Meal offers graphic look at hunger problems

One meal of rice for one night isn't so bad. Having only one meal of only rice every day could bring one to the verge of starvation.

"I'd rather have a three-course meal, I'll be honest," Brink Chance said while sitting with his half-plate full of rice.

Chance, a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, was one of more than 200 students, faculty and local residents who attended Faces of Hunger Monday night.

The event, held at the University Center, was designed as a learning experience to help illustrate the problem of national and world hunger.

The majority of those attending received a paltry meal, consisting of rice and water, to represent what 60 percent of the people in the world eat every day.

About another 25 percent of those attending received beans with their rice to represent the world's middle class.

Some got more

Those representing the richest of the world, 15 percent or about 24 people at the event, received a full-course meal.

Before the meal was served, Anne Marietta, an associate professor for Southeast's Department of Human Environmental Studies, who helped organize the event, warned the amount of food available may not be enough for all those attending.

"If we run out of food, I'm sorry. You have to be hungry," she said, adding that many in the world go without food every other day. "This is a reality check, I think."

Luckily, there was enough rice and beans for all.

"This is very difficult, to comprehend what most other people the world have to deal with," Erin Venable said.

Venable, who received a meal of rice and beans, teaches a world food and society class at Southeast and is 5 1/2 months pregnant. She said the event helped her better understand what women in the world go through, especially considering her own pregnancy.

"It's really an eye-opening experience," Venable said.

But not every "poor" table went completely hungry.

Angela Hobbs, a sophomore at Southeast, handed out rolls from her "rich" table to those representing poorer people with only rice and beans.

"It makes me feel guilty," Hobbs said of sitting in such a bountiful seat. Hobbs' table received chicken, salad, tea, desert and even a wait staff to clear their table.

Other participants at "rich" tables also handed out food, including their dessert and salad.

While participants dined, pictures of people living throughout the world in dilapidated conditions were projected onto a screen.

Several shots included children, some eating crumbs from the floor and some so thin their ribs stuck out.

One of the event's speakers and director for Alliance to End Hunger, Max Finberg, said he has been to such poor areas of the world he has seen a child eating handfuls of dirt.

"To not have enough food for your child ... I'm just starting to understand that," Finberg said.

The event also focused on the need to help the hungry in the United States.

"One of the most disturbing and extraordinary aspects of life in our very wealthy country is the persistence of hunger," said U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau.

Fees from the event raised about $500, which would go toward local food pantries, according to Anne Marietta, an associate professor for Southeast's Department of Human Environmental Studies, who helped organize the event.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

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