By Jeff Kruse - Immaculata- La Salle HS
MIAMI | It’s one thing to learn about poverty from a textbook; quite another to feel poverty in your gut.
Students at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami recently did the latter, engaging in a one-day food fast as a way of learning about integral elements of Catholicism: Being mindful of the blessings we have, and generous in helping the less fortunate.
The lesson began when the freshman class arrived on campus. No breakfast and no lunch were served. They all fasted until the mid-afternoon. And while fasting, they experienced a simulation of actually being poor.
Students were divided into groups, each resembling a poor family. Each student was given a role: a father or mother, a child, or even a grandparent living with the rest of the family. Each family was then assigned challenges, or hardships, similar to those endured by the poor: the company laid off employees, or dad lost his health insurance.
The families were also given resources to try and cope with their challenges. They could report to social services, employment services, and of course the Catholic Church, in efforts to get assistance.
The school gymnasium was divided into particular regions, not all of which were very friendly. For example, neglected “children” were put into “custody.” Another area was simply “the streets” and if your family was there, it meant things were not working out very well.
The Food Fast exercise proved a creative way of teaching
kids about the issue of poverty, as well as some solutions, namely generosity,
consideration for the less fortunate, and compassion.
