Hunger Banquet

Oxfam America

Text extracted 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 mile

http://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

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

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

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.

Haiti

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

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

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’ earnings

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

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

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

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

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 for his landlord.

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