The world at the table

There is no season in the Arsenale without young people and adults. Schools, scout and parish groups, associations spend moments of service and training with Sermig. Among the most significant activities there is certainly the People's Lunch. We talk about it with Jessica, a young volunteer, who is responsible for offering this experience especially to younger people.

What is the People's Lunch?
For many years now the Arsenale has believed and invested in the diffusion of this project, which can take different forms: lunch, snack or dinner for the people. In fact, we use it not only with schools, but also with the children of the sharing camps that we organize throughout the year. It's an engaging way to get a look at the world, to understand how its dynamics work. To see the very many people who are in poverty and the very few who, vice versa, have a great deal, most of the wealth on the planet. We use the tool of food because it has a concrete and immediate meaning, it can be said that it hits directly in the stomach, arousing strong emotions and sensations in those who participate in the activity, helping them to be simultaneously spectators and actors of the event. And this also applies to children and teenagers.

You talked about children...
Yes, because we live it with classes, from elementary to high school. Every week, there are many requests from teachers to take students to discover the Arsenal. After visiting the various places we propose it to those most interested.

What feedback have you had and still have among the school children who participate in this activity?
Darkly, amazement is what inhabits these moments every time, even if the dynamics of the kids' reactions changes every time. Let's keep in mind that once the person "wears" the identity of someone in the world, they are inserted into a certain group depending on the wealth of the country they represent: those who are very rich will sit at the laid table, those who have a dignified life but not rich person will sit at the second table and the others in groups that are not homogeneous but still different from each other. Because there is also a difference between the poor, and therefore they will sit on the ground in two stripes: the poor and the very poor. The majority of the kids will sit on this second strip. It is above all among them that amazement arises: "Wow, no one has ever told me these things!" Because we know that there are poor countries, we know that war exists, but it all seems very far away...

HOW THE PEOPLE'S LUNCH IS CARRIED OUT

We invite the kids to enter a large room, where there are no chairs but only two tables. One very well-kept, with very few seats, the other much more spartan, but equally with few seats. All the others - in general there are about a hundred people, but sometimes they reach three hundred - sit on the floor or even stand if there is no more room. Each person who enters is given an IDENTITY CARD. From that moment on they will become a 14 year old Japanese girl, or a 40 year old Canadian manager with three children or a child, for the entire duration of the business. of Ghana by 5… We studied the various identities to scale up all of humanity in one room.
We thus discover that Europe is represented by few people, Italy even less, it is rare to find an Italian represented in this world in a room, while many are Asian. It's a surprise, because not all of us are aware of these percentages. It is very beautiful and interesting to see the reactions: even though we all live in Italy, during lunch we represent a world of which we are a very small part. We then remind people that, behind these fictitious identities, there are real people who we have known over the years and whose story we know. For example, if it is an African child, it is said whether he has studied or not, whether he is working or not, whether he lives in war or not.
Reasoning on these stories, it is possible to demonstrate that conflicts often occur in those parts of the world where the population is poorer or has fewer tools to avoid them. Where perhaps there are many mineral resources but there are no resources for schools. And so more poverty means more conflicts and more social inequality.

How is food distributed to children?
Whoever is sitting at the set table will receive lots of food; if it's a snack, they will receive dozens and dozens of snacks for each person, those sitting on the ground will receive a toast if they are in the first strip while those sitting in the second will receive a peanut. This enormous disproportion in distribution is very striking, of course. They are young people who live in Italy, who have had breakfast at home, will still have two meals during the day, but they are equally affected by this dynamic, they feel a sense of injustice and at the same time of impotence: «This distribution of food is not fair, but I What can I do?" Then the leader gives them a moment to reflect and then launches the provocation: «Now you have a moment to think about what you can do. We invite you to do what you believe is right. There are no rules, do what you think is right." And then we see the most diverse reactions: from the child who gets up from the back of the room and runs to try to recover the brioscine left over from the rich people's table to the masses who look for food in the rubbish bins (part of the food is in fact falsely thrown away as rejection). This impresses every time. And this is what happens in reality every day: those in difficulty move tirelessly to try to survive. In this way we also try to explain the phenomenon of migration. Here then arises, especially among the older ones, the reflection: «In my small way I could change something», the message that passes is that change really happens when many people change their mentality and decide to commit themselves by making small gestures within reach. of each one.

And how do the people sitting at the table behave?
It depends: sometimes when the mass moves they feel surrounded, and therefore remain impassive and immobile, sometimes instead - while those sitting on the ground are still trying to understand what to do - they themselves get up from the table and bring their food to the others. Sometimes it also happens that many people sit on the ground waiting for others to come and bring them things. These are all very interesting dynamics that speak of an ever-increasing awareness on the part of the "rich" and the "poor". This is also demonstrated by the gesture of some "rich" people of not accepting any other food other than what they have available on the table. The final dialogue is aimed at cross-ferring ideas to understand together the reality of inequality in the distribution of the planet's resources and find new ways to fight it. Ours is not just a provocation as an end in itself, but a common research path to solve problems, with a view to contributing to building a more just world.

Has this sort of virtuous circle found other confirmations over the years outside the walls of the Arsenale?
Yes. We have been offering this activity for many years now. We met many schools from all over Italy and also abroad; sometimes it is difficult to have continuity of relationships with kids who live very far away, but those who live near Turin and have participated become a sounding board with their contacts and start collaborating with us. Some organize food or stationery collections in their schools, others return to do volunteer work. This dynamic then allows us to open networks: for example, by talking to parents at home, opportunities are generated to also involve companies. Over the years, quite a few have asked us to raise awareness among their employees on this issue. A few days ago, together with the kids who were in the Arsenale for the Carnival camp, we organized the People's Lunch inside the headquarters of a large company in Turin, with the participation of many employees. The comment later made by a boy was very nice: «It made me think that you don't try to pass the message only to us students that in reality we can't do much to change things because decisions regarding money management are they take our parents, but you want to involve them too. This makes me understand that we can make a journey together, adults and young people, to build a better world."


Aurora Antonucci
NP Focus
NP April 2024