Hunger and Poverty

Luck of the Draw

Photo: Martti Lintunen

(5 minutes)

Ask your group to count off numbers one to six. Ask the number six person(s) to step forward.

In our world, one of every six people lives on less than a dollar a day.
What does it mean to live on less than a dollar a day? What would
your life look like?

First, turn out the lights and turn off the TV. You won’t have electricity; even if you have access to it,you can’t afford it. Turn off your MP3 player, too. If you want music, you’ll have to make it yourself.
Get rid of your cell phone, too.
Clean out your closet, you can keep one set of clothes – but no shoes.
Now you have to leave your house – it’s far too grand. You can move into your tool shed in the backyard, if you have one.
Then, get rid of your car keys. When you travel, you walk.
Speaking of walking, you will need to leave soon to go get water. You don’t have plumbing or tap water. All the water you use must be carried, sometimes for miles.
After you get back from carrying the water, you’ll then need to walk some more for firewood. That’s how you cook your food.
With all this walking, there’s little time for anything else, like school, especially for girls. So, you probably won’t be able to read.
Food is a problem, of course. Living on less than a dollar a day means you are hungry much of the time.
With food and safe water uncertain, you are sick a lot and health care is hard to come by – if it is available. That means your life is short.

The reality of life for people struggling with extreme poverty is very harsh indeed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How might you make a difference in the lives of one-sixth of our human family?