Food is such a basic necessity that it’s often easy for MacDuffie students to take it for granted, despite millions of people around the world who go hungry each day. In an effort to raise awareness of world hunger, members of the school’s UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Club hosted a “Hunger Banquet” this past Tuesday and invited all students and faculty to attend.  

At 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon, twenty students made their way to the cafeteria where they were assigned a country categorized as either first, second, or third world. Students assigned to first world countries were escorted to a table with a white tablecloth, folded cloth napkins, and tall water glasses where they waited to be served a variety of food by students posing as waiters.

Those appointed second world countries gathered at a nearby table with a tablecloth before getting up to serve themselves food. Those who were designated third world were asked to sit on the floor or on two straw bags and were given four bowls of rice, soy sauce, and four spoons to split between the group of them. During the meal, Senior Taylor Pluta, a member of the UNICEF club, read a script primarily written by the club’s President Cindy Nguyen, elaborating on the consequences of world hunger.

Junior Carrie Lu, another member of the UNICEF club, summed up the objective of the event, saying, “The main goal was basically to…place people in the real life scenario and have them feel how third world kids are feeling.”

Senior Mojolaoluwa Oke, who was also a UNICEF club member at the event, was pleased that participants had such strong reactions to the events that played out. “When people who were set up in third world countries had to go get water and then died from cholera…there were some people that reacted like ‘Wow…this really happens?’ And that’s really what I was looking for,” Oke said.

If there had been more time, Lu would have liked to hold a discussion after the Banquet was over. “I think it was super good except for the time limit, it was too short. The purpose is to make this interactive and to have people share their comments, but since we have limited time, we didn’t do that.”

Despite the time limit, Oke categorized the event as a success. “I felt that we affected most of the people who attended.”