Meager March...a month of challenges

You may recall that a few months back I spoke to you about Shiyan's love for alliteration months: No Shave November, Destination December, Jovial January, Focused and Festive February. Well, Meager March is upon us and because she is the words smith in the family, I am going to let Angelyn explain our latest alliteration month to you.

Last semester I [Angelyn] was doing some research into the beggar/homeless situation in China and found an article entitled "China extends cost of living benefits to homeless, beggars". According to this article from August 2007, the government will offer a basic living allowance to those begging because of poverty. The basic living allowance for those living in urban areas has been set at 169.6 yuan ($23.75). So, if someone living in a city makes, say, 100 yuan each month, the government will give that person an additional 69.6 yuan to reach the aforementioned basic living allowance. I was both immediately struck and convicted by this insanely small amount of money the government has stated to be sufficient for basic living costs. This article was the inspiration for what has become known as "Meager March". Originally the idea was to challenge ourselves to live only on 169.6 yuan for the entire month. However, the specifics of Meager March are very much hazy as a whole because there's no right or wrong way to participate. The most important thing is for the people who participate to discover their own purpose, their own motivation, and their own need for becoming involved.

However, Meager March is an imperfect challenge for a variety of reasons. First, we don't pay for our apartments, electricity, water, television, Internet, and phone. If we were in poverty, we wouldn't have these "perks" and 169.6 yuan would be, in my opinion, wholly inadequate to cover all the basic costs one would encounter daily, monthly, etc.

That said, 169.6 yuan is still a small amount of money, and there are several things we will be changing about our daily lifestyles to accommodate this decrease in funds. For example, the majority of our monthly expenses probably goes towards food. We eat out for nearly every meal (which is still very economical since food is so affordable here), but for the next month we will be pulling our community funds to purchase cheap vegetables and other foods to cook things like porridge at home. Another very small yet, for the month of March, significant cost is bus fair. It takes only one yuan to ride the bus, but that's two yuan round trip which adds up quickly. Therefore, we will be walking a lot more.

The second reason Meager March is an imperfect challenge is because we have responsibilities here that cannot and should not be ignored. For example, we often use the Internet to prepare for classes. Previously, I mentioned we will charge ourselves for Internet usage, but that only applies to personal entertainment and unnecessary activity. I consider using the Internet for school something unavoidable and quite necessary so we will not be charging ourselves for time spent in class preparation. We are also here working for a specific purpose which involves a lot of relationship building. If there is a need to spend money to further the work here, then we will not hesitate to spend liberally.

Meager March has evolved into a beautiful event with participants from other cities in China creating their own purpose for and method of becoming involved. I've heard that some friends in Wuhan have modified Meager March: for every yuan they spend on themselves, they will spend the same amount on others.

Me again...I hope that gave you some insight into our latest self-improvement venture. I am really excited about what these next 30 days will hold. A chance to look at the community we live in with a more realistic view, more time to be focused on the purpose for our life here in Shiyan, and growth in the One who has blessed us with so much that we could not even begin to fully understand the meagerness so many live in each day.

Because we just can't get enough of Meager March, the idea arose to challenge ourselves in more ways than one. So while living on 169.6 kuai may be considered a sacrifice, it may be considered insignificant compared to the fact that I will not be wearing any make-up for the entire month ;o)

The Challenges:

Brian to Angelyn and myself: Convince five students from one of his classes to dress up like the five Beijing Olympic Mascots and sing "Happy Birthday" to him on his birthday - March 11th.

Brian to Angelyn: Get two people to buy him the two remaining Beijing Olympic Mascot keychains he hasn't acquired merely by hinting he would like to have them (no asking, begging, or bullying shall be allowed in this challenge).

Angelyn to Brian: It's a secret, but it involves my freshman class.

Angelyn to Me: No make-up for the whole month!! (Except for class, as my students would think nothing of saying to me, "What a pity, you used to be very beautiful)

Me to Angelyn...and than her back to me: Memorize the book of Philippians

And should you choose to accept it...
Me to You: Find a partner, and devise challenges for each other. The challenge should be something that would bring you joy, but at the same time convicts you and leads to personal growth. Be creative with each other!

So I'll be seeing you...in Active April!