Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It didn't take the 20-some Roanoke College students and faculty members stuck in a Depression-style soup line long to realize they'd picked a losing number.
While six of their colleagues were being served filet mignon and 18 others were having salads and cold-cut sandwiches, they were serving themselves rice in paper bowls and suspiciously eyeing the dirty water put out for them to drink.
Of course it was only a game - a simulation designed to give them a new ``Perspective on World Hunger.''
There was a table representing industrial nations, one for developing nations, and one for underdeveloped nations. A number fished out of a basket determined if each participant was a have or have-not for the hour.
But Thursday's game was real to its participants.
Those hungry, underdeveloped-nation representatives begged the ``haves'' to share, to sacrifice.
When they grew tired of pleading, they adopted guerrilla-style tactics, darting around plastic barricades and an ``armed'' guard to pilfer some bread and meat.
The ``haves'' could spare it.
After all, they had everything - candlelit tables with centerpieces, fine china, linen napkins and a three-course meal.
In reality, everyone taking part in the exercise was a ``have,'' college Chaplain Paul Henrickson said.
They all knew that, but the fact was more difficult to swallow while sitting within arm's length of those with growling stomachs.
``It's very uncomfortable to eat when others are hungry. There's a guilt or discomfort,'' said Deborah Selby, professor of English, who gave her plate to the ``have-nots.''
Although one in five children in the United States is hungry, most people don't see the problem on a daily basis, Henrickson said.
Joshua Rubongoya, an assistant professor of political science, said students wouldn't have to travel far to find it, however.
``There are Third Worlds in America,'' Rubongoya said. ``We don't need to take a trip to developing countries to see the problems of hunger, homelessness and adversity.''
The exercise didn't offer the one thing Freshman John Smith said he was looking for: answers.
``What are the real possibilities of what we can do?'' he asked. ``I still wish, when I walk out of this door, that there is something I can do.''
Selby admitted the exercise offered no solutions. What it did do, she said, was make people think.
``Raising awareness is a process,'' she said. ``There are no solutions that will be reached until there's a revolution in Western consciousness ... What we need is a plague of awareness.''
by CNB