The Global Engagement Network kicked off International Education Week on Monday night with the Thanksgiving Poverty Awareness Dinner in Kittredge Dining Hall.

The event was publicized to the student body as a chance to enjoy not one but two Thanksgiving style dinners, in addition to the one offered in Lowry Dining Hall on Thursday, Nov 18. In actuality, however, not all students were fortunate enough to partake in the Thanksgiving meal being served.

Guests in attendance were randomly assigned a role at the door, either low, middle or high income, and were divided into these sections for the remainder of the dinner. The low income group, which comprised of almost 85 percent of the guests in attendance, proportionally represented the inequitable distribution of wealth in the world today. The remainder of the guests were assigned either a middle or high income role, representing 10 percent and five percent of those attending respectively.

Those in the high income group were served a full three course dinner consisting of an appetizer of salad, main course of turkey, stuffing and vegetables followed by pumpkin pie for dessert. Those in the low income group were only served a meal of rice and water dyed yellow with food coloring to drink, symbolizing inadequate water sanitation through out the world.

Further, people in the low income group were made to sit on the floor during the dinner reinforcing the divide between the low and middle and high income groups.

One of two annual events that GEN holds each academic year on campus, the Thanksgiving Poverty Awareness Dinner was meant to “raise awareness about global poverty in a way that would interact with students on a personal level and would leave a lasting impact and provoke thought amongst the student body,” according to Naomi Milstein ’12, Chair of GEN. “We wanted to tie the event into International Education Week because we feel that poverty is a pressing issue of global importance,” said Milstein, and we felt starting off the week with an event centered around poverty awareness in the world was perfect, especially so close to the Thanksgiving holiday.” Milstein thanked all those in attendance and applauded their ability to remain such good sports during the entirety of the dinner. “We never expected such a high turnout for the event (about 90 people of the 150 that signed up) and everything went together seamlessly,” Milstein said.

The dinner featured two presentations: one by Professor James Warner, of the Department of Economics, on Food Expenditures by Income Level in Botswana and the other by Bilal Paracha, on the Flood Relief in Pakistan. William Davis ’13 remarked how Warner’s presentation highlighted “the simple but enlightening truth that the prices of basic foodstuffs are the most at risk for price fluctuations when disaster hits in the developing world: the people who rely on standardization of food prices the most are the most risk when disaster hits.”

Davis, having attended a similar style Poverty Awareness dinner before, knew what he was in for but was still dismayed at having drawn a low income card. He went on to say that “the feeling of disappointment was authentic when I was “born” as Miguel, a worker toiling 14 hours per day and still being barely able to feed myself…all while in full view of people eating hearty portions of turkey in the high income section.”

Milstein was incredibly satisfied with the event overall and the reception on the part of students was generally positive, albeit that 85 percent of the attendees were served rice when they believed they would be served a Thanksgiving Dinner.

Next semester, GEN will be hosting their third annual GEN Spring Summit focusing on agricultural sustainability, food security and environmental responsibility with speakers coming in from around the country to present on various issues.

If you would like more information on how to attend the summit or how to become involved with GEN please feel free to contact Naomi Milstein, nmilstein12@wooster.edu, with your questions and/or comments.