Alyssa: Now we will begin our activity for the evening. I will now turn the program over to Jacob. Jacob: Welcome to the Bloom Carroll Hunger Banquet. We are here today because 1.3 billion people-about one quarter of the worlds population- lives in poverty. {PAUSE} Allei: 793 million of these people suffer from chronic hunger. {PAUSE} Allei: Every 3.6 seconds, a person dies from hunger and other preventable causes. Thats 24,000 a day. {PAUSE} Emily: You may think hunger is about too many people and too little food. Not true! Our rich and bountiful has enough food to feed every woman, man, and child on this planet. The root of hunger is inequalities in access to education, resources, and power. The results are illiteracy, war, and the inability of families to grow or buy food. Rebekah: The fact that you are here today shows that you are concerned, that you want to learn more about our world of inequality and that you want to make a difference. To begin with, there are the efforts of small-scale farmers in the United States forming cooperatives to sell their organic produce, indigenous people in the Amazon working together to protect their rainforest homeland from encroachment and pollution, and women starting their own microenterprises in Africa and Southeast Asia. Laura: There are also advocates at the national and international levels to change policies that keep people poor. And lastly, our mission should be to educate other community members about the severity of world hunger, which is what a hunger banquet, is all about. This Hunger Banquet is a metaphor for how food and other resources are inequitably distributed in the world. As such, a Hunger Banquet can only touch upon these issues. We cannot recreate the many and complex ways in which poverty manifests itself. We will not have time to go into all the problems associated with lack of access to healthcare, educated, and employment opportunities, and the realities of the da-to day struggle. Zach: The one thing we would like you to remember is this everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances- where we live and the culture we are born into- that differ. Each persons place is randomly determined. As each of us walked in the door here today, we chose- at random- our lot. Look around, and you can see that equality and balance dont exist here. It is important to note that no one

section of this room represents a single country. While in the United States may be one of the wealthiest countries on earth, 30 million Americans do not get enough to eat. Stark inequalities prevail, both worldwide and within countries. Now I would like to introduce you to the three segments of this world. Its too easy to measure this world in purely economic terms. It is really about each persons ability to achieve a sense of security and have access to resources. {JACOB POINTS TOWARD THE HIGH-INCOME GROUPS) Jacob: Raise your hand if you have a red card. You represent the 15% of the worlds population a per capita income of $9,400 or more. You are fortunate enough to be able a nutritious diet. As a group, you consume 70% of all the grain grown in the world, most of it in the form of grain-fed meat. Since most of you exceed your daily requirement of calories, you face health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Allei: But most of you dont worry about getting healthcare. You have access to the best medical care in the world. Your children are born destined to go to school; the only uncertainty is how many years the will study after high school. Access to credit? You turn down more offers than you can count. You and your family live in a comfortable home. You own at least one car and two televisions. When you take your annual 2-week vacation, you dont worry about your job disappearing. Its a good life because you have access to everything you need and you have the security to enjoy it. Today you will be served a nutritious meal of lasagna and salad. You will also enjoy a glass of cool lemonade. {PASS OUT LASAGNA, SALAD, AND LEMONDADE TO HIGH-INCOME LEVEL} {EMILY POINTS TOWAR THE MIDDLE-INCOME GROUPS) Emily: Raise your hand if you have a yellow card. You represent roughly 35% of the worlds population. You earn between $765-$9,400 a year, the levels of access and security you enjoy vary greatly. You are the folks who live on the edge. For many, it would take losing only your harvest to drought, or a serious illness, to throw you into poverty. You probably now own land and may work as a day laborer, which pays a paltry amount, but its better than nothing. Although your village has electricity, you must ration your use. Your children may go to school- for a few years, anyway- especially if they are boys. Rebekah: Or perhaps you left your family to seek work in the city and got a job as domestic help or in a sweatshop making less than minimum wage. You live in overcrowded housing with shoddy plumbing. You hope that your children will have an opportunity to do better. Or maybe you are a migrant farmworker in the U.S. South, living in a mobile home with no running water. Even though you work long hours preforming backbreaking work, you cannot afford nutritious food for your

children. Though no fault of your own, you were born into a harsh life. You hope that your children will have an opportunity to do better. Laura: If only you could get some skills training, you might have a chance at a higher paying job. Maybe, if you are lucky, you can find a way to join a community credit group to get access to a small loan. Earnings from your microenterprise would probably buy a little more security and a slightly better standard of living, but its unlikely that youll ever leave this middle-income group. So, like everyone stuck in the middle, you feel squeezed, and you just hope that the bottom doesnt fall out from your world. So, today you will be enjoying a delicious meal of rice and black beans. You will also get an unlimited amount of water. Dig In! {PASS OUT RICE, BEANS, WATER AND TABLEWARE TO MIDDLE INCOME} {ZACH POINTS TOWARD THE LOW-INCOME GROUP} Zach: Raise your hand if you are holding a yellow card. You represent the half of the worlds population- around 50%. Your average income is less than $795 per yearabout $2 a day- although many of you earn much less. Most of you are from poor countries such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Haiti, or Cambodia. Every day is a struggle to meet your familys basic needs. Finding food, water and shelter can consume your entire day. For many of you women, it would not be uncommon to have to walk five to ten miles a day to get water, spend several more hours working the fields, and of course taking care of the children. Many of you are frequently hungry. It is quite likely that you dont get the minimum number of calories your hardworking life requires. Many of you are homeless or living in structures so flimsy that a hard rain or strong wind can cause a major catastrophe. Alyssa: Even though education is the single most powerful weapon against poverty, school is a luxury few of your children will ever experience. Most girls dont even bother to dream about school. Not surprisingly, many of these countries where you live also have the largest foreign debts. Your governments are forced to throw money into a bottomless pit of debt payments, instead of spending money on essential services like education and healthcare. For example, in Zambia, the government spends four times more on debt servicing than on education. Every woman, child and man in that country owes $700 in debt to the rich world. In Nicaragua it is $1,000. In both of these countries, that is more than twice the average annual income. Yet funding universal education would require about $8 billion more a year- about four days worth of global military spending. In Africa, it would cost an extra $3 billion to fund universal education. The region currently spends $12 billion to service its debts. Adequate health care is out of the question for many of you in this group. For most of you, early death is all too familiar, with many mothers expecting to lose one or two children before they turn five. Basic education could help save many of these children. Evidence shows that each additional year a mother spends in primary school, she reduces her childrens risk of premature

death by about 8%. If you are luck enough to work, you are probably a tenant farmer who must give you landowner 75% of your harvest. Or perhaps you get occasional work as a day laborer at a large plantation producing crops such as bananas, sugar, and coffee for export. You reap few benefits from these crops; youd prefer to grow food that your children could eat. So today you will be eating a meal consisting of a serving size of rice. You will also have cups and a pitcher to get water, but the women must get the 1st pitcher from the water fountain. Bon Appetite! {PASS OUT RICE AND TABLEWARE TO LOW-INCOME} {MOVE UP/ DOWN SITUATIONS} Haley: But before you start eating, I have some news that will affect several of you: Like weve said, no one can choose the circumstances into which they are born. Some people have the good fortune to change their lives, but for most the circumstances of life are determined by uncontrollable factors. {2 OFFICERS STAND BESIDE 2 HIGH-INCOME LEVEL MEN} Haley: Would the two men from the high-income tables with officers standing behind you please rise? You are two government leaders. A rebellion has broken out in your country. As a poor leader, your government wasnt strong enough to quell the rebellion. You are now running for your lives as social outcasts. You will be moved to the low-income level, but before you go. {2 OFFICERS STAND BESIDE 2 LOW-INCOME LEVEL WOMEN} Haley: Would the two women from the lowest income level please rise? You are two women stuck in abusive arranged marriages. You have learned how to become independent and make a living for yourselves spinning and knitting wool garments. With 4 children each and no husband to define you, you earn some more money. You dont have much to live on, but it is more than what you had. You will be moving up to the middle-income level. Congratulations! But before you change {2 OFFICERS STAND BESIDE I MIDDLE INCOME MAN AND 1 MIDDLE INCOME WOMAN} Haley: Would the man and woman from the middle-income level please rise? Through efficient management practices and animal husbandry, you have been able to turn your small herd of Boer goats into a profitable, moneymaking business. You are now able to purchase luxuries, such as better food, instead of always having to sustain yourselves with your farm.

Haley: Would those six people please switch income levels? This is just a small slice of life as it plays out each day around the globe. Now, we invite you to eat the way the world eats. {WAIT 10 MINUTES TO EAT} Alyssa: We will now begin our family discussions, if you would please follow the leader of you family to you discussion location. {FAMILY DISCUSSIONS LED BY OFFICERS 15 MIN.} Haley: We would now like to begin a large group discussion about tonights events. If you have an answer or opinion to one of these questions please raise your hand when that question is asked. {GROUP DISCUSSION AND PIZZA 15 MIN} Haley: We live in a world where a few get a lot and most get very little. Yet there is plenty of reason for hope. Since 1970, an organization called Oxfam America has helped thousands of people work their way out of poverty through self-help initiatives in more than 30 countries, including the United States. I welcome you all to the national network of concerned people who help advance the fight against global hunger and poverty by promoting solutions that empower poor people to take control of their lives. Four things that we can remember today, is the acronym F.A.S.T. Fundraise for agencies that are working with poor people to improve their lives. Advocate for changing the structures that keep poor people poor. Shop wisely. Buy from socially responsible companies and consume only what you need. Teach others about the causes and solutions to, poverty, hunger, and injustice. Join us; together we can make a difference. Live by the FFA motto: Learning to do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve. Thank you all for participating.