The Hungry Banquet

For the past week or so as I have been leaving the MARB following my physics class I have consistently walked past a girl with a bright orange piece of cloth attached to her backpack with the words “Ask me about the hunger banquet” written on it. I know you all are intrigued now, thinking to yourselves, “What is the hunger banquet? Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Well, let me save you the trouble of trekking up to the BYU campus to track down this girl to have your curiosity quenched.

The Hunger Banquet is an event sponsored by Students for International Development to “raise awareness among BYU students about global poverty and wealth inequality.” When you first arrive you are randomly allocated into one of three “classes.” 70% of the attendees are seated in the third world section, 20% in the second world “section” and the remaining 10% get to sit in the “first world.” You’re probably asking “What difference does it make?” Well, if you are in the first world you receive a “lavish meal.” People in the second world eat a “modest one plate meal.” I think they got pizza the year I went. And the rest of the people are served rice and beans; but there’s a catch, you have to share your plate with three or four people. They have groups perform and there is also a guest speaker. All the food is donated by local businesses, so the money raised from ticket sales is donated to a good cause.

A few years ago I was invited by a lovely young lady to attend the Hunger Banquet. Being somewhat partial to lovely young ladies I gladly agreed to attend despite the fact that BYU would be playing in the MWC basketball tournament at that same time. We made our way up to the “Wilk” and were led to our “seats.” Our “seats” were a spot on the floor. I could see chairs set up around the outside of the room (second world) and a few tables set up with centerpieces and nice place settings (first world.) The plan is to demonstrate the gap between rich and poor in the world. I’m sure that the original planners of this event were thinking “We’re going to make most of them eat rice and beans so that they can see how bad life is in the third world.” Having spent two years in the “third world” there are some days that I would like nothing more than to have a big plate of rice and beans, so … trick’s on them. (Even the richest people in Brazil eat rice and beans.) Having to split it four ways was kind of a bummer but the beans were actually very good.

During the meal they had arranged for some entertainment. There were a few groups who performed but the only one I remember was the Hare Krishnas from Spanish Fork. They sang some songs and acted out a folktale typical of their culture. This was my favorite part. These people were very energetic and sincere people. They were so excited to be there and share their culture with us.

After dinner we heard from a few speakers. The first one was a kid who couldn’t have been older than nineteen who was dressed in a toga. (To this day I’m not sure why he was wearing a toga.) He rattled of some statistics about poverty and hunger and kept telling us that we needed to do more. The keynote speaker was a woman from Utah who had founded an organization called “Mothers Without Borders.” She told of her experiences in Africa where she had spent time helping women and orphans with AIDS. Her main point was that little things can make a difference.

They announced that the money raised was going to be donated to an Associação de Bairro (Neighborhood Assosiation) in Brazil to help them maintain a community center.

No one around us seemed to want to eat their ration of rice and beans. Me, being an aficionado of rice and beans and not wanting to let perfectly good rice and beans to go to waste, ate their portions as well. Nevertheless, we stopped by Wendy’s on the way home because we were still hungry, and ever since then I have been referring to this annual event as “The Hungry Banquet.”

I came away from this evening feeling a little disappointed. The event was well planned and the people involved felt very strongly about their cause, two things that will win you a lot of points in my book. But I felt like it was a lot of hype with no substance. Everyone was saying “There are so many people in the world who have so little, we need to do more!” I thought to myself, “You’re right, sign me up. What can I do?” I felt like they had focused so much on raising awareness that they failed to give any of the newly aware people anything to act on. Sure we raised money for a community in Brazil, but will it make much of a difference?

A few weeks ago author and philanthropist Paul Polak spoke to the school of engineering and technology here at BYU. In his life he has created several ways for people to raise themselves out of poverty. One of the main points of his lecture was that you can’t donate people out of poverty. Oftentimes people try to deal with a problem by throwing money at it. For issues like poverty and hunger, this is like shooting a bb gun at a freight train. Giving people fish to eat will never have long lasting effects unless they can somehow learn how to fish themselves. Mr. Polak has devised a simple water pump that is human powered and can help farmers irrigate from wells during the dry season. Being able to irrigate allows them to not only harvest more from their crops, but to be able to harvest year round. Mr. Polak didn’t try to raise money to send food to these starving and impoverished people; instead his innovative idea gives people the means to raise themselves out of poverty. His intent is to empower people.

A group of engineering students here at BYU recognized a need for lights in a schoolhouse in Africa. Instead of sending these people money to help get electricity to their city, these students developed a piece of playground equipment that would generate enough electricity to charge several portable lanterns inside the schoolhouse allowing for an enhanced educational experience. I like this idea for two reasons. First, it is something simple, low maintenance, and practical, unlike a generator that would be costly to run and require frequent and expensive repairs. Second, it will allow these children to better help themselves. It will be easier for them to attend school and with a better education they will have much greater opportunities to be self sufficient in the future.

There are certain situations where money and other donations can make a significant difference. For example: When a family’s house catches fire and burns down. These people suddenly have no possessions and no place to stay. Some donated food, clothes, and money will surely help them to get by while they get back on their feet. This could be considered “acute poverty.” They only need help for a short time because by the time those donations are exhausted they will have had the means (i.e. a source of income) to start rebuilding their lives. This is different from what we might call “chronic poverty.” Chronic poverty might be what we refer to as the third world; people who have little or no resources or skills to draw on to sustain themselves. You can donate food and money to these people, and I’m sure they’d be very grateful, but when those donations have run out, they are still poor and hungry because they are right back in the same situation that they were in the first place. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to help these people find ways to better support themselves?

Simply raising awareness for a cause isn’t enough. This would be like Taylor Swift getting on TV and announcing that she would be performing a concert in the area. Wouldn’t you be excited to hear this? I know I would. But let’s say she never told us when and where it would be held, or how to get tickets. It’s great that she’ll be performing nearby, but it doesn’t do me any good if I don’t have a way to see the show.

When I think of the Hunger Banquet I think of the story about the little boy walking along the beach. He sees all these starfish that have been left on the sand when the tide went out. He knows that if they stay out of the water for too long they will surely die. He begins picking the helpless starfish up, one by one, and throwing them back into the ocean. An older man sees what the boy is doing and says, “Little boy, there are thousands of starfish along this beach. How can you think that you are going to be able to make any difference?” The little boy picks up a starfish, throws it into the ocean, and says to the man, “I made a difference to that one.”

Most people love this inspiring story, but wouldn’t it be better if it didn’t end there? The little boy was doing everything that he could think of to help those poor starfish. He had made at least one other person aware of the problem. Now suppose the little boy and the older man got together with some other concerned citizens, who then counseled with some local experts, and together they devised a plan to save more starfish. Or better yet, a plan that enabled the starfish to save themselves!

I’m glad that there are innovative people like Mr. Polak out there; and I’m also glad that there are passionately concerned people like those involved in Students for International Development. I just wish that their paths would cross more often. Then, instead of just reminding everyone that there are problems in the world, we could implement some effective solutions. And the impact wouldn’t die out when the money runs out; but would spark a generation of empowered people able to first help themselves and eventually help empower those around them.