Arlene Phillips with her below the line cabbage soup & rice

Over 200 people signed up to Live Below the Line for us in May, so far raising over £23,000, with money still coming in. We have been inspired by the breadth of support from faith leaders, celebrities, politicians, students, business people and dozens of other volunteers from across the country!

We’re delighted to share just some of our highlights here, with more sure to come as people continue to take part and fundraise right up until the end of June. There’s plenty more time for your friends and family to register and get involved in this challenge to end extreme poverty and save lives from malaria.

Members of the Rotary Club of Pershore have combined African cooking with comedy and music to immense success, by staging a fundraising concert to help fight malaria.

75 Rotarians came together in Eckington Village Hall, Worcestershire to enjoy a night of music from the Fat Chance Comedy Band who entertained attendees, whilst they enjoyed a plate of Kuka Paka – a Kenyan dish of chicken cooked in coconut curry sauce.

Event organiser Cairns Boston, who is also a past president of the Club said:

See where people are Living Below the Line this May.

It’s not long now until we’ll be Living Below the Line. We’re excited that over 100 people so far have pledged to live on £1 a day for 5 days for Malaria No More UK from 7 – 11 May. Between them they’ve already raised almost £5,000 to help save lives from malaria in Africa. You can track their progress on our fundraiser leader board on the Live Below the Line website.

Some supporters have done the challenge early, like our Programme and Policy Manager Annemarie Meyer, who blogged about her experience recently on the Huffington Post. Annemarie brought a great perspective to the Challenge. She’s only recently returned from a trip to Ghana where she met some of the people who are benefitting from a mosquito net distribution campaign that should provide everyone in that country access to a net by the end of the year. It is just this type of work that Live Below the Line participants are raising money to help through their sponsorship.

By Rob Henchoz

My friend Richard Atherton and I are keen car enthusiasts and rally drivers. We decided to raise money for Malaria No More UK because having lived in Angola and worked on the West coast of Africa we saw the effects of malaria on both locals and expats. The aim to eliminate the disease is clearly achievable with some financial commitment.

We joined the London to Cape Town race in January 2012 in our Volvo 144 which we dubbed “the Camel”. We left the UK on a filthy New Years Day – I got a shoe full of water before we started! Lots of Volvo owners and customers turned up to see us off which was fantastic, including supporters from both our car clubs: The Sporting Car Club of Norfolk and Chelmsford Motor Club.

Sheena Napier, Usman Nawaz, Ravjeet Singh, Rosemarie Mallett, Jeremy Burko, Kiran Bali, Annabelle Knight & Charlotte Dando

Earlier this month Charlotte Dando and Usman Nawaz, Faiths Act Fellows of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation based here at Malaria No More UK brought together members from seven different faith traditions to share a low budget lunch and discuss the importance of interfaith work in the fight against poverty and malaria. This lunch party ‘with a twist’ was in support of the Live Below the Line campaign. We’re a major partner for this charity challenge taking place in May which aims to raise funds and awareness for the fight against extreme poverty.

The lunch was hosted at the National Bahá’í Centre in London and was attended by Kiran Bali MBE, a leading Hindu interfaith activist, Ravjeet Singh, Director of United Sikhs, Chazzan Jeremy Burko from the Jewish clergy leadership team at the New North London Synagogue, Annabel Knight, from the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá’ís of UK, Sheena Napier, of the London Buddhist Vihara and Reverend Dr Rosemarie Mallett of South London’s St. John the Evangelist church who has lived in Africa and suffered herself from malaria. Usman also joined the lunch bringing a Muslim perspective to the table.

Students at Durham spell out the challenge

Fifteen intrepid students from Hull and Durham Universities have been living on a budget of just £1 a day for all food and drink for five days over the last fortnight.

They have been previewing Live Below the Line – an innovative campaign to fight extreme poverty. It challenges the British public to get sponsored for charities including ourselves to live on just £1 a day for all food and drink from 7-11 May 2012. This budget is the daily reality for 1.4 billion people around the world who are forced to live below the poverty line every day, for everything.

This week saw Live Below the Line fully launched in the UK. Fundraising Manager Helen Mabberley provides an insight into a busy first week recruiting people to take part in this challenge with a difference.

Roz, TOWIE's Lauren Pope and Helen

Monday: TOWIE Cook Off
This year is the first that Malaria No More UK has been part of this exciting new charity challenge to fight extreme poverty. Live Below The Line challenges people to live on £1 of food and drink for 5 days, to raise funds and awareness of the 1.4 billion people who live below the line every day for everything. Today, we are really excited to be part of the campaign’s official launch: a celebrity Cook-Off with the cast of The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE). Roz, our Media and Campaigns Manager, and I have enjoyed helping judge the Live Below the Line budget dishes that were produced. Our top tip from the night? Radishes can really brighten up a stir fry!

London’s Shoreditch was lit up by a touch of Essex glamour last night as the cast of reality TV Show The Only Way Is Essex (a.k.a. TOWIE) crossed saucepans to raise awareness for the Live Below the Line campaign. We’re a major partner for this innovative charity challenge that raises funds for a range of international development charities to fight extreme poverty.

Stars including Lauren Goodger and Peri Sinclair along with Frankie Essex and Lauren Pope competed in a cook-off at the Shoreditch Waterhouse restaurant. The two teams (aptly named ‘Salty Potatoes’ and ‘Reem Rovers’) produced dishes using only the most frugal of ingredients on a budget set by the Live Below the Line challenge which invites people to get sponsored to live on a budget of £1 a day for all food and drink for five days from 7-11 May.

Sarah Kline accepting a cheque from Andy Ransom at the Rentokil Pest Control Division Conference

By Sarah Kline

In January I joined our friends at Rentokil Pest Control Division to launch a new partnership together to raise funds and awareness to tackle malaria.

We were thrilled when Rentokil approached us. It feels like a very natural fit to be working together. Rentokil Pest Control are just as focussed on getting rid of unwanted pests as we are – including mosquitoes carrying malaria.

Bonnie Wright asks that people “Join me in taking the challenge to help end extreme poverty!”

On Wednesday 1 February Harry Potter actress Bonnie Wright joined other elegantly dressed diners at a large dining table in Piccadilly Circus to launch Live Below the Line – a campaign that highlights the fact that globally, 1.4 billion people live below the poverty line. In the UK, this means existing on less than £1 a day.

Although at first glance the Piccadilly Circus diners looked as though they were enjoying an affluent al fresco dinner party, on closer inspection, they were being served only a tiny portion of raw vegetables.