From Monday until Friday, Tamara Brunton, who works at McDonald's, and Whitney Martin, a fashion retail worker, will take part in Live Below the Line, when they will live on $2.25 a day to publicise the fight against human trafficking.
The $2.25 has been assessed as the New Zealand equivalent of the global extreme poverty line for a person's food over five days.
Both women are members of the Elim Church and Miss Brunton learnt about the Below the Line challenge when attending an Elim ''replenisher conference'' for women in Christchurch.
''Daniel Walker, who is part of an organisation called Nvader, showed us a video which showed there's a line and under that line is poverty,'' Miss Brunton said yesterday.
Nvader is a Christian-based organisation which advocates freedom from sex trafficking and is battling the problem.
''I'm empathetic towards this sort of thing and how women don't have choice because they don't have any money. They get sold into brothels.''
Miss Brunton said.
She and Miss Martin are now contemplating the less-than-mouth-watering prospect of dining on rice next week.
''If we're lucky, we might have frozen vegetables,'' Miss Martin said.
However, they have had some experience.
''We've both done the 40-hour famine. We lived on barley sugar and juice then.''
Donations are being accepted at www.livebelowtheline.com.
The money raised will be used to disrupt human trafficking networks and to assist in prosecuting those who profit from the trade.
