These Guys Found Out The Hard Way What It's Like To Live On $1 A Day (2024)

Advertisem*nt

The two Claremont McKenna College students moved to a remote village in Guatemala, where they would try to survive on an income of $1 per day for a total of 56 days.

"For all our academic learning, there were some things a textbook just couldn't answer."

Advertisem*nt

They chose the town of Pena Blanca, which is majority Mayan.

Half the town's 300-some residents live below the poverty line.

Advertisem*nt

They weren't interested in hotels. Here's where they (along with two videographers) lived for six weeks.

That meant sleeping on a bed of dirt with a few sheets of cardboard and blankets.

Advertisem*nt

Fleas feasted on them during the night.

Here's their budget: $1 per day, per person for a total of $224.

Advertisem*nt

To make their experiment realistic, they split the $224 into random denominations between 0 and 9. Each morning, they drew a slip of paper out of a hat with how much money they'd "earn" that day.

Their logic was simple: Most people in the town were day laborers and never knew how much they'd earn on a typical day.

Advertisem*nt

Like a lot of people in the town, they decided to start their own small business with a micro-finance loan from a small nonprofit called Grameen.

With their loan, they invested in a small radish farm.

Advertisem*nt

Some locals showed them to the town's only water source.

"Dude. There's a bug in there."

Advertisem*nt

It was also loaded with sediment and (as they'd find out later) some nasty parasites.

Survival kit: With $15, they bought some black beans, rice, bananas, toilet paper, firewood, and matches.

Advertisem*nt

Hitching a bumpy ride home on the back of a pick-up truck set them back another $2.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten."

Advertisem*nt

In total, they lived off 800 to 900 calories per day —about half the recommended value.

Within days, one of them collapsed from lack of food and working outside.

Advertisem*nt

Here's Zach at the beginning of the trip.

And on Day 10.

Advertisem*nt

And Chris on Day One.

At Day 10.

Advertisem*nt

Zach: "That was the point where I was like, I want to go home. I need to get out of here. Why am I doing this? And we were eating better than a lot of people in the community."

A friendly neighbor asked the pair to visit his school.

Advertisem*nt

The tiny school was home to more than 300 students, about 40 percent of whom would drop out.

They'd help their families more by finding work than spending money on schooling.

Advertisem*nt

Here's Chino, age 12 (left). He quit school when his family could no longer afford his tuition. He collects wood during the day.

Around day 30, things started to take a turn for the worse. Chris came down with a nasty parasite and E. Coli.

Advertisem*nt

Thanks to their random drawing system, they spent four days living on just $2. No cash for food.

The medicine cost $25 — a relatively huge expense for people with no savings. That got them thinking ... how did people pay for unexpected emergencies?

Advertisem*nt

Bank loans aren't an option. They require a ton of information no day-laborer would have: an electricity bill, pay stubs, three months' worth of bills, and two co-signers.

For people like Rosa, who dropped out of school because her family couldn't afford it, micro-finance loans were the answer.

Advertisem*nt

With $200, Rosa started her own weaving business. She went back to school, too.

Chris: "It was so huge to see the potential for what even the simple access to credit can do in the lives of our neighbors, of our close friends."

Advertisem*nt

"That's what we're trying to prove," he says. "So much here is the power of partial solutions."

By day 56, they were physically in shambles, but they had managed to stick to their budget.

Advertisem*nt

On their last day in the town, Anthony had one request: "Don't forget about the people of Pena Blanca."

They haven't. Chris and Zach are touring the country with their documentary, and have launched a nonprofit micro-lending business called Living On One.

Advertisem*nt

Find out more about the documentary here: http://livingonone.org

Would you choose to be poor?

See why one woman decided to live without money for 16 years »