Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rich Man Poor Man Meal
Rich Man Poor Man Meal
Prayer, fasting, sharing goods and giving money to those in need have always been important to Christians.
Realising that all things are gifts from God, sharing time and resources is a vital part of the Christian way of life.
We live in a divided world. More than 800 million people are too poor to afford an adequate diet and 1 in 8 people
go hungry every day. Many CAFOD supporters fast out of solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world
who go hungry every day or they arrange a rich world/poor world meal and they donate the money to CAFOD.
Why do it?
Bringing to life the inequalities in our world challenges us to do something about it. Few leave a Global Reality Meal
with full stomachs, but all leave filled with a greater understanding of the problems of global hunger and poverty
and motivated to take action.
You may choose to sit all the poor people together OR you may choose to mingle them in with the ‘rich’. Whichever
way you decide, the ‘poor’ have to go and queue for their food whilst the rich are waited on.
After saying Grace, tell the group that they are now ‘acting out’ the division of the world's food resources.
We are here today because 1 in 8 people in our world go to bed hungry every night.
Just under a billion people – almost one eighth of the world’s population – do not have enough to eat.
One in five children in developing regions is underweight.
Every four seconds, a child dies from hunger or other preventable cause. That’s 22,000 children every day.
(Sources: All facts based on statistics in MDG Report 2011)
1
You may think hunger is about too many people and too little food. Not true. This rich and bountiful planet
produces enough to feed every woman, man and child on earth. It’s about power! It’s poverty, not lack of
food that is the main cause of hunger.
1/5th of the world’s population consumes 86% of the entire world’s food. The other 4/5ths get only 14%
The roots of hunger lie in inequalities in access to education, resources and power. The results are illiteracy,
poverty, war and the inability of families to grow or buy food.
Today’s meal is an example of how food and other resources are unequally distributed in the world. Each of
us has the same basic needs and it is only our circumstances – where we live, and the culture we are born
into that differ. Each person’s place is randomly determined.
As each of us walked in the door here today, we chose – at random – our lot. Look around, and you can see
that equality and balance don’t exist here.
It is important to note that no one section of this room represents a single country. Stark inequalities prevail,
both worldwide and within countries, even in the UK.
Point out to everyone the four stories of Dorcas, Emily, Fidel and Sabita and ask them to read or listen to the
individual stories.
Each story will raise questions to discuss and provide opportunities to ‘challenge’ those who are eating well and to
consider the impact of those who are eating the poor man’s meal.
Finally, invite the ‘rich’ to begin their meal and the ‘poor’ to queue up for their food.
2
Dorcas Loltolo
Lives in Logorate village in Maralal, Kenya. She has seven children and also looks after her grandson as his
mother died in childbirth. Dorcas’s husband was killed in a fight when men from another tribe stole their
cows. “I was in agony and I thought I was going to die because I lost my husband and the cows had gone. It
was very painful. The animals are so important to us because we sell them to get food and pay school and
hospital fees. We entirely depend on our animals to survive.”
Dorcas’s brothers gave her four goats, but despite being given food by the government, and working as a
labourer to earn money, Dorcas did not always have enough to feed her family.
“Sometimes we would go the whole day without eating. When you’re hungry you can’t sleep. You lie awake
thinking about how to feed the children the next day. Sometimes I would have just enough to feed two
children only – but I couldn’t feed only two and leave the rest to starve. The choice is too difficult.”
The community relied on each other through these difficult times, as Dorcas’s son Joseph explained:
“If my neighbours don’t have enough then I have to share with them. Sharing is something that is very
important. If I help my neighbours when they don’t have enough then when I don’t have enough my
neighbours will help me. Everything we have – we have to share.
Questions:
What strikes you about Dorcas and Joseph’s experience and what challenges you?
How do you show love for your neighbour both locally and globally?
Is your parish/group a “sharing community” like Dorcas’s? If not, what could you do to change it?
3
Emily Mbithuka
Lives in Kathithu village, in Kitui, Kenya with her husband and their five children. She has been given seeds
and training to grow her own crops, but she struggles to get a fair price. The amount she produces is too
small for larger traders to travel the bumpy road to her farm. So she sells to shopkeepers who then sell her
produce on at triple
the price.
“I’ve made a plan of trying to plant more vegetables to increase my income to support my family. I hope
that when the vegetables mature, my family will eat well and they won’t have to skip meals. It will also
mean that the children don’t have to miss school because we can pay the school fees. It’s difficult because
the shopkeepers have control of the price. It’s not good because we don’t have an option of where to take
our produce. It’s like we’re being cheated. I feel exploited. It’s unfair. I’d like people to come here to buy my
crop. It would be good to get people to come here.”
5
Sabita
In Sabita’s village, it’s hard to grow enough to eat and sell when crops are frequently washed away by
heavy rains and sea water flooding. Sabita is the leader of a women’s group where Caritas Bangladesh,
supported by CAFOD, has shared simple solutions like raising vegetable beds a metre or more above the
ground, and using home-made compost to improve the salty soil.
“This plot has made a big difference to my family. It’s improved our diet and given us extra income,” says
Sabita. What’s more the group has enabled these rural women to be heard by government, and contribute
to policies which help people prepare for disasters.
“Women are learning more than ever about the impact of climate change on our lives and how we can be
better prepared for disaster,” she continues. “I am happy to help others through this committee