the national Live Below the Line campaign that challenges Americans to experience what it is like to live below the poverty line and fundraise for charities working to bring about change for the world’s poorest people.

The Living on One Dollar film documents the experience of four college students who left their homes in the U.S. to spend two months in a rural Guatemalan village. Their plan was to live on just $1 a day each for 56 days and share the journey with their friends back in the U.S.

As college students, the four had heard the statistic - more than a billion people around the world live on just $1 a day. But, they realized that they had no idea what the reality of extreme poverty was like or how someone could budget such a small amount of money to survive. Battling hunger, water-borne parasites and the realization that there are no easy answers, they found hope in the strength and generosity of their neighbors. Their full-length documentary, Living on One Dollar, tells this story.

Sheetal Singh, a senior studying finance and accounting, started the new student club Loans Across Borders this year. Singh interned at a microfinance firm in India where she said she “fell in love with the simplicity of microfinance.” Though microfinance loans are for smaller amounts of money, Singh said she still saw people aspiring to improve entire communities through the loans. The rising club president, Adrienne Dillard, and club vice president, Jonathan Alden, have been organizing this campaign on campus.

LAB has teamed up with Milaap, a microfinance organization based in India, to raise money and awareness for the Live Below The Line campaign. Milaap helps Indian citizens who live below the poverty line receive an education, clean water and safe lighting through loans. LAB hopes that this documentary will help educate the UA and greater Tucson community on the realities of extreme poverty and raise funds for their Live Below the Line Campaign.

Live Below The Line Campaign originally started in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 and has since spread to the U.K., USA, and New Zealand. In 2012, the U.S. campaign had 15,000 participants, raised over $3 million, and gained support from celebrities Malin Akerman, Josh Groban, Kevin Connolly, Nick Lachey, Minka Kelly, and thousands of students, mothers, communities of faith, and world leaders globally. Each year, the campaign chooses to support and raise funds for organizations that are battling issues related to extreme poverty. This year, Milaap.org has been selected as one of sponsored organizations to raise funds for India’s working poor. LAB has chosen to work with Milaap because of their strong mission alignment.

The University of Arizona, the members of LAB, and Milaap.org invite you to join them at the Living on One Dollar film screening this Thursday April 25 at 5:00 pm in room 305 of the Harvill building on University of Arizona’s campus. Admission is a $5 donation and all funds will go directly to helping families in India pull themselves out of poverty through microloans for education, enterprise growth, and essential needs like clean water, safe sanitation, and solar lighting.

Resources:

milaap.org/usa