Christian MPs were among a group of six parliamentarians who spent the last 24 hours in a makeshift slum to draw attention to the plight of the one billion slum dwellers worldwide.
Labour MP Andy Read, Conservative MP David Burrowes and Lib Dem MP Tim Farron were given a taste of the reality that slum dwellers face each day as part of the Tearfund-Soul Survivor joint initiative, Slum Survivor.
The challenge required the MPs to construct their own slum dwelling from tarpaulin and vegetable crates and live off a diet of lentil dhal for 24 hours.
“It’s about being slightly out of our comfort zone,” said Mr Read, who credits his Christian faith as the inspiration for becoming a politician.
“It’s just understanding a little bit of not being in power,” said Mr Burrowes. “People like to think of us as the powerful but it’s a few hours of being powerless, and having to do things in circumstances which are beyond our control. That’s important for us to understand when we are in power that we are ensuring we are speaking up for the powerless.”
The MPs said they hoped to raise more awareness of the daily suffering endured by the world’s slum dwellers and campaign for more to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
“Even if us having a little bit of hardship over the next 24 hours makes a difference in people thinking about this issue, if that’s all I’ve managed to achieve, then for me that’s a good start,” said Mr Read.
He admitted that it had been a challenge to go with so little food whilst others around him continued to eat to Western standards but said it had helped him to realise that “the proximity of slum dwellers and those in absolute poverty is quite often next to that absolute wealth”.
Thousands of young people have already taken up the Slum Survivor challenge, with many going on to hold their own Slum Survivor events in their schools, colleges and churches.
More than £160,000 has been raised and is going towards supporting young slum dwellers in Zimbabwe and South Africa with education and food.
