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hUnGry For chanGeaSSembly For Key StaGe 3-4 (yearS 7-11)

IntrodUctIon This assembly aims to help pupils to think about issues of food and hunger in our world and learn how The Salvation Army is helping to change lives through their agricultural and animal-based FARM projects in countries such as Africa and China. This is ideal for Harvest, World Food Day or any time of the school year.

cUrrIcUlUm lInKSThe activities are aimed at pupils aged 11-16 yrs (Years 7-11/ Key Stages 3 & 4 / S1-4). There are good links with Religious Education, Citizenship and PSHE. Links for each curriculum area are outlined at the end of this resource.

aImSTo think about issues of food and ➤

hunger in the world.

To learn how The Salvation Army is ➤

responding to these issues.

reSoUrceS Assembly PowerPoint presentation ➤

(adapt as necessary).

FARM films and other resources. ➤

Food items and prices in a ➤

shopping bag or basket (see PowerPoint presentation for suggestions).

IntrodUctIonIn today’s assembly we’re thinking about food. This shouldn’t be difficult because most of us think about food quite regularly… which is OK because our bodies are designed to make us think about food and to tell us when we need more of it!

the PrIce IS rIGhtBegin with a game of ‘The Price is Right’ to get students thinking about everyday foods we consume in this country. Before the assembly fill a reusable shopping bag (or supermarket shopping basket if you can borrow

one) with various items of everyday food and add a price label on the bottom of each item which must be hidden at first. Ask for two volunteers to play the game, or two small teams. Take out one item at a time and invite each pupil or team to guess the price. The pupil or team who guess closest to the actual price wins the round.

An alternative is to guess whether the price of each item is higher or lower than the previous item. For this game you’ll need to think about the order in which you show the items so it’s not too easy. Each pupil or team will need to take turns with each item, and will win the round if they guess correctly.

PowerPoint slides are provided – you could use these alongside or instead of the actual items.

In this country most of us have quite a lot of freedom and choice when it comes to food, so much so that we often take food for granted. In the bag/basket were just a few of the foods our families might buy each week, but most of us are fortunate to have much more choice than this when we do our weekly shop. We can get all the nutrition we need from fruit and vegetables, meat and rice, pasta or potatoes, as well as treats like biscuits or crisps.

What the World eatSThe book Hungry Planet published in 2007 shows images of what real families eat in a typical week (as well as how much they spend on food) in different countries around the world. Here are four families from different countries (show PowerPoint slides). The family from Great Britain spent £180/$253 on their weekly shop. In China they spent $155 and in Bhutan (a country just south of China) just $5. In Chad, in Africa, the family spent just $1.50 for a week’s food for the family.

You can download or display more of these images (organised into two parts entitled ‘What the World Eats’) from www.time.com. View the images here:

www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

People often argue that food prices vary from country to country, so you can get more for your money in some countries. However, even allowing for the difference in the price of food in different countries, these pictures show that there is a huge imbalance in the world when it comes to food. So how big is the problem?

hUnGerLook together at the following facts using the PowerPoint slides provided, or ask five students to read out the facts.

There are ➤ 1 billion people going hungry in our world, not having enough food to eat.

Millions of families in less developed countries ➤ live on less than £1* a

SonG IdeaSHere are some song ideas for the beginning or end of the assembly.

beFore the aSSembly aS PUPIlS enter:‘Waiting on the World to Change’, John Mayer, on CD Continuum

at the end oF the aSSembly aS PUPIlS leave:‘God of Justice’, Tim Hughes (appropriate for use in a church school)

‘Change is gonna come’, Olly Murs (for an uplifting ending to the assembly)

‘Harvest for the world’, Isley Brothers (great for Harvest!)

day. That’s £1 for all their food, clothes, school fees, healthcare and medicines – everything. *A popular myth is that £1 goes much further in developing countries because food is much cheaper. £1 is enough for some rice, some vegetables, cooking fuel and some clean water to make two basic meals. This leaves about 10p for everything else in life – housing, transportation, education (school fees and equipment), clothes, healthcare, medicines etc.

One child dies ➤ every six seconds from malnutrition and related causes. 5 million people die every year because of hunger.

In contrast, ➤ 1 billion people in the world are over-consuming, resulting in health problems such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In the UK, a huge amount of ➤ food is wasted – £10 billion worth per year. A third of all the world’s food is lost each year.

We know that there is enough food in the world for everyone to have enough to eat, and yet millions of people are going hungry whilst others have plenty to eat.

When we think about hunger it’s usually either when we are hungry ourselves, which can usually be fixed fairly quickly at our next meal or snack time, or we think about the extreme hunger people experience during a famine. We see images on the news of people who are literally starving, whose lack of food is an urgent matter of life and death.

But there’s another kind of hunger too, a hunger experienced by around 1 billion people on the planet. This is called ‘chronic hunger’, which is a daily struggle to get enough food into your body. There’s also another type of hunger which has been called ‘hidden hunger’ and affects another 1 billion people. This is where people are able to eat enough to survive, but they are still undernourished and not getting enough of the vitamins and minerals that they need because they are trapped in poverty. The worst thing is that most of these people are actually farmers; the very people who try and make their living off the land are often the same people who can’t feed themselves.

the SalvatIon armyThe Salvation Army is looking for new and better ways to change this injustice which exists in the world. The Salvation Army has been working in many developing countries for more than 100 years and continues to work with farmers all around the world to grow and raise what they need to support their families by giving them the tools and training they need to make the best use of their land.

Choose from the films, stories and other information on the FARM resource to explain the project further.

Key PoIntSMost of the people who are going hungry are small-scale rural farmers. ➤

It’s the people who are trying to make a living off the land that cannot produce enough food for themselves and their family to eat or sell.

This lack of nutrients and energy affects productivity, makes people ➤

more vulnerable to diseases and hinders their children’s health and development – which all helps keep people trapped in poverty.

In many communities The Salvation Army is working specifically with ➤

farmers to help them make the best use of their land and to grow more and better crops. They provide agricultural training, tools and technology, as well as animal bank schemes, all of which can provide long-term solutions for people currently trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Can we really change things?

That’s what The Salvation Army is doing – but what can we do, and do any of our efforts really make a difference? Listen to this well-known story.

Once upon a time, a man walking along a beach saw a boy picking up starfish and throwing them into the sea. He asked the boy why he was throwing starfish into the sea. The boy replied, ‘The tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll dry up and die.’ The man smiled patronisingly and said, ‘But there are miles of beach and thousands of starfish on every mile. You can’t possibly make a difference!’ The boy smiled, bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I made a difference to that one.’

When faced with such a huge problem it’s tempting to think that there’s nothing we can do that will really make much difference, so we don’t do anything. But the boy in the story saw the huge problem and decided to make a difference to one individual starfish at a time. He focused on what he could do, not what he couldn’t do.

A Christian woman called Margaret Mead, who was a writer and speaker in the 1960s and 70s, said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’

reFlectIonToday, let’s remember how fortunate we are and say thank you for the precious gift of food. When we get our lunch today, or our dinner, let’s take a moment to really appreciate the variety and choice we have, and the fact that food is always available to us. Let’s think twice whenever we’re about to waste food or take it for granted. Let’s start to make even better choices when it comes to buying and eating food. And when we’re faced with the huge problem of hunger and poverty in our world, may we believe that our

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seemingly small actions can lead to real change, and that together we can make a better, fairer world.

actIonSee the FARM resource pack or www.salvationarmy.org.uk/farm for ideas for taking action and getting involved and share these with the pupils if you feel it’s appropriate. Why not have a supply of FARM resource packs available for any pupils who are keen to find out more and take action? Packs are available from The Salvation Army’s Schools and Colleges Unit or the International Development Unit.

contact USThe Salvation ArmySchools & Colleges Unit101 Newington CausewayLondon SE1 6BN

(020) 7367 4706

schools@salvationarmy.org.uk

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/schools

To find out more about The Salvation Army International Development (UK) or for more resources contact:

+44 (0)20 7367 4777

id@salvationarmy.org.uk

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/id

www.facebook.com/SAIDUK

www.twitter.com/SAIDUK

With thanks to Seung-Gwum Kim from Tiffin School, Kingston for contributing ideas for this assembly.Se

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