“Today, more than one billion people live in poverty,” Anne Holsinger (’09) read from her script. “A child dies from hunger or a preventable disease every 2.9 seconds: that’s 30,000 children a day.”
Several students and community members sat on the floor of Catholic Campus Ministry’s (CCM) Parish Center at the Hunger Banquet Monday night, listening attentively.
“You may think hunger is about too many people and too little food. That is not the case,” Holsinger continued. “Our rich and bountiful planet produces enough food to feed every man, woman and child on earth. Hunger is about power. Its roots lie in inequalities in access to education and resources. The results are illiteracy, poverty, war, and the inability of families to buy or grow food.”
The Hunger Banquet, sponsored by CCM, was put on November 17th to dramatically illustrate the inequality of food distribution in the world and what it means for those living in poverty. It was put on by CCM’s Social Justice Ministry, including Holsinger and Sarah Evans (’10), both students at the College. Oxham International is a social justice organization that designed the Hunger Banquet events but did not sponsor the CCM event itself, only provided the script.
After opening with striking figures about poverty, Holsinger separated participants into different categories based on the distribution of wealth in the world. Each member was given a red, yellow, or blue card with a personal profile describing a certain background and socioeconomic status.
The two young girls with blue cards were directed to sit at a table with place settings and lemonade. A larger number of people, those given yellow cards, were told to sit in a semicircle of chairs. Everyone else got red cards and were told to remain sitting on the floor.
“Look around, you see that equality and balance do not exist here,” read Holsinger. She added that the three groups did not represent groups of countries, and that one in every five children in the United States live below the poverty line.
She informed the group that those at the table represented the 15% of people on earth who had relatively easy access to food, shelter and health care; they would be served a fine meal of pasta and salad. Those in chairs were told they represented the 35% of humanity who had work, shelter, and food as well as limited access to health care and education, but who were always living “on the edge;” they were allowed a smaller meal of rice, beans and bread.
Finally, everyone on the floor was told they represented the 50% of human beings who lived in extreme poverty, people who live on less than $875 per year and who may or may not have shelter or food on a daily basis, let alone access to health care or education.
The examples did not stop there, however. Three selected people sitting on the floor were told they were able to find jobs at a nearby factory; they were allowed to get up and sit in the chairs. Then Holsinger selected three people who were already in chairs; they represented a factory worker and his dependent siblings. She explained that, despite several years of good service to the factory, the worker was fired after reporting an ill-behaved new shift manager. He and his two “siblings” were asked to sit on the floor.
A representative from the table was told she worked for a coffee company. Her company was going into debt and had to lay off coffee bean pickers. One student sitting on the floor was informed he was one such picker and would only enjoy a half bowl of rice.
Participants chatted as they consumed their various amounts of food. Afterwards, Holsinger called their attention and led a group reflection.
When asked whether they could relate to profiles on the cards, student Anna Muto (’09) said, “I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition.”
If she were this person’s daughter, she continued, she would never have had any education. Work for her is writing a paper, but “work for this daughter is making a living.”
“You can be at that table and never see it,” said student Eric Shmalz (’10), referencing the isolation of the top 15% from the poverty of the remaining 85%.
“It’s hard to wrap your mind around it, “ student Liz Horne said of the experience of poverty. She talked about visiting a Mexican village and experiencing “a very human moment” when she bought several belts from an overjoyed vendor for only $7. The Mayan woman offered her a friendship bracelet out of gratitude for her large purchase.
“You can’t even buy a meal at the Caf for $7,” she said.
Evans reminded students that poverty exists locally as well.
“It’s here. This is an international event, but there are people right here in Williamsburg” who need help, she said.
A young girl who appeared with her mother and cousin read a haiku she wrote about ending hunger.
Afterwards, participants were invited to sign a thank-you poster for Caf workers. They were also asked to write a note to President Elect Barack Obama on his website, change.gov, asking him to help with poverty relief efforts at home as well as abroad.
The Hunger Banquet was one of a handful of events put on by CCM’s social justice ministry or CCM this year. In October the group sponsored Paul Nantulya, a governance manager for Catholic Relief Services who works in Sudan, to speak about his experiences with the organization.
CCM also sponsored “Spiritual Adoptions” on Sept. 27 in which attendees at mass were given cards representing unborn babies who they could “spiritually adopt” by praying for them. In the spring, CCM will run a gift drive and donate the gifts to a pregnancy resource center.