The central idea of our unit is:
Knowing how food resources are distributed enables us to understand a community's challenges and opportunities.
We are lucky enough to eat every day so we had a hunger lunch to help us think about what it might mean to be in a group of people who don’t get enough nutritious food.
Through random selection (choosing coloured blocks) students were put in groups to represent three different income groups of the world’s population.
- High Income – 9 students ate pizza, crisps and chocolates.
- Middle Income – 15 students had chicken fried rice and had water from their own bottles.
- Low Income – 26 students had plain rice and had to travel for their water.
The student reflections were powerful and provoked some excellent discussion.
Below are some comments and behaviours we witnessed during the provocation;
"Best day ever"
"I can't eat this but I'll take it home"
"I can't eat this but I'll take it home"
"Ha ha...we have pizza and you don't"
"No you can't have any...its ours, we got the red cards!"
"Do you want some of mine, I've had enough?"
Behaviours
Happy at first...a few hesitant to eat
Some hid food
some offered to share with others
Some showed off
Some defended their food when others tried to take it
Middle Income Group -comments
"I love rice"
"Why don't we have pizza?"
"No fair, they have stuff we don't"
"How come they get a table?"
"I see others taking pizza, am I allowed to take some? Is that stealing?"
Behaviours
Several ate happily
Some did not eat at all
Some sulked
Some begged the other table for food
Some stole from the other table
Low Income Group - Comments
"I've lost my appetite"
"Unfair...they get better food and chairs"
"We have no plates"
"Why do we have to sit on the floor"
"I want to eat it but it's cold"
'I can't share with others they are using their hands"
"Why do I have to walk to get my water, I'm thirsty?"
Behaviours
Several children ate the rice happily
Many complained
Several sulked
After a while many pleaded others for food
Several began to steal from other groups
Reflection
Being reflective and demonstrating empathy are important parts of our programme. After this provocation, students sat quietly and drew and wrote whatever was on their minds. Here are a few of their images.
We then used some sentence starters to prompt conversation. I was highly impressed with student's reflective comments and self awareness. Here are just a few of the comments students wrote;
"Something I found out about myself is I have never felt jealousy before"
"What I have learnt today reminds me how many people have less than I do"
"One of the things that surprised me was that I got lots of choice and others got plain white rice"
"I am still shocked by that people may have to travel for water"
"I have to think more deeply about not wasting food"
"I am not sure why we were not more thankful for what we got"
"My point of view is that everybody should have shared the food"
"My point of view is that it is not fair that some have more than others"
"I believe that we can be fair in the world and that everyone should have the same rights"
"I felt really frustrated when nobody would share their pizza"
"I didn't really understand why one group didn't have enough food or water"
"I am still shocked by that I stole pizza"
"Something that I learnt about myself is that I have to be happy with what I have"
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