"There is a dire need for discussion about poverty and hunger to take place," said Malak Yusuf, co-leader of Amnesty International at Boston College and A&S '09. In the group's Campaign Against Poverty, the past week has been designated Amnesty Week. To narrow the focus of the campaign, the group based it around the right to food, which Amnesty supports as a basic human right.
Today, as part of the Amnesty Week, Amnesty International will be holding a day of fasting from sunrise to sunset to represent the 800 million people who go hungry daily. Those taking part in the fast are not allowed to consume any food or drink, including water. Amnesty International will distribute buttons in McElroy displaying the day's message: "I represent one of the 800 million people who will go hungry today."
"This has been a semester-long initiative, and this is the ultimate project," said Yusuf. She also said that the fasting day is a first for the student group and, as far as she knows, has never been done by any other groups on campus before.
"We're trying to raise awareness about poverty on both the domestic and international level," said Yusuf. She said that in order to do so, the group hopes to personalize the issue by bringing the issue on campus, because it's easy for students to live the lifestyles that they do without even considering how big of an issue poverty and hunger are in the world. "All of those small portions of food that we leave on plate … they really add up, considering 800 million people go hungry a day," said Yusuf.
Sarah Rosenberg, the event coordinator and LSOE '10, agreed. "We're hoping to raise awareness about hunger and poverty on the domestic and international levels because it's something we all really need to actively take a part in," said Rosenberg. The discussion that Yusuf and the rest of the Amnesty members expect to engage in would ideally range across a number of topics. Topics would include the development of programs to help teach those in hunger how to harvest and produce their own food, why the need for food is so great, why poverty is so widespread, and the unequal distribution of funds for food and aid by the government.
"We are currently creating a petition to send to Sen. John Kerry [(D-Mass.)] to increase the budget for international food aid. Just a one-percent increase in that budget would mean $5 billion more in aid," said Yusuf.
Along with the day of fasting, Amnesty Week consisted of collecting canned goods and non-perishable items, as well as distributing information from a table in McElroy as a means of creating a dialogue on hunger and poverty. The collected food items will be donated to Youth on Fire in Boston. Collection boxes were also placed in dining and residence halls all through campus and the last day to donate is tomorrow. Additionally, in a joint effort with the Challenge of Justice class, there will be a screening of the documentary Silent Killer at Higgins 310 from 7 to 9 p.m. with a discussion taking place afterward.
As for future plans for Amnesty International, Yusuf said that the issues of hunger and poverty would certainly be topics that would come up again. "Our efforts will probably never cease. This is not a matter that is taken care of overnight and it's an issue that will never die," said Yusuf.
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