Ever been driven from your home by war? Been branded a refugee?

Had to live on basic rations of small portions of monotonous ingredients?

Luckily, for most of us, the answer to all three of these questions is no.

But for one Manxwoman, the latter is about to become a reality.

Anna Cottle, aged 36, is to take part in the Ration Challenge - a movement initiated by UK charity Concern to raise money and awareness of the refugee crisis.

The concept is that people are supplied with a ’ration box’ - an exact replica of a ration box containing a week’s worth of food supplied to refugees living in camps in Jordan.

For one week, those taking part in the challenge can eat the contents of the box and nothing else.

The box contains very small amounts of sardines, rice, chick peas, lentils, kidney beans, and oil.

Along with this, people are provided with resources such as cooking schedules, sponsorship packs, and recipes created by refugees as a result of being supplied with these very ingredients.

The only liquid allowed for the week is water.

Anna, who lives in London but grew up in Victoria Terrace, Douglas, decided to take on this challenge at the beginning of May after reading about it on social media.

’It seemed like a really innovative idea,’ she said. ’Charities often struggle to raise funds due to people being sceptical of where the money is actually going and what is going to be spent on.

’But this is clear. The money raised goes straight back to the camps to buy more of these ration boxes to feed refugees.’

Having been sponsored by friends and family when she went to teach in Uganda last summer, and then again when raising money for period poverty earlier this year, Anna set her fundraising target at a respectable £200.

This was hit within 36 hours, and her total is now over £1,800.

She is hoping that once she starts the challenge and documents her progress each day on social media, even more people will feel inclined to help motivate her.

’I am floored by the amount of support I have received,’ she said.

’Forty-six people have donated to this challenge so far, and even more have supported and motivated me to push on and ask around for further sponsorship.

’And as nice as it is to know I have such generosity around me, it also gives me great strength to know I am surrounded by people who truly care about the refugee crisis.

’We are in troubling political times here in the UK, and there is definitely an ongoing element of animosity towards refugees and their presence here.

’This challenge is to raise money but also to stand up and say confidently "we are with you, not against you" in an effort to make them feel welcome here.’

There is also an element of healthy competition involved in the challenge - the specially set up website has a leaderboard to show who has raised the most money and of the 1,429 people taking part, Anna is in third place.

’I can take zero credit for this achievement,’she said. ’The people who have sponsored me deserve every credit for their generosity to me and our surrounding world.’

Ann, who won the Ella Olesen scholarship in 2005-6, is taking part in the Ration Challenge from today (June 7) to 13.

If you would like to support Anna, or follow her progress, go to my.rationchallenge.org.uk/annacottle or find her on Instagram at ’annacbottle’.