A friend sent me a link to this site, Free Rice, a sister site to poverty.com, yesterday. It's a vocabulary game that donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Hunger Program for every vocabulary word you properly identify. (The money for the rice comes from corporate sponsors whose names appear at the bottom of the game.) I think it's admirable that Free Rice has provided a really easy way for people to contribute to the World Hunger Program and to feel empowered to help even if they don't have money or resources to contribute.
I also think it's really weird.
I read the online information about the goals of Free Rice. They are to
1) Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2) Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
Um, are people wondering where they can get their English vocabulary words for free? Because I can tell them where to find them. In the dictionary.
It IS an addictive game (which is probably the point) and it DOES serve a good cause, so check it out.
AND, while you're thinking about food and scarcity and plenty, go find the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. It's a collection of photographs showing families from twenty-four countries (including the US) with all the food they eat in a week. VERY interesting.
2 comments:
I LOVED that game. It reminded me of taking the verbal part of the SATs. . . pure bliss. Although I had some quibbles with their definitions.
I haven't read the book, but looked at a website with pictures. It makes you feel very greedy when compared with what some people in the world have to live on. And not so greedy when you see what others eat. Mom
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