Students seek to understand poverty

“Poor” students dig in to plain tortilla shells at the annual OxFam Dinner. Photo by Conor Clarke

Keirstin Westfallen
Staff Writer
On November 19, ECC’s chapters of Amnesty International and Phi Theta Kappa hosted the annual dinner for OxFam International, a coalition of thirteen organizations whose goal is to fight poverty. The dinner aimed to raise awareness about poverty and hunger in the world through demonstrating the difference between separate classes of society.

For the night, guests assumed the position of either upper, middle, or impoverished classes, dictated by the color-coded tickets they were given upon admittance.

Guests in the upper class sat at a nicely-spread table and were served their dinner. While the working class guests were provided with the same meal, they were served buffet style and with paper plates. The impoverished guests were seated on cardboard placed on the floor, and given rice and tortilla shells. Additionally, the impoverished class had to retrieve their own water from a drinking fountain down the hall, simulating the experience of carrying water from a well.

The dinner also included presentations from students. Attendees learned that among the 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion live in impoverished conditions, with one child dying of hunger every five seconds. While the focus of the evening was definitely on worldwide hunger and poverty, it was also acknowledged that there are 35.9 million people in the U.S. living below the poverty line, 12.9 million of whom are children.

After the first presentation, Amnesty International member Orion Pahl spoke to the group about ways they could work toward a change. Among giving money and raising awareness, Pahl also encouraged attendees to find ways they could use their own skills to contribute to the fight against poverty. Phi Theta Kappa officer Margarita Rosiles called the evening “shocking.”

“It was amazing to think how much I go shopping and how unnecessary it is for me to have those things when there are people who can’t eat,” said Rosiles.

According to Pahl, the goal of the dinner was more than only making people aware of a problem.

"We want people to leave with an understanding,” said Pahl.