One of the purposes of this blog is to share personal experiences and stories of Oxfam Action Corps volunteers. I found this post written by Christine to be a fitting follow-up to the previous post on the collective power of the people.
International Women’s Day
Submitted by Christine Ellersick
I joined Oxfam in the belief that any person, including empowered
women, can create change in this world. Oxfam Boston’s International Women’s
Day celebration is always an inspiring event, but this year, it was especially wonderful. First of all, I had the honor of
introducing Emiliana Aligaesha, an Oxfam “Female Food Hero” who had founded a
successful farmer’s cooperative in Northwest Tanzania. She taught herself to farm and helped
found Kaderes Peasant Development, a cooperative that supports hundreds of
small-holder farmers. It was an
honor to meet her, to speak with her and to present her with the Boston Oxfam
Action Corps’ “International Women’s Day Women’s Leadership Award”.
As part of the celebration, a Hunger Banquet was held. If
you’re unfamiliar with a Hunger Banquet, it works this way: everyone present is
arbitrarily separated into 3 groups. There is a High-Income Group, a Middle-Income Group and a Low-Income
Group. Food is divvied up
according to your income group. The High-Income Group is served at a neatly set
table with fancy, fabulous food on good dishware. The Middle-Income Group sits
in chairs without tables; they serve themselves fairly good food, like beans, rice
and drinks. The Low-Income Group is served only plain rice and some water
that’s been colored with food coloring to make it look dirty.
I have always harbored a secret wish that someone would turn
the Hunger Banquet upside down, but as an organizer, I had always felt like this
couldn’t be me. As an organizer, I
ensure that people follow the rules.
As someone who wasn’t raised with great means, this always
made me feel uncomfortable and conflicted. Here I was – one of the Hunger
Banquet event organizers – and I always wanted to subvert the process. The point
of the exercise is that people grow to understand that it’s arbitrary where you
ended up in this world, and staying within your assigned “Income Group” gives
you the experience of understanding the situation of “less fortunate”
people. I had always wanted to
stand up and say, “We’re not going to take this. Let’s just share.” But I felt
that I couldn’t.
But this day was different. This was the day that I had been
waiting for, after being involved in many, many Oxfam Hunger Banquets. After the rules were explained by one
of the organizers, something happened that I will think about for a long
time.
A woman stood up, voice shaking just a little: “We don’t
have to follow those rules. We can all join together and share with one
another. Let’s vote on it. Raise
your hand if you think we should all share.”
Some people didn’t raise their hands, but the majority did. This was unprecedented; perhaps people
were startled. This brave woman,
whose name I never learned, taught me a lesson and inspired me. She was
expressing what Oxfam America and the Boston Oxfam Action Corps truly stand
for: equality and justice. And so
we all ate, together, except for some of the people at the High-Income table,
who had the really good stuff. But, isn’t that always the way?
