Saturday, 27 July 2024Hunger Meal – “Food and Justice” By 5J Rain Ng
The Hunger Meal was an activity in which students learn about the relationship between Food and Justice. On 29th March, all S5 students were invited to a lunch gathering at the school hall. They were randomly assigned into 3 groups with different levels of income – the rich, the middle class, and the grassroots. The quality and quantity of the meals they received were specifically arranged according to their social status. During the activity, Mr. Porson Chan from the Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development, and Mr. Lau Hoi Lung from the CUHK Agricultural Development Group, shared with students on the theme ‘Food and Justice’. Through the experience of the hunger meal and the sharing of the guests, we learned to be grateful for the food we enjoy every day and the importance of giving a helping hand to the needy so as to help fight against discrimination towards them. We also got to know that we can chase our dreams and be happy even if we are poor. Therefore, we should never give up no matter what obstacles we face. As one of the helpers in the hunger meal, this activity means much more than a lesson about reducing food waste to me because I also gained a lot from organizing it. The major difficulties that I encountered included the selection of food and the arrangements of the day. The decision on the provided meals had to be changed several times in order to make the preparation process more convenient and, at the same time, to ensure participants could be full after having their meals.
On top of that, organizing the hunger meal requires extensive teamwork and communication since many tasks had to be designed precisely to deliver certain hidden messages, such as how we should welcome different groups when they entered the hall; how we could illustrate the power of the small group of rich people over the lower social class groups; and how to determine the change of their identity through games during the meal. All these were designed to simulate the real situation of food injustice that is happening around the world.
On the whole, this experience did not only teach me to treasure our food, but it also showed me how difficult it is for any organizers to prepare a satisfactory event for people to enjoy. I will always respect food producers and event organizers in the future.
For more photos, please click on the link: Google Drive