Poverty Simulation Sparks Discussion at UMW

This week, a group of more than 50 students at the University of Mary Washington traded their dorm digs for cardboard and tarp shanties during a week-long exercise designed to provoke thoughts on poverty and economic assistance in the developing world. They are taking part in the Two Dollar Challenge, which saw them live in makeshift shelters on UMW's Ball Circle and subsisting on $2 a day and following other restrictions which simulate a life of poverty. The exercise ended this morning, following a week of fasting for a cause. 

 The event, now in its fifth year, founded by UMW students to provide social, economic and education support to the El Progresso community in Honduras. So far this week, the students have raised roughly $2,000 for La Ceiba. 

 "We believe that it's important to create incentives and opportunities for young people to critically evaluate what role, if any, they have in economic development," said Shawn Humphrey, associate professor of economics at UMW and faculty administrator of the event. "This is all about education, and how to transform young people into the next generation on wellness practitioners."

Laura Dick, a sophomore anthropology and economics student who helped organize the event said that the event helped her gain new insight into the problems faced by the impoverished of the world. 

"I love it because it's a week where I get to spend a lot of time critically examining my life and development as a whole," said Dick. "What's great is that there are people from a lot of different perspectives discussing this."

Indeed there are. On campus, an editorial published by the student newspaper was critical of the event, saying that participants were only playing at poverty.

"The attack that we are playing poverty is somewhat justified," said Dick. "We are aware of that, we're our own biggest critics. We are constantly analyzing the fact that we are just playing poverty."

"The idea is that we are a conversation starter," said Humphrey. "The first year we did it, I went down to Hyperion and group of people had opened the Freelance-Star and a bunch of people were getting on me about it, but in the end they were discussing poverty. It's win for me because they were discussing poverty."