Aims for the LessonUse the festival of Sukkot to create awareness and

provide tools to help pupils formulate a response to homelessness and inadequate standards of living across the world, a problem that affects almost one sixth of the world’s population.

Background informationDuring the festival of Sukkot, many Jewish people live, or

at least have their meals, in a sukkah rather than inside their homes. Tradition dictates that this is to relive the departure from Egypt of the Israelite Nation, and to highlight their complete dependence on God and God’s protection of them while they travelled in the desert.

Living in the discomfort of a sukkah, where one is vulnerable to the elements, is intended to give one an insight, albeit very limited, into inadequate housing. This experience is meant to encourage Jewish people to be more aware of their duties to the poor, particularly those who do not have adequate shelter, through giving tzedaka, and providing meals and shelter.

Jewish Texts

Jewish Texts

Jewish Texts

Jewish Texts

Jewish Texts

More Background Information

Jews are instructed to make their sukkah homely by providing ‘fine dishes and serving platters’. If the sukkah, which stands only for a week, must allow people to live with dignity, then a permanent home should be even more of a place where people can live in dignity. The sukkah is also a symbol of peace. In the ma’ariv (evening) service, Jews ask G-d to spread His ‘sukkah of peace’ over us. The sukkah is the only mitzvah (apart from living in Israel) that one does with one’s entire body. It encloses and protects a person. This in turn reminds people of their duty to be like G-d and provide protection and peace for others .

Questions

What is inadequate housing?The United Nations (UN) Humans Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), founded in 1978, agreed that a house requires:

• access to water

• access to sanitation• access to secure tenure (guarantee that one can stay for a fixed amount of time)

• durability of housing

• sufficient living space.How many people live in inadequate housing?According to UN-HABITAT, there are currently around 1.6 billion people living in inadequate housing conditions in urban areas, with a further 100 million homeless. This is around one quarter of the world’s population.

Housing and Human Rights

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 25

You have the right to have whatever you need so thatyou and your family: do not fall ill; do not go hungry;have clothes and a house; and are helped if you are outof work, if you are ill, if you are old, if your wife orhusband is dead, or if you do not earn a living for anyother reason you cannot help.

2. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2 September 1990,Article 27

You have the right to a standard of living which makespossible your full physical, mental, spiritual, moraland social development.

WHAT ARE THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS?

The Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

•By 2015, halve the proportion of people without basic access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

•By 2020, have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

The Millennium Development Goals are a set of targets agreed by the UN in 2000 to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

www.un.org/millenniumgoals

What should I be busy with?

In pairs, tick the items needed for a ‘good home’ and cross items that you consider ‘extras’. You can also add other items that you feel are essential

Feedback to the class what items you chose and why

Classwork Housing Number Crunch

Housing Number Crunch

1. According to the Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, what percentage of the world’s population has a right to live in decent accommodation? __________2. The number of people living in inadequate housing in urban areas is __________3. The above figure represents _____% of the world’s urban population.4. There are ________ people in the world who don’t have any house at all and are homeless.5. If you add the number of people who are homeless to those who live in inadequate housing, you are talking about ______% of the world’s population.

Answers

Questions

Questions

Questions

Questions

Internet Research:

a) Who is your local MP and do they have any particular role in government related to development assistance?

b) The names of the ministers responsible for dealing with development

Write a letter to your MPs/ministers, explaining what you have learnt about poor housing and ask what the British government is doing about it

Share your responses with the class