Millions of children are facing life-threatening hunger and thirst in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia as drought devastates the region. Save the children need your support to help them survive.

Lack of rain has led to scarce drinking water, failed harvests and dead livestock; families have lost income and supplies, and food prices have soared.
Parents are struggling to feed their children, and we fear many could die from malnutrition.
Help us stop this natural disaster turning into a human catastrophe.
Save the children are already on the ground rapidly providing food, water, medicine and crucial support to families who have lost their incomes.
But 7 million people still need help and we urgently need donations to reach more families.

Two-year-old Rahow (above) lives in Kanjara village in north-east Kenya. His mother, Habiba says: “Two months ago, my son started vomiting and having diarrhoea with a fever and he was very weak. When we arrived here in this village, I was advised to take him to the Save the Children centre. He was treated, and now he's improving.
"Before, we had about 10 or 15 goats. Now we only have five. I used to sell the goats to buy food and they provided a little milk for the children. Losing our livestock has moved us from one type of livelihood to a new kind of life. We've just come to this village, and you can see how we're living here. Water is very little and scarce. The animals have also died due to the drought so we have no transport to get water.
"My son became ill because there's no food. Since he started eating this nutritious food (referring to high-nutrient peanut paste) I have seen him gaining weight. He’s doing very well now. He's improved. Now he has no fever, like before, and he is sleeping well, that’s why he is now okay.”

What Save the Children are doing

• Distributing life-saving water to areas severely affected by the drought and improving water supply and sanitation facilities in health clinics and schools
• Providing jerry cans, water filters and water purification tablets to ensure that water is safe to drink
• Treating malnourished children. The life-saving treatment is usually quick and simple - so far this year, we have treated over 8,000 malnourished children in our feeding centres in Somalia
• Helping families buy nutritious food by distributing food vouchers, whilst supporting the local market to function
• Financially supporting those who have lost their incomes through cash transfers, enabling them to buy essential items for their children.

Please support them... x

DAY 3 ... 177 to go!

Today I did a trade..My partner (bless him!) made me two eggs on toast so I am going to make him dinner from my money today.
Lunch the 40p soup again and the 7p yougurt
Dinner is going to cost more though as I am cooking for two, I think it will be home made pasta and some meat balls in tomato sauce as i have some chopped tomatoes and tesco value mince, but i have to make it all for 95p! Will let you know how I get on....

I have had a right result today though....

Before I started this i promised to attend a meal at Zizzi in Ipswich for Rose's Birthday tomorrow night... then i thought, oh no i cant go! there is nothing on the menu as cheap as this!! so my cheeky side came out... I called them up and spoke to the manager Den and told him about my dilema and what i am trying to do for save the children and asked if I could eat a side salad and tap water for free... he said... I can do even better than that, you can come a eat whatever you like for free!! I will still only have a salad or something simple and no alcohol as I am still following my plan but i am really looking forward to it!! Den at Zizzi in Ipswich said how they love to support great causes like this and I cannot thank him enough for his support and for helping out so that I can attend my friends Birthday!! what a great Manager and a great restaurant... so go eat there!! lol! ... thanks Den! http://www.zizzi.co.uk/ 01473 230055.

Also had a call from the lovely Sarah at Save the Children today, she was so encouraging and i have their full support, she is going to see if she can help get more followers of my blog via their facebook page and help support me... so thanks to Sarah too!

Also hopefully everything will go ahead tonight with the evening gazzette photographer so i can get the story in the newspaper!! :)

Feeling very positive.. forget the diet coke... no good for me anyway!

Save the Children as I write this are

• distributing life-saving water and treating malnourished children affected by the drought in East Africa.
• getting essentials to families who have fled the violence in Libya.
• In countries such as Sierra Leone, they are building stronger health systems

Anyway got to get back to some work! x

DAY 2 OF 180....

1 broody chicken means no eggs this morning....
so intead i have two slices of my bread with some butter and some stewed rhubarb i got at the bargain price of 50p for a few stalks which made about 3 portions. I joined the other bargain hunters at the discount shelf near closing time! I could liken it to car boot sale when people are in your car boot before you have even unpacked...
so breakfast was about 20p!
Lunch was my Delia soup again.. 40p then a 7p youghurt
Dinner was a jacket potato 28p plus a whole can of tesco value baked beans also at 28p
Then my partner tempted me with some grated cheese, i couldnt resist so charged me 10p and 10 kisses!
Again raided the tea at work... sorry Jardines!
Total today... a cool...£1.33!!
I must admit its not easy.. i am used to drinking diet coke all day which i am really craving so i am avoiding the kitchen at work where the machine is! Also i gazed lovingly at the half a bottlke of wine in the fridge and then thought NOOOO.... remember the cause!!

Thanks so much to my sponsors so far!! keep it coming :) xx

DAY 1 OF THE CHALLENGE...

It would be easy for me to opt to eat 6 months worth of Tesco value noodles but i know i wouldnt be able to do it and it would be far from nutritious!!

Breakfast 22p....
I bought tesco value wholemeal bread at 47p a loaf so 2p a slice (a bit on the skinny side but ok, as i watched my family tuck into tesco finest chunky seeded loaf).  For breakfast I had two poached eggs from the chickens in my garden, on a piece of toast (I charge myself 10p an egg).

Just as I started this my Buff Orpington chicken went broody so no eggs for a while... I reckon she knew!!

So I found myself reching for the trusty original Delia cookbook, I made.....
Leek, Potato and onion soup
4 Leeks       £1.51
2 Potatoes   £0.56
1 Onion       £0.14
50g butter    £0.22 (tesco value again... good old tesco!)
Total            £2.43 for six portions,
Lunch - 40p for a bowl of very tasty soup!

Tesco value yogurt 29p for four, so 7p

Now comes the creative part! I attempted to make my own pasta... the funniest looking pasta ever! but i will perfect it given time!
500g of white flour    £0.61
4 eggs                       £0.40
Total                         £1.01 for 6 portions so, 17p a portion

Then stir fried up half a packet of veg mix for 50p (my Mother even charged me 5p to borrow so Soy sauce... all in a good cause hmmmm no soy sauce donations there then! lol)

So Dinner 67p

Total Day 1       £1.36     Target     £1.42   = Result!!

Feeling pretty perky (although i do raid the tea bags at work!)

Contacted Local businesses, newspapers and radio in hope of some support! I even offered my services to a local buther in exchange for some meat (which a tenner a week just does not strech to!) 
The got an email back from the Colchester Gazzette interested in the story so I shall post some more tomorrow!

bye for now xx

CJ BACK TO BASICS - THE BEGINNING....

Hi Everyone, Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog!!

I'm raising money for Save the Children and I'd really appreciate your support. Their website is www.savethechildren.org.uk

It all started when I read an article about a Shanghai businessman that, in 2009, challenged his fellow countrymen to live on just £10 a week (not including household bills) - hoping it would inspire them to lead a simpler life, which in turn, inspired me, I thought can I do the same??

I really think it will fit in well with current issues especially the well publicised UK child poverty and also overseas  poverty.

Also the hunger and drought situation, linking in with self sufficiency crisis 

opportunities for education and the economic crisis.

It encourages people to get back to basics and enjoy the simpler things in life and raises money for a fantastic cause.  Even if they do not feel they can donate it may help families to manage a tight budget in the current climate.  There are a variety of angles to this story.  My aim is the complete the 6 month challenge and raise as much as I can to make a difference.

I have got so used to spending far too much on things which a not necessary (even though I convince myself they are) such as lavish meals out, champagne, a bottle of Chablis after a "tough day", shopping sprees, raiding the Clinique beauty counter, moaning about no payrises, the economic climate etc etc the list goes on.

Then I went onto the Save the Children website and it reminded me in fact how lucky we are. So this is how I came to my challenge.....

I am going to do the £10 a week challenge for 6 months, this is to cover all food and drink, personal expenses, and entertainment. I am getting back to basics and really questioning do I really need this? How can I do the same cheaper? Anyway I could ramble on and on but I will refrain!

Please if you can take a few moments just look at my page I would be most grateful.
http://www.justgiving.com/Chloe-Thompson

Just go to my JustGiving page, and have a look, there is more information about my mission and the charity.

If you would like to donate, you can online with a credit or debit card -

http://www.justgiving.com/Chloe-Thompson

Or text LDAH92 £1 to 70070 to donate (you can vary the amount in the text if you like)

JustGiving sends your donation straight to Save the Children and automatically reclaims Gift Aid on all eligible donations, so what you give is worth even more.  I hope you'll join me in supporting Save the Children.

I will post on here as much as I can about my progress and how i manage on £1.42 a day, it may inspire others or even if you can just follow me that would be great!!

I have also contacted the local media and local businesses for their support... so watch this space!

Much Love Chloe xx

p.s My Father has taken custody of all my cards, cheque book and any cash and will give me a ten pound note each week and he will not budge!! no worries there! :)