by Bridget Burns, WEDO Team
We are lucky here at WEDO. Not only do we get to come to work every day to a passionate group of like-minded activists in our own team, but we also share our offices with two other great organizations, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Oxfam. Today, our friends at Oxfam hosted a Hunger Banquet for our office– an interactive event which highlights the severe inequality of those in poverty and hungry around the world.
The Banquet
Participants pick their lot in life out of a hat and proceed to their feasting table, labeled low, middle and high income. A lucky 15% of the group sits at the high income table- which in our case was two people. Those in this group represent the percentage of the world’s population with a per capita income of $12,000 or more per year. With plates of pasta, side salads and fruit juice, people at this table are fortunate to afford a nutritious daily diet, have access to healthcare and education, and live in a comfortable and secure home.
The next group, middle income, feasted on a lunch of rice and beans. These individuals represent 35% of the worlds population, earning between $987 and $11,999 a year, enjoying varying levels of access and security to healthcare and education, owning no land and often one crop or harvest loss away from poverty.
The final group, low income, finds the majority of participants seated on the floor eating a lunch of plain rice. As 50% of the worlds population, this group make an average income of less than $986 a year, about $2.70 a day, with many earning much less. Everyday for the individuals at this table is a challenge to meet basic needs for their families. Days are spent finding food and shelter, with women and children often walking 5-6 hours a day to collect water and fuel.
In this event, the participants paint a physical graph of the stark inequalities which face our global society today. It is not meant to touch upon all of the complex ways in which poverty manifests itself, including access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities, but it is an important reminder of the realities and struggles faced everyday by the majority of the 7 billion people on this planet. As Oxfam emphasizes, “the important lesson is that everyone on Earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances — where we live and which culture we are born — that differ. Some of us are born into relative prosperity and security, while millions- through no choice of their own- are born into poverty.”
Our world produces enough food for all of us. But one in seven people still goes hungry. Let’s work together to change that. See below for how you can work with Oxfam to take action on this today.
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A message from Oxam America
Join us for a season of action against hunger
With nearly a billion people going hungry, and demand for food set to soar, it’s time to re-think the way we look at food this fall. Here’s how you can join others across the globe and add action against hunger to your seasonal menu.
How to Take Action
- Skip a meal for Oxfam: Join a 40-year tradition with a simple, but powerful, act. This Thanksgiving season, skip one meal and donate the money you save to help Oxfam create solutions to hunger. Get started now.
- Attend an event: Check out Oxfam’s event calendar to see what’s going on in your community.
- Oxfam America Hunger Banquet®: This memorable, interactive event can raise funds while changing the way people think about hunger and poverty. Get started now.
- Dining Hall Fast: Are you a student looking for a way to help? If your high school or university offers prepaid meal plans, consider holding an Oxfam America Dining Hall Fast. Get started now.
- Every year members of our community come up with new and creative ways to help Oxfam fight poverty and injustice. You can join in by deciding on the event that works best for you. Get started now.
- Take action online: Join our celebrity ambassadors; Help celebrity ambassadors Kristin Davis and Djimon Hounsou raise funds and awareness.
- Create your own custom fund-raising page
