环球英语 Martha Shares Her Food
April 26, 2015
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I’m Robin Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Children across the world are taking camera pictures of their school meals. They are sending these pictures by internet to a young girl in Scotland. Then she shares the pictures and stories with people around the world. Today’s Spotlight is on Martha Payne and her blog.
Voice 2
Martha is nine years old. She likes to write. So Martha decided to start her own blog. Anyone who can connect to the internet can start a blog. Every day, Martha wrote about the meal she ate at school. She also took pictures of the food. Then she posted her writing, and her pictures, on the internet.
Voice 3
“Today’s dinner was liquid carrot and coriander soup. Mince pasta followed it. I remembered to count my mouthfuls. But the soup was so hot I burned my mouth! The soup was very good. It is the first time I tried it and I love it.”
Voice 1
Martha’s teacher permitted her to take the pictures, and write about the food. However, Martha was very honest about the food. She did not just describe the food. She judged the taste of the food. She also judged the health of the food. Sometimes she liked the food, and sometimes she did not.
Voice 2
Other people also began to send pictures to Martha. Students around the world shared their pictures of their school food!
Voice 4
“Here in Japan, students always have milk. They have to bring their chopsticks to eat with. Students always eat in their classrooms at their tables. There is no choice (everyone eats the same thing). The food in this meal is fish, seaweed rice, tofu and egg soup and salad with sesame dressing.”
Voice 1
Martha also began to use her blog for an important cause. She began to raise money for the organization Mary’s Meals. Mary’s Meals works in the East African country of Malawi. It provides food for children in schools. Martha encouraged her readers to send money to Mary’s Meals. This money would build a kitchen - a room just for cooking meals.
Voice 2
But then, Martha began to have a problem. Many people read her blog. She became big news. Local officials saw these news stories. And some officials did not like what was happening. The news stories showed that the food at Martha’s school was not always healthy. And that made some people angry. So the school officials decided to stop Martha’s blog. They said that she could not take her camera to school.
That day, Martha wrote on her blog:
Voice 3
“This morning I was taken out of class by my head teacher. I went to her office. I was told that I could not take any more pictures of my school dinners because of a story in the news today.
I am so sad I am no longer permitted to take the pictures. I will miss sharing about my school dinners and I will miss seeing the pictures of dinners you also send to me. I do not think I will be able to finish raising enough money for Mary’s Meals to build a kitchen.
Goodbye.”
Voice 1
But an amazing thing happened. Many, many people began sending messages of support across the internet. Martha’s story was even bigger than before. Now the local authorities had to change their minds.
Voice 2
A few days later, Martha was again writing her blog. But more than that, people had sent a lot of money for the Malawi school children. Martha had hoped to raise about 10,000 dollars. But the total reached 100,000 dollars . . . and still kept on growing!
Voice 1
But her success did not stop there. The news stories let even more people know about Martha’s blog. More schools from around the world sent their pictures to Martha. Now people who read Martha’s blog can discover many new things about food from other countries.
Voice 5
“Our school is a “crunch and sip” school. On our tables, we are permitted a small container of vegetables or fruit and a bottle of water. It is supposed to help us think. It also helps us eat more vegetables and fruit every day. Today I had grape tomatoes for my crunch and sip. I think it is a great idea. It stops me from getting hungry in class.”
Voice 6
“Here is a picture of school lunch that some of my students have to eat. I am a teacher in the Maldives. The triangle is called a bajiyaa, and the ball is a gula. Both are a mix of tuna fish, rice and coconut. But they taste very different to each other. Mothers prepare them fresh every day, and then bring them to school at break time.”
Voice 2
The huge interest in Martha’s blog also helped to improve meals at her school. One day she wrote:
Voice 3
As we waited for dinner we were told that we are permitted to eat as much vegetables, fruit and bread as we want. We were told that we had always been able to. Well, my friends and I never knew that. It must have been a well-kept secret.
Voice 1
Nick Nairn is a famous cook in Scotland. He has been trying to get the government to improve school meals for over ten years. Until now he had little success. But he told the BBC:
Voice 6
"Martha is an amazing girl. Her blog is honest. It shows that food in Scotland’s schools is not as good as many people would like to think it is.
What has happened is people power. Through the internet common people have said ‘This is not good enough - you cannot silence a young girl from telling the truth’.
Now we have the chance to move forward on this subject and to put school meals at the centre of politics in Scotland."
Voice 2
Martha and her school friends believe their meals have improved since she started writing her blog. She has also encouraged people to give money to Mary’s Meals. This will provide healthy food for thousands of children in Africa. The cost of just one school meal in countries like the United Kingdom, America and Australia pays for school meals in Malawi for a whole month.
Voice 1
No one knows what will happen to Martha’s blog in future. But already this little girl has helped to change the eating experience of many, many children - just by sharing pictures of her school meals.
Voice 2
The writer of this program was Alan Harris. The producer was Luke Haley. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called, ‘Martha Shares Her Food’.
Voice 1
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
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