World+Hunger+Banquet



WORLD HUNGER BANQUET [|Hunger Banquet by OxFam International]

//Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working together in 98 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.// //We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them. //

What’s an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event?

Few experiences bring to life inequalities in our world more powerfully than an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event. Unique and memorable, the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event allows organizers and participants alike to experience firsthand how our decisions affect others in the world.

__**Here’s how it works:**__
 * Guests draw tickets at random that assign them each to either a high-, middle-, or low-income tier—based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. Each income level receives a corresponding meal:
 * The 15 percent in the high-income tier are served a sumptuous meal; the 35 percent in the middle-income section eat a simple meal of rice and beans; and the 50 percent in the low-income tier help themselves to small portions of rice and water.
 * Guests can also assume characterizations that describe the situation of a specific person at the income level to which they’ve been assigned . Finally, all guests are invited to share their thoughts after the meal and to take action to fight poverty.
 * After an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event, few participants leave with full stomachs, but all possess a greater understanding of the problems of hunger and poverty and will hopefully be motivated to do something about them.

__**What’s on the menu?**__

A typical Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event includes three different meals. • High-income (15 percent of guests): pasta, sauce, salad, and juice • Middle-income (35 percent of guests): rice, beans, and water • Low-income (50 percent of guests): rice and water


 * __Suggested Arrangement of your room:__**

High-Income : Seated at tables that are set with food already set on the table. Middle Income: Can only have chairs and their food is at a separate table. Low Income: Seated on the floor between High and Middle Income area. Their food is stationed at a separate area.


 * __Tips__**

• Do not allow the event to go over the allotted time (ideally 90 minutes). • Have the MC walk around in the audience and be a part of the banquet. • To get participants to play their roles, have the MC and volunteers emphasize that the banquet is theater. • Emphasize that the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event is only meant to demonstrate the unequal distribution of global resources. • If people in the low-income group do not eat their food, point this out. In reality, this is not a reasonable choice for hungry people. • Use audience comments to illustrate the point of the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event.


 * __Suggested Discussion Questions:__**

•Do you think it’s fair that the world is divided this way? Why or why not? • Do you think that the people who got the big meal should help the others? Why or why not? • Do you think people in the low-income group are there because they don’t work hard? Or why do you think the people in the low-income group are there? • Would anyone like to share any of the thoughts they have on what has taken place here? • Has anyone witnessed poverty in the US or elsewhere that they would like to share? • Does anyone have any ideas on how our personal choices as Americans affect the world’s unequal distribution of resources? • What might we all do to bring about a fairer distribution of resources? Note: If people are only focused on the dynamics of the banquet itself, remind participants that this is a simulation, not reality for most of us. Challenge the audience to discuss what this represents in the real world and ask what can be done to change things for the better

Let Oxfam help. Go to[| www.oxfamamerica.org/actfast] or

email us at actfast@oxfamamerica.org.