Schools
What Would You Do With Two Dollars a Day?
Sandy Springs Friends School junior Thaara Shankar's "Two Dollars A Day" video educates viewers about world poverty and received an honorable mention in the "World of 7 Billion" student video contest.
Thaara Shankar, a junior at Sandy Springs Friends School in Sandy Springs, MD, was awarded $250 and an honorable mention in the Global Poverty category for a video she created as an entry in the “World of 7 Billion” student video contest.
Entries for the contest could be no longer than 60 seconds and had to focus on either population growth, climate change, global poverty or water sustainability.
Shankar’s video, titled “Two Dollars a Day” juxtaposes the lives of two 10-year-old girls living 710 miles apart -- one in the developed world of Miami, FL, the other in the developing outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sarah of Miami, has three meals a day, attends school five days a week, and plans to go to college after graduation. Renee of Port-au-Prince, has one to two meals a day, attends school currently, but will drop out within a year.
“Two Dollars a Day” aims to expose the reality of global poverty and how limited resources are in a world of over seven billion people. Shankar reveals in the video that more than half of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American is living on roughly $87 a day.
- What would you do if you lived on only two dollars a day? Tell us in the comments section.
The video, which began as part of a school project in a population unit, was one of 929 entries. Shankar believes for change to happen, education must be the first step. “Two Dollars a Day” is her way of releasing information and educating people on global poverty.
“Video is a powerful and engaging means of communication,” said John Seager, president of Population Connection. “We are amazed each year by the quality of submissions and their ability to tell a story and connect to people’s emotions in sixty seconds.”
Shankar is considering using the prize money to support her school in a local competition - building an electric car.
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