Spring Break
A hunger for more
Kyle Hope
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Focus
The idea seems contradictory: a hunger banquet. But the event name does not tell the story of its purpose: the raise awareness about world hunger - both its vastness and severity.
On Tuesday night, students shared a meal and their best ideas about how to solve the problem of worldwide hunger at a hunger banquet hosted by One UConn, a student advocacy group formed last semester.
Upon entering the event, students were assigned to either the high, middle or low class, as well as given a brief story of their current situations. The background given to the students was a way of allowing them to enter the mindset of the person whose life they were representing, from an orphaned girl who was sold into slavery and regularly beaten to a man with a wife and four children surviving on only $1 per day. These students, members of the lower class, watched as the upper class students - fittingly with their backs to the others - were served a three-course meal. Only after the upper class had started eating were the lower classes allowed to serve themselves meager portions of rice and water.
Though the lower class' portions were barely handfuls, Melissa Salomoni, a 6th-semester allied health sciences major who helped plan the event, said "there's enough food to feed everyone 3,000 calories a day."
In a speech before the event, Amii Omara-Otunnu, an associate professor of history at UConn and the UNESCO Chair in comparative human rights, said that, although "the condition of hunger in Africa is man-made," it is not permanent. He urged students to look at the situation with solidarity, rather than pity. As he spoke, a montage of images and facts about hunger in Africa and the developing world ran on the screen behind him.
While the problem of world hunger may seem too intractable for students to fight on their own, Rob Duval, a 10th-semester computer science and engineering and German double major, disagreed.
"Most people will say we should help them," he said. "Individuals can help by electing politicians with a sense of the international," specifically those with a concern for human rights issues like poverty and hunger.
Salomoni echoed his sentiments, adding that "our student population is definitely capable of caring about a problem like this." She recommended that students write or call their State Representative or Senator and talk to them about fighting hunger and world poverty.
After dinner, the banquet was opened up for a discussion of the issue, and students spoke openly about the injustices of wealth inequality. They found it unfair that while members of the lower class needed to steal just to fill their stomachs, some members of the upper class got to where they were through embezzlement The discussion posed some interesting philosophical questions, like whether or not Americans have the right to enjoy the benefits of wealth while others suffer in poverty.
Wwe as Americans do over-consume," Salomoni said. "If we were able to see the big picture, we'd be compelled to change."
On Tuesday night, students shared a meal and their best ideas about how to solve the problem of worldwide hunger at a hunger banquet hosted by One UConn, a student advocacy group formed last semester.
Upon entering the event, students were assigned to either the high, middle or low class, as well as given a brief story of their current situations. The background given to the students was a way of allowing them to enter the mindset of the person whose life they were representing, from an orphaned girl who was sold into slavery and regularly beaten to a man with a wife and four children surviving on only $1 per day. These students, members of the lower class, watched as the upper class students - fittingly with their backs to the others - were served a three-course meal. Only after the upper class had started eating were the lower classes allowed to serve themselves meager portions of rice and water.
Though the lower class' portions were barely handfuls, Melissa Salomoni, a 6th-semester allied health sciences major who helped plan the event, said "there's enough food to feed everyone 3,000 calories a day."
In a speech before the event, Amii Omara-Otunnu, an associate professor of history at UConn and the UNESCO Chair in comparative human rights, said that, although "the condition of hunger in Africa is man-made," it is not permanent. He urged students to look at the situation with solidarity, rather than pity. As he spoke, a montage of images and facts about hunger in Africa and the developing world ran on the screen behind him.
While the problem of world hunger may seem too intractable for students to fight on their own, Rob Duval, a 10th-semester computer science and engineering and German double major, disagreed.
"Most people will say we should help them," he said. "Individuals can help by electing politicians with a sense of the international," specifically those with a concern for human rights issues like poverty and hunger.
Salomoni echoed his sentiments, adding that "our student population is definitely capable of caring about a problem like this." She recommended that students write or call their State Representative or Senator and talk to them about fighting hunger and world poverty.
After dinner, the banquet was opened up for a discussion of the issue, and students spoke openly about the injustices of wealth inequality. They found it unfair that while members of the lower class needed to steal just to fill their stomachs, some members of the upper class got to where they were through embezzlement The discussion posed some interesting philosophical questions, like whether or not Americans have the right to enjoy the benefits of wealth while others suffer in poverty.
Wwe as Americans do over-consume," Salomoni said. "If we were able to see the big picture, we'd be compelled to change."
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