The GIN club hosted a Hunger Banquet at ISSH on April 2. When the GIN club first introduced the event to the middle school and high school students, many were unfamiliar with what a Hunger Banquet was. A Hunger Banquet is a banquet where seats and meals are determined by the world’s latest poverty statistics. Depending on which socio-economic status one randomly pick, he/she might end up eating a full-course meal at the banquet, or may end up simply eating a ball of rice.

The evening of the Hunger Banquet was hectic for the GIN members. Some were getting the food prepared, and others were setting up the chairs and cutlery for the guests. At around 4:00 p.m., the first guests started to arrive. The “servants” (selected GIN club members) happily welcomed the guests, as they took their seats depending on which social class they picked out from “the box”.

“What surprised me,” said Reema (8), “was that the people in the lower class looked the happiest out of everyone there. They were sitting down in a circle and were all smiling and laughing together and having a good time.”

At around half past four, all the guests were in their seats, eagerly waiting for the evening to start. Sara (8) and Myung-eun (7), who were the speakers for the evening, walked up to the front of the AV room and gave a great introduction to the Hunger Banquet.

After the introduction, it was time to serve the guests. The servants frantically ran up and down the AV room making sure that everyone was getting served. “The servants did a really good job with the food. I thought it would take a long time to get the food prepared, but it actually only took a couple minutes.” said Shiori (8).

Throughout the evening, many guests started realizing the real reason behind the Hunger Banquet. At the end of the event, Sahana (8) commented, “This was a really great experience. I now really understand how the social classes are laid out. Being in the low class [for the evening] myself, I realized how much low class people suffer every day. When someone from the middle class was eating, I found myself staring at her food. When she didn’t complete it and threw it away, I felt really upset because I saw someone who was so fortunate just throw away her food with that much ease.” The other guests nodded in agreement.