Taste of Hunger
‘Meet Adis Gemada. Adis lives in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia, which has been plagued by chronic drought. Her husband died and left her with seven children. In good times they eat one meal a day. Her children have suffered from malaria and malnutrition. Adis had three goats but was forced to sell them in an attempt to feed her children and overcome these problems. “I have nothing left to sell,” she says. ‘
Half of the people living in the world today have stories just like Adis. They represent the poorest people on earth—people living on less than 2 dollars a day. For those fortunate enough not to be touched by poverty it is easy to forget how many people in the world don’t know where their next meal will be coming from.
In an effort to raise awareness about this issue, Students and teachers at Portland Oregon’s Wilson High School participated in 
Hunger Banquet on Thursday October, 15th.
The banquet was set up to visually represent inequality. Upon entering participants randomly drew tickets that were divided into three types: 15% were high income, 35% were middle income and the rest, 50%, were low income—just like it is in the real world. Those who drew one of the few high income tickets were seated at nice tables and treated to a nutritious three course meal. People in the middle group sat at modest chairs and were served a cup of rice and a scoop of beans. And the group that represented the impoverished majority of the world sat on the floor and got half a cup of rice and water—which would likely be their only meal of the day.
The seating arrangements were a tangible reminder of how the world’s population is divided. Normally it is easy for the privileged few to live blind to how the poor majority of the world lives, but when they are sitting on the floor right in front of you it is a powerful image of just how unequal the world is. This reminder was made even stronger by the names and stories of real people that were printed on the back of each ticket.
In the end participants who had drawn the poorest group and left with only a little bit of rice and water in their bellies really felt what it was like to live in poverty and hunger like most of the world does every day. And those who ate a good meal, towering over “the world’s majority,” left with a reiterated desire help those less fortunate.
