As SNA president, Janey Thornton has traveled to China and South Africa to observe and share ideas with each countries' school foodservice programs. Along the way, she had some eye-opening experiences.
Several years ago, Janey Thornton had the opportunity to visit Chile as part of an effort to help Latin American countries establish their own school foodservice organization. Last year, as SNA president-elect, and this year as president, she took to the road again, this time to China and South Africa, as part of the SNA-sponsored People to People tour of school feeding programs.
“Through SNA we were beginning to connect with a variety of countries overseas. We had been helping to form a Latin American group similar to our organization. Because we were helping to sponsor them, there were a number of us who wanted to go down to attend their first meeting. While I was there, the more I saw and heard about countries that did not have the facilities and the background in child feeding we have, the more I realized there was a niche we could fill.
Last year we went to China [and] this year to South Africa. We shared ideas, we listened to [officials] and heard how they felt we might be able to help them. A few of the foodservice people we spoke with had at some point attended one of SNA’s national conferences.
I don’t think it hit me until our plane landed in China that I was going to a Communist country. To see soldiers with guns everywhere was a little disconcerting. Our tour was all pre-arranged, and I’m sure we did not see the worst situations in these countries. But it was still an eye-opener. We have poor people here but it is so different from what we saw in China. And in South Africa there was such extreme poverty, worse than you could ever fathom. To see people living in a packing crate, and then going to some of the sites that supply food and knowing they have so little to give.
The only way these folks can change and get out of where they are is through education. But if a child isn’t being fed and doesn’t have the strength to learn, a textbook isn’t going to do him much good. For most of these people, the focus is not on education. The focus is on day-to-day survival. You hear about the crime rate in these countries, but after experiencing what we saw, I’m surprised that it isn’t worse. I know if my children were that hungry I would do anything to get them food.
One of the things we were amazed by in talking with some of the education people in other countries is their lack of knowledge in some areas. For example, they didn’t know about shelf-stable milk. And we just assumed they did. They have powdered milk, but in many places the water is so contaminated that powdered milk does them no good.
Forever in my mind I will carry the image of the children. To see these little kids who look just like our kids except that they are malnourished. When it comes to kids there are no language barriers. They just reach out to you to get a hug and your heart melts. Even with the adults, you can see in their eyes that they are appreciative of the fact that someone took the time to stop by and show they care.
SNA has recognized for some time that the world is not like it used to be. It is much smaller. We are as responsible to see hungry people fed in China as we are to feed people across this country. SNA is in the process of setting up a new global child nutrition foundation. We know by organizing and working together we can make a difference.”