We recently caught up with poverty ambassador Matt Napier on his return from his 250 kilometre coast-to-coast walk across southern Africa. Napier set out on his Walk to a Better World journey back in June. He departed from Namibia not only kicking a soccer ball the entire way but also determined to live below the poverty line. Napier and his wife Wendy certainly do love a challenge!
What was it they were hoping to achieve by setting out to Walk to a Better World?
"The reason behind the walk was to raise awareness of global poverty and raise $15,000 each for our 4 charity partners – Care Australia, Caritas Australia, the Fred Hollows Foundation and Oxfam Australia. I was so excited when I got the news that the four projects were fully funded (a total of $60,000) and that people’s lives would be changed for the better because of this walk."
It’s not everyday you hear about a man walking across a continent. So it’s no wonder this stunt grabbed the attention of many people. And that was one of Napier’s aims — to engage with a wide range of people, especially those who wouldn’t usually be interested in issues of poverty and to invite them to think about just how lucky we are to live in Australia.
“As global citizens we all have the responsibility to do as much as we can for the world’s poor regardless of where they live,” Napier said.
Like all good adventures it was more about the journey than the destination. For Napier, it was not only about global citizens back home, it was also about the incredible people they met along the way.
“The reception we received was more than we could have ever hoped for. In Botswana entire villages would shut down and everyone would gather to meet me and welcome us by performing some of their traditional dancing and it made us feel so welcome.”
Although he admits the reactions he got were mixed and some people thought he was crazy to leave his comfortable life back in Australia to live below the poverty line out of choice.
Being hungry is something we’re all guilty of complaining about but by living on less than $1.50 US per day Napier experienced first hand what it’s really like to be properly hungry.
“Going to bed hungry at night is never nice but having to get up in the morning and walk 15kms before having any food was extremely hard. My stomach felt like it was constantly eating away at itself and sometimes I would get light-headed and feel like I was about to collapse. It affected the way I thought about things and I was often second guessing myself when it came to my decision making. My wife also tells me I was a bit unreasonable at times but I dispute that, haha!”
And now for the moral of the story. We asked Napier what his incredible experience taught him.
“It has taught me that no one should have to live like this, living on so little is torture and we as global citizens should be doing all we can to help the world’s poorest. I was lucky to even have $1.50 to spend on food as I know people out there live on a hell of a lot less. We met 3 ladies living in Mozambique who were living in extreme poverty and they only received between $6 and $10 in social security each month, that’s right, per MONTH! One lady in particular had 4 adult children as dependants - one has HIV/AIDS, one has a mental disability, one had passed away and the other was the victim of a hit and run and couldn’t walk anymore. There was no work for her and the only money she would receive was from the government. When I met her I didn’t know what to say and all I did was give her a hug. The next day I said to my wife Wendy “we can’t just turn our back on these people”. So through the local NGO we are going to try and get some training for these ladies to help them develop the skills to be able to start up their own business to help them break the poverty cycle. The sad thing is that there are thousands of other stories like this that are never told and they suffer in silence.”
Even though Napier says he’s just an everyday man with a dream to end extreme poverty, we know that not everyone can embark on a journey like Matt's. So we asked him what’s one thing he would like global citizens to do.
“We are encouraging people to take the pledge of donating 1% of their income to help end extreme poverty within the next generation. By pledging a relatively small amount of their income on a regular basis they can have an ongoing impact on the lives of the world’s poorest.”