Hunger and Poverty
Who's Got the Cheese?
Photo: REUTERS/Kamal Kishore, courtesy www.alertnet.org |
(15-20 minutes)
This activity addresses our perception of wealth and poverty,
as well as the reality.
Preparation: You will need the items on the Distribution Table
(or pictures of them), play money, a sign saying “Rich” and
a sign saying “Poor,” and masking tape (to mark the
floor). Collect the items mentioned on the Distribution Table and
put them in a large box so people can’t see them. Mark a line on
the floor using the masking tape. Label one end “Rich” and
another end “Poor.”
Step One:
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Ask the group to step up to the line at the place that represents how rich or poor they feel.
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Then ask them to compare themselves with the following people, moving for each one as they feel appropriate.
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Compared to Oprah Winfrey, are you rich or poor?
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Compared to your next-door neighbor?
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Compared to someone who lives in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world?
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Ask people to explain why they have chosen those places to stand. We often see people in the media who are wealthier than we are, but how does that make us feel? How much notice do we take of people who have less than we do? Let’s explore what it means to be poor on a global scale.
Step Two:
- Ask five volunteers to step forward and explain
that they each represent one-fifth of the world’s population. Announce
the first category and hand out the items. Use the facts below to give
more information. Ask the rest of the group to guess what each person
will receive in each category. Pass out the remaining items to each volunteer.
- Discuss together:
- How did each volunteer feel about how much they had?
- What was the most surprising fact?
- Which person represents most of us in the U.S. (the richest
person)?
How does that make you feel?
Distribution Table
Category |
Richest 20% |
Mid-rich 20% |
Mid 20% |
Mid-poor 20% |
Poor 20% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Food |
Loaf of bread and some cakes | Loaf of bread | Half a loaf of bread | A dinner roll | Some breadcrumbs |
Money |
$91.00 | $19.30 | $4.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 |
Health Care |
Picture of a hospital | First aid kit | Bandage & some pills | A band aid | Herbs |
Literacy |
Stack of books and a newspaper | New book | Old, worn book | leaflet | nothing |
Water |
Picture of a faucet in a house | Picture of an outdoor faucet | Clean bottle of water | Bucket for collecting water | Small bottle of dirty water |
FOOD: The world produces enough food each year to provide a healthy diet to everyone on the planet, but over 800 million people in the world go to bed hungry.
MONEY: $91.00 represents the average daily wage in the United States. Half the world’s population lives on about $2.00 a day. One-sixth lives on less than a dollar a day.
HEALTH CARE: Every year more than 11 million children die of preventable illnesses – that’s over 30,000 a day (or one every three seconds) whose lives could be saved with simple medicines or immunizations, if their families could afford them.
LITERACY: About 800 million people in the world can’t read. Most live in developing countries.
WATER: About one-sixth of the world’s people lack access to safe drinking
water.
(Adapted from “Unfair Shares” in Poverty:
Which Hand Have You Been Dealt? produced by Christian Aid, United Kingdom.
Used with permission.)