Learning About Hunger At The Oxfam Banquet

My family, like many in the USA, got a golden ticket in the world population lottery. As middle class Americans, our family fits into the fifteen percent of the world population with a relatively high-income that can afford to eat well.

Last night, Alex (my 8-year-old son) and I got a glimpse of what it’s like to fall into the low-income group that comprises fifty percent of the world population. Boy, oh boy, the kid did not like getting the short end of the stick.

Oxfam Hunger Banquet

The 8th Grade Class at Robert C. Parker School hosted an Oxfam Hunger Banquet in which guests pull tickets from a bag to determine where they fall in the income tier.

Waiting in line to draw our tickets, we could see that the cafeteria had been divided into three areas. There was a small linen-covered table at the center with a rose centerpiece, fine china, and intricate napkin arrangements. On the far side of the gym was a longer, bare table. Immediately, at the entrance there was a large group of people sitting on newspapers that had been strewn on the floor.

Alex couldn’t wait to grab his ticket. He was sure that he would be sitting at the fancy table with the high income group. His older sister, Kayla, drew a middle income ticket and headed to the bare table. Well, too bad for her. He was looking forward to the ritzy life.

And then, he drew his ticket with its blue circle. A blue circle! Not the middle class, not the high income. Nope. Alex and I got to sit on the floor. We could see the heaping trays of food and savor the aroma of the multi-course, sumptuous meal of the high income group. From the distance, even the middle class meal of rice and beans looked tasty especially in comparison to our “meal.” We got a tiny scoop of rice, and no utensils.

The skimpy rice meal was the final straw for Alex. Not only was he not getting to sit where he thought he belonged, but he thought the meal was a personal insult. He left in a huff to sulk in the lobby. That really was too bad because he (and I) missed some of the presentation.

We did catch the pre-meal entertainment in which the 8th Grade class put on a performance that personalized the reality of the inequity of the world’s distribution of wealth. Members of the audience, who had received specially marked tickets, were directed to move up, and down, the income ladder based on twists of fortune. Click to play the Hunger Game to see how easy it is to end up in the lowest income sector.

Alex and I also saw the short movie about Oxfam’s advocacy efforts on behalf of Ethiopia’s coffee growers and America’s farmers. I guess he picked up some information. In the lobby, he had several suggestions for solving these inequities including: “Why can’t the Ethiopians just move? This of course led to one of those discussions about how emigration isn’t a solution; it’s more complicated than that, etc., etc.

Even though Alex soon escaped his unlucky draw, I think he did get the message of the hunger banquet.

Other Living By Learning Posts on Hunger:

Learning About Hunger

Hunger 101 - It’s The Season to be Merry and Hungry!

Free Rice - Play vocabulary game to fight world hunger.

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Tagged as: hunger, oxfam