04/08/2010 Oxfam Dinner

The Oxfam group at UWA* held a global dinner on Tuesday, 27th July 2010. A number of AVELING staff members attended the dinner to show their support in raising awareness about issues affecting the global community and AVELING partially subsidised the dinner for every staff member attending the event.

It certainly was not your usual kind of dinner. Designed to raise awareness of global issues and the disparities in wealth and resource levels between nations, this unique event gave guests the opportunity to experience a meal as either a member of a first, second or third world country.

Guests were allocated to a table representing a country. The meal and decor reflected the conditions of that particular country – wealthy, intermediate or developing. Tables were randomly allocated, not chosen, much like our own conditions in life.

There were seven tables, two of which were developed countries - Australia and the USA. The two intermediate countries were Russia and Bosnia, while the three undeveloped countries were Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea.

Issues affecting the global community were well illustrated throughout the night. This was mainly shown via changes to the status quo – these included a “natural disaster” in which aid was given from wealthy nations (tables) to the undeveloped ones or variations in the global economic climate.

Oxfam's Australia Chief Executive, Andrew Hewett also spoke on a number of topics including global food shortages.

AVELING is known to show their support to the community and is enthusiastic about supporting events like these to assist Oxfam in their efforts to help those less fortunate than us.

By joining Oxfam UWA, you can become a part of a global movement of people working to fight poverty and injustice. Please visit www.oxfam.org.au for more information.

* Oxfam UWA was formed in 2010 and joins other Oxfam groups around the country in raising awareness about the various issues that affect our global community. The four main Oxfam campaigns are Make Poverty History, Close the Gap, Climate Change and Fair Trade.