Friends Whitney Martin and Tamara Brunton last week set out to eat as if they were at the global extreme poverty line, spending just $2.25 each a day on food, but only made it halfway through the ''Kiwis Live Below The Line'' campaign period, from September 21 to September 25.
''It was a big eye-opener,'' Miss Martin said.
''We just don't realise how lucky we are here in New Zealand. Just to have three meals a day. To have energy to do things. And to have opportunities as well.
''I had no energy - I was just blanked out at work.''
Both women work full-time jobs in customer service and found the limits on food left them fatigued and unable to concentrate at work.
The learning experience made the effort worthwhile for them both.
Inspired to attempt the week on the poverty line by a video they had watched that gave an insight into brothels where girls as young as 12 got trapped in the sex trade, Miss Brunton said she started to understand how the desperation of a life in poverty could lead someone to ''say yes to a job''.
The friends started the week on a high note; they put their whole week's budget together - $22.50 - and went shopping.
''When we got it [the week's groceries] and looked at what we had, and we thought we would be sweet,'' Miss Martin said.
''But a day and a-half to two days in, it was like, 'OK, we're not sweet at all.'Participating in a nightly badminton tournament last week became difficult.
''I had no energy and became quite sick,'' she said.
''I was playing with no energy at all. Basically, I was living on rice and bread and so I couldn't keep up.''
Miss Brunton saw her in ''agony'' and the two decided to forego the rest of the challenge.
The two friends did not raise any money for the New Zealand-based Christian aid and development organisation that led the nationwide campaign.
Others in New Zealand, were able to stick within the food budget limits for the week.
According to its website, the TEAR Fund, yesterday, had raised more than $125,000 to ''rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims, prosecute traffickers and empower at-risk communities''.
