Hunger Banquet

Oxfam America

Text adapted from Oxfam Hunger Banquet materials

Introduction

• The world grows more than enough food to feed everyone, yet– More people are hungry today than

ever before– an estimated one billion, – one in five persons worldwide

• One of every three children is chronically malnourished– too hungry to lead an active, healthy

life

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/470000/images/_473469_child.jpg

Introduction

• One-third of the grain grown in the world – and one-half of the fish

caught – are fed to animals in rich

countries• U.S. daily per person

calorie supply is 3,671– almost twice that of

Sudan’s: 1,974• fewer calories than needed

to maintain a productive lifehttp://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/CA25677D007DC87D/LUbyDesc/feedlot1995/$File/

feedlotcofp1995.jpg

Introduction

• Sub-Saharan Africa

– 1 in 3 people are malnourished

– half live on less than $1 a day

– 30 million people required emergency food aid (2005 )

Niger

http://www.feedthechildren.org/images/niger/pic_grouppeople1.jpg

• The roots of hunger lie in– Poverty, war, and the unequal

distribution of resources,– Not in Overpopulation. – Many well-fed countries have

more people than hungry ones.

• Holland – a high-income country– has over 1,000 people per

square mile

• Mozambique– one of the world’s lowest-

income countries– has only 48 people per square

milehttp://www.hotelsbycity.net/images/travelguides/eur/netherlands/amsterdam-big.jpg

http://www.theworldrace.org/inc-imageresize.asp?path=/blogphotos/theworldrace/sarahbullers/sarah_044.jpg

• The roots of hunger lie in – poverty, war, – unequal distribution of

resources– Not in Natural Disasters.

• Five years of drought in California– resulted in no direct loss of

human life.

• Five years of drought in Ethiopia– over a million people died

San Francisco

http://www.inspi.ufl.edu/fuel07/graphics/California%20-%20San%20Francisco%20Painted%20Ladies%20Hz.jpg

Ethiopia 1983

Oxfam Hunger Banquet

• Everyone on earth has the same basic needs

• only our circumstances differ– where we live and the culture we

are born into

• Some are born into relative prosperity and security – While millions are born into

poverty• by no choice of their own

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1091/1388995699_2a369f3a56.jpg?v=0

http://www.cfnpp.cornell.edu/images/razfam.jpg

The High Income Group

• If you ended up in the high-income group– You represent the 15 percent

of the world’s population • fortunate enough to

afford a nutritious daily diet

• You live primarily in countries like – the United States, Australia,

France, Switzerland, – most countries in Western

Europe

Relative World Wealth

http://www.dba-oracle.com/images/gnp_country_map.jpg

The High Income Group

• As members of this group, you share the following characteristics:– Your average income is

over $9,076.– The leading cause of

death among you is heart disease and diabetes

• directly related to your over-consumption of fatty foods

– particularly red meat

http://www.jbutlersbarandgrille.com/images/menu/Steak.jpg

The High Income Group

– Health care is more readily available to you.

– In the U.S. there is one doctor to every 470 people

• compared with one doctor per 7,140 people in Haiti

– In general, your children are healthy and your infant mortality rate is low

– Though you are well-off, millions of your fellow citizens live below the poverty line.

• Most of them are women and children who lack access to adequate services.

http://www.bioquell.com/Pictures/Nurse%20&%20Girl.JPG

The High Income Group• You could be:

– Jennifer, an attorney• who lives in an affluent

suburb of Boston – with her husband, an

accountant, and two children.

– Shinji, a well-traveled Japanese engineer• who lives in a

comfortable one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/136465405_fc192f56b8.jpg

The Middle Income Group

• Those in the middle-income group represent roughly 25% of the world’s population.

• There are more countries in this group than in the high-income group– countries like Bolivia, the

Philippines, Turkey, Costa Rica, and Iran

Iranian Woman

http://shahrzaad.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/hijab2.jpg?w=385&h=296

The Middle Income Group

• What are your common characteristics?

– Your average income ranges from $912-9,095.

– Your children are six times more likely to die of hunger and related diseases

• than if they lived in a high-income country

– You must use 35% of your income to feed yourself,

• compared with the 15% people in high-income countries spend

– Your economies are crippled by foreign debt.

• Debt payments can consume half of your governments’ earningsMexico Market

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD01/BN1221_18~Stalls-in-Liberty-Market-Guadalajara-Mexico-Posters.jpg

The Middle Income Group

• You could be:

– Simcha, a man in his thirties, who operates a postcard stall in the ancient city of Jerusalem to feed his four children

– Lucia, a schoolteacher in Prague, in the Czech Republic

• who takes in sewing to earn extra income to support her aging parents and her children

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2068/2354495504_4a0f6f00b4.jpg?v=0

The Low Income Group

• You represent the majority of the world’s population.

• You live in countries where the average income is less than $912 a year.

• Somalia, Honduras, India, and Vietnam are among the countries in this group

Child labor, Indiahttp://wells086.googlepages.com/childholdingbricksinIndia.jpg/childholdingbricksinIndia-medium.jpg

The Low Income Group

• As a member of this group, you share these characteristics:– You are chronically

malnourished and eat only 2,205 calories a day

• less than the amount needed to lead a healthy, hard-working life

– You cannot afford to own or buy land

• even land farmed for centuries by your ancestors

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/images/poverty_africa.jpg

The Low Income Group

– You may work on a hacienda or large plantation • that produces crops such as bananas, sugar, and

coffee

• for export to high-and middle-income countries

• yet you and your family don’t get enough to eat.

– The combined debt owed by all of your governments to wealthy nations totals $1.3 trillion

• more than $200 per person

• and continues to rise inexorably.

– Unemployment and hardship in the rural areas is driving you into cities

• where you face even greater hardships

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/BUSINESS/09/11/chiquita.terrorism/art.colombia.banana.afp.jpg

The Low Income Group

• You could be:– Farida, who lives in India

where the forests have nearly disappeared.

• Her people have become nomads, wandering in search of the water needed for sustenance.

– Pierre, a farmer in Haiti who rents a hillside plot from his landlord.

• In the dry season when nothing will grow, he will make charcoal to sell for the price of a few day’s foodHaiti farmer

http://lukesmission.net/farmer.jpg