My husband and I attended a wonderful banquet this past weekend, and though he dined on a multi-course meal that included chicken kabobs, salad with grapes and feta cheese, bread, rice, beans and a sumptuous dessert (from Mirlings' Bakery, no less), I had nothing more than a bowl of brown rice. The occasion was a Hunger Banquet held on Sunday evening at All Souls Unitarian Universalist church in Greenfield. Modeled after a campaign led by Oxfam, the intent of the Hunger Banquet is to increase people's awareness of the extent of economic and nutrition disparities that exist locally and internationally through an experiential exercise.

Though all of us attending the banquet were treated to a free dinner (with food donated by Green Field's market, Foster's supermarket, The People's Pint and Mirlings'), not all of us received the same meal. Based on worldwide statistics, 55% of the attendees, representing the lowest economic levels, received rice and water. 30% of the participants, representing the world's middle class, received a slightly more balanced meal of beans and rice, and those symbolizing the wealthiest 15% were served a typical Western dinner, with meat, salad, vegetable, dessert and choice of beverage.

When we arrived, we were given name tags and instructed to sit at any of a dozen tables. Once everyone was seated, event workers circulated among us to randomly assign us stars — a red star for "first class," a blue star for "second class," and a gold star representing "steerage" or the lowest class.

My husband's red star status earned him a trip to the table overflowing with an abundance of food and allowed him to eat off china and be served the beverage of his choice. My gold star status earned me a small bowl of rice and a plastic fork (in some Hunger Banquets, the gold star participants sit on the floor and aren't given utensils, so I considered myself lucky).

Before we ate, one of the evening's hosts (Valley Viewpoint's own Eve Brown-Waite) discussed how hunger and poverty affect people on an international scale. Some of the statistics were truly frightening:

– 1.2 billion people (about one-fifth of the world population) live in poverty

– 800 million of these people suffer from chronic hunger

– Every 3.6 seconds, a person dies from hunger and other preventable causes. That’s 24,000 people a day.

Eve then went on to delineate the differences between the red, blue and gold star groups.

Though many of us with red stars would consider ourselves to be "middle class" (by U.S. standards), we are in reality part of the world's top 15% income level. This group has a per capita income of $9,266 or more. We are fortunate enough to be able to afford a nutritious daily diet. As a group, we consume 70 percent of all the grain grown in the world, most of it in the form of grain-fed meat. Since most of us exceed our daily requirement of calories, we face health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. But most of us don’t worry about getting healthcare. We have access to the best medical care in the world. Our children are born destined to go to school; the only uncertainty is how many years they will study after high school. Access to credit? We turn down more offers than you can count. Our families live in comfortable and secure homes. We own at least one car and probably two televisions. When we take our annual two-week vacation, we don’t worry about our job disappearing. It’s a good life because we have access to everything we need and have the security to enjoy it.

Those with the blue stars represent 30 percent of the world’s population. They earn between $756 and $9,265 a year. The levels of access and security they enjoy vary greatly. They are the folks who live on the edge. For many, it would take losing only one harvest to drought, or a serious illness, to throw them into poverty. They probably own no land and may work as day laborers, which pays a paltry amount, but it’s better than nothing. Their small income allows for some use of electricity and a few years of schooling for their children — especially if they are boys. Alternatively, they may have left their family to go work in the city. They hope that the money they earn from their less than minimum wage job as domestic help or sweat shop worker will eventually allow them to move back home and make a better life for their family. Or perhaps the are migrant farm workers in the U.S. South who work long hours performing backbreaking work but still can not afford nutritious food for their children. Through no fault of their own, they were born into this harsh life. They hope that their children will have the opportunity to do better. So, like everyone stuck in the middle, they feel squeezed, and just hope that the bottom doesn’t fall out from their world.

Those of us who drew gold stars represent the majority of the world’s population — roughly 55 percent. The average income of this group is less than $755 a year — about $2 a day — although many earn much less. Most are from poor countries such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Haiti, or Cambodia. For people in this group, every day is a struggle to meet the family’s basic needs. Finding food, water and shelter can consume one's entire day. For many women, it would not be uncommon to have to walk five to 10 miles every day to get water, spend several more hours working in the fields, and of course taking care of the children.

Many in this group are frequently hungry. It is quite likely that they don’t get the minimum number of calories their hardworking life requires. Many are homeless or living in structures so flimsy that a hard rain or strong wind can cause a major catastrophe. Even though education is the single most powerful weapon against poverty, school is a luxury few of their children will ever experience. Most girls don’t even bother to dream about school. Not surprisingly, many of the countries where these people live also have the largest foreign debts. Their governments are forced to throw money into a bottomless pit of debt payments, instead of spending money on essential services like education and healthcare. Adequate health care is out of the question for many of the people in this group. Early death is all too familiar, with many mothers expecting to lose one or two children before they turn five. Those who are lucky enough to work are probably tenant farmers who must give their landowner 75 percent of their harvest. Or perhaps they get occasional work as a day laborer at a large plantation producing crops such as bananas, sugar, or coffee for export. They reap few benefits from these crops; but would prefer to grow food that their children could eat.

After this eye-opening overview, we were invited to go to the table appropriate to our designated class. My husband and one woman at our table came back with a full plate, followed by a waitress carrying their silverware who took their beverage orders. Two others at our table ate black beans and rice from plastic plates. The rest of us filled our small bowls with plain rice.

When the meal was finished, we took part in a facilitated group discussion about the experience. Some with red stars confessed that they felt guilty eating so well in front of "the rest of us." Some of us in the "gold" group wondered what it must be like to have so little variety in our daily diet. Many of us agreed how lucky we are to have a comfortable home, send our children to school, or simply turn on a faucet when we want water. We take so much of our life for granted.

As a metaphor for how food and other resources are inequitably distributed in the world, the Hunger Banquet succeeded. But it can only touch upon the issues. It can't recreate the many and complex ways in which poverty manifests itself. In a few hours over dinner, there just isn't time to go into all the problems associated with lack of access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities, and the realities of the day-to-day struggle for survival.

But the event did give all of us plenty of food for thought. And made us thankful for our many blessings.

We live in a world where a few get a lot and most get very little indeed. Yet there is plenty of reason for hope. Since 1970, Oxfam America has helped thousands of people work their way out of poverty through self-help initiatives in more than 30 countries, including the United States.

The letters "F.A.S.T." can help us remember four concrete things we can begin to do today:

— Fundraise for agencies that are working with poor people to improve their lives.

— Advocate to change the structures that keep people poor. Become part of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign.

— Shop wisely. Buy from socially responsible companies and consume only what you need. Buy Fair Trade coffee (from Dean's Beans right here in the Valley) or other Fair Trade certified products (you'll find a list of companies offering Fair Trade products at www.fairtradefederation.org)

— Teach others about the causes of, and solutions to poverty, hunger and injustice.

To combat hunger right here in Western MA, consider giving a gift to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. You can call them at 413-247-9738 or make a donation online — by accessing the Network for Good button from their website — www.foodbankwesternma.org.

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