Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Food isn't just delicious... it can also change your life! Tune into Beyond the Plate, a new podcast presented by International Charity: Food For The Poor. Get inspired with conversations that nourish the soul. Hear amazing stories of transformation from faith influencers, leaders in the nonprofit sector, and the individuals receiving aid in the 15 countries of Latin America that Food For The Poor serves.
Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Ep. 10 - School Nutrition & Global Impact: The World Food Program on Building Resilient Communities
This episode promises a heartwarming journey with the World Food Program's Barron Segar and Riaz Lodhi, who share their incredible stories from the humanitarian front lines, revealing how nutrition can be both a source of joy and a powerful tool for building communities. Hear how Barron transitioned from college graduate to becoming a pivotal figure in global humanitarian efforts, shedding light on the crucial connection between food security and community resilience around the world.
Riaz Lodhi, World Food Program El Salvador’s Executive Director takes us on a virtual trip to a land of surfing paradise, volcanic wonders and where community empowerment and food security are taking center stage. Witness the transformative power of school feeding programs that not only nourish young minds but also lift entire communities by supporting local farmers and economies. Discover how initiatives in El Salvador like the Biofortik nutritional supplement partnership with Food For The Poor are creating opportunities and cultivating resilience among the Salvadoran people, who are eager to innovate and grow from within. The kick-off for this initiative was World Food Day, but in El Salvador, now everyday can be a ‘food day’ for more than a fifth of all children in the country. Join us by embracing stories of change, highlighting the shift from scarcity to abundance, and exploring the profound impact of investing in the future through nutrition and education.
Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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We're all inspired by our human connection that arises when we share food with others. So what's on your heart becomes a hub for truly heartfelt conversation.
Speaker 2:Tertulia, as they say in Spanish, fostering genuine bonds between individuals, creating that sense of community and connection.
Speaker 1:I'm Paul Jacobs, your podcast co-host, ready to inspire you by conversations that nourish the soul as we go beyond the plate.
Speaker 2:I'm Daniel Patino, welcoming you to join us for some truly inspiring tertulia. Get ready to satisfy that craving for connection and inspiration as we dive into topics that aren't only broaden your perspective but also deepen your understanding of lives of families in Latin America, the Caribbean or even in your own backyard. So, wherever our conversations take us, come along for the ride and let's go Beyond the Plate together.
Speaker 1:Okay, so before we get started, I got to start with a very important question. We are here with some very important guests and food is the big topic and I'm a bit hungry Always. Well, yeah, I get it, but I got to start. Danny, best lunch favorite and best lunch in school oh, favorite best lunch.
Speaker 2:Go quick Tater tots. Good one, that's always good. Tater tots. They lend themselves to anything. Tater tots.
Speaker 1:Okay, wait, wait wait, wait, I think I got one. Okay, I remember those little square pizzas, I'm not kidding you. In eighth grade they called them Mexican pizzas. I don't know why there was no salsa I mean it was a pizza but they called them Mexican pizzas, maybe because they're square, I don't know All right, that's something let's see.
Speaker 2:Jungle juice.
Speaker 1:Jungle juice. Do you remember jungle juice? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the little carton with the lion on it Exactly.
Speaker 2:Zero percent juice and 100 percent science. That was the flavor part.
Speaker 1:All right, it was just that. And the lunch of all lunches. Lunch items Honey buns.
Speaker 2:Honey buns, ooh, the one with the cinnamon in it. Yes, the Texas cinnamon buns, big, Texas, big.
Speaker 1:Texas. That's All right. We had a lot of choices and I feel bad when we were kids for the lunch lady, because there was more food left on the floor for her to clean up than we actually ate Now can.
Speaker 3:I have a clarification question yeah, please. Are you saying you no longer eat honey buns? Because I'm just telling you dinner last night dessert. I don't know what's on your menu, but for me honey buns still top of choice for me.
Speaker 1:Barron, do you understand? My wife works in this building and if I talk about honey buns and eating honey buns, that's the end of me. You understand that?
Speaker 3:right, okay, well, she and I need to have a conversation, okay wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 1:I got a question for everybody now. All right, how about do you remember Biofortec, friday lunch menu items? No it, biofortec.
Speaker 2:Friday lunch menu items.
Speaker 1:No, it was a lot different it was a lot different.
Speaker 2:It wasn't Biofortec.
Speaker 1:All right. Enough of the fun, we want to welcome our guests to Beyond the Plate. We have really a great opportunity to talk to our friends from the World Food Program. First, baron Seeger from World Food Program, right here in Washington DC. Welcome Baron.
Speaker 3:Glad to be here, excellent I. Thank yes, washington DC Welcome Baron.
Speaker 1:Glad to be here, excellent I think yes, yeah, you reserved that for the end of the episode. And then Riaz Lodi, Country Director for World Food Program in El Salvador.
Speaker 4:Very excited to be here Now.
Speaker 1:Riaz, I have to ask really quick before we get started. Your accent is a little bit interesting and I tell Danny I'm an expert in accents. My wife's Guatemalan. I'm born in Canada, my family's Jamaican. Let me see, I'm going to just figure this out. Macon, georgia, macon Georgia, maybe around Savannah area. Where's that accent from? You're close, I was close right. Keep guessing. Okay, go more east, more east. Probably, oh, fayetteville, north Carolina, closer, closer. Where are you from?
Speaker 4:Pakistan, pakistan.
Speaker 2:Oh, the other side, the other way, oh, okay, okay, grab a plane, grab a boat, you mean east-east.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to find out how in the world did this guy from Pakistan end up in Central America in a moment? But I wanted to start with you, barron Welcome. Thank you, in a moment, but I wanted to start with you, baron welcome. Um, you know, here at beyond the plate, we we take our, our conversations a little bit beyond what.
Speaker 4:Clearly, these guys have us figured out already this is great, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love. Usually we like spring us on, that's right this is where they zig and zag but. But here's a bit of getting to know you. I really want to kind of take a little bit, take a moment to get to know you. You know, let's dial the clock back. Aaron, You're graduating from college Hampton-Sydney College, that's correct.
Speaker 3:All right, all-male liberal arts school in Virginia.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, the motto is come here as youth and you leave as men. That's correct. Yes, yes, the motto is come here as youth and you leave as men.
Speaker 3:That's correct. Yes, excellent.
Speaker 1:Did you ever see a day coming back when you graduated college? You're growing UNICEF by $500 million. You're spending 20 years traveling the globe for humanitarian efforts. And my favorite this is my favorite because when I read about your career path, you started your current post with the World Food Program less than 90 days before the world shut down. While you started with the World Food Program, what were your dreams back then when you were a college student? Did you see any of this happening in your life?
Speaker 3:So I mean absolutely not. I was honestly. I struggled a little bit in college, wow, and overcame some challenges and then moved to Atlanta, was there for 26 years, had the honor of being a founder for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in Atlanta and through that experience I got to go to the field. Through that experience I got to go to the field. My first field trip ever was to Honduras, where I was able to meet a lot of women, children, who were impacted by HIV AIDS, and I kind of came back from that experience knowing that this was the path my life was probably going to make.
Speaker 3:I was in business and finance back then and so I started volunteering with another international group. And then my aha moment with the World Food Program came when I was in Gambella, ethiopia, bordering South Sudan, and I unfortunately had to see the number of women, particularly grandparents and their kids, that were coming into Ethiopia and the first stop was feeding. And what I learned during this visit? That food is the first line of defense and without food there's no next step, there's no other station.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:And that was your aha moment, that was my aha moment. Out of everything in college. Usually people go to college figure out the future, see where it takes you, and it took you in a great direction.
Speaker 3:No, I was mostly focused on my fraternity in college and then I kind of envisioned I'd probably work for my dad. Maybe you know but then I moved to Atlanta because I wanted to kind of get off on my own. I moved with a couple of my fraternity brothers, but it was that Essentially, we're all a product of our experiences. I had that one experience of going to the field and it literally changed my life, that's great, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:That's amazing and I mean I'm just taking back that out of all the things that could have happened. It took you down that road. Now I have a bigger question for you folks. Where do you think you can find this on Earth? Let me just name it Famous, world-class surfing beaches right and the land of volcanoes 23 active volcanoes at the moment. What would you think of first? Oh, obviously it's Hawaii. It is not. It is not. I'll tell you it's.
Speaker 1:El Salvador.
Speaker 2:El Salvador. Yes, el Salvador is famous for its world-class surfing beaches and as well as it has 23 active volcanoes for that little land that is.
Speaker 1:El Salvador Freeze. El Salvador has 23 volcanoes. El Salvador is like the Rhode Island of Central America. How could they?
Speaker 2:have so many volcanoes.
Speaker 2:Well, they were blessed with all 23 active volcanoes, so just in case, anywhere you look, you're going to find beauty, okay, and I was on a trip recently to el salvador and what I saw there was, uh, a combination that I really don't like to sit on, which is kids and malnutrition.
Speaker 2:We visited el palomar, enjilisco, enjiquilisco, and it was an early childhood feeding circle which was right under a big tree and it was to empower parents to show their children the basics, like what we would call here in the States, like a pre-K or a pre-K kind of situation, which is kind of like a daycare, maybe a little bit before you hit school. And it was empowering the parents. It was giving the parents also a chance to feed their kids at this feeding circle. So there was learning, there was feeding, there was medical attention happening, so this was all encompassed under a tree and for the children and I mean I was taken back because it was a feeding circle that could happen anywhere. They didn't have a center at the moment it was just let's pick the biggest tree we can find and make shade, and there we're going to empower parents to show their kids what the ABCs are like, what is a one, you know what the number is, what does that mean? And that was all because of food.
Speaker 1:You even said you saw even your own two girls in some of these children.
Speaker 2:Right, I did, I did. I have two girls at home, a seven-year-old and a one-year-old, and they were sitting there at the table. I saw them. I saw them with my own eyes, just sitting there with their own parents and just realizing well, there's somebody out here that actually cares, there's someone out here that can actually get us to our dreams of being the next doctor, the next lawyer, a community leader. To really put an emphasis on the next thing what's the next move? What are we going to do next, instead of worrying about what are we going to eat next or when are we going to eat next? Now, riaz, I wanted to ask you a question. You were quoted as saying adopting this by Salvadorians for Salvadorians approach, and it was also. Can you explain this to me? The organization, in partnership with others, aims to ensure food security, create youth jobs and build community resilience. It focuses on empowering women, enhancing school and meal programs and boosting emergency preparedness and support local food systems. There's so so much potential there for collaboration. Can you elaborate a little bit on that?
Speaker 4:First of all, El Salvador is known to be the smallest country in Central America. But let me tell you something. I live in El Salvador. Salvadorans have a big heart. They welcome everybody. They create opportunities for everybody around the world to come to El Salvador. You can go surf in El Salvador. You can go hiking in mountains. You can get the best variety of birds you can watch. You can do anything you want in El Salvador and can go hiking in mountains. You can get the best variety of birds you can watch. You can do anything you want in El Salvador and it's a safe country. You're most welcome on the next trip to do all of that.
Speaker 1:So, first of all, you left one thing out. Papusas, papusas, absolutely, you can't leave those out. They were included. Who said they were out? How can I forget that? Just make it, yeah, just make it. Write that on my to-do list.
Speaker 4:Extra cheese on mine, please. And the best, not just the best pupusas are made in El Salvador. It's the only place you can find pupusas.
Speaker 2:Yes, so the real ones, the real ones, the authentic El Salvadoran pupusas I'll take that.
Speaker 4:I'll take that. So, on the food security and most serious side of of your question, I think what El Salvador offers is the opportunities, what I've seen in El Salvador. The Salvadoran youth has dreams and they are willing to do anything to fulfill their dreams. They want to do everything that others do. They want to go beyond what the normal young people do, and the country offers so many opportunities for young people. And the country offers so many opportunities for the young people. And this is why WFP, our job, is to identify the needs and go with the flow of it. We bring new ideas, but then we pick up the local ideas.
Speaker 4:When I say, buy Salvadorans for Salvadorans, I adopted that approach. The slogan is because I saw so much potential in Salvadorans. They want to do things, they want to make sure that their potential is transferred to their fellow Salvadorans and so, when it comes to food security, I saw that they can produce food, although much of the food is imported into El Salvador, but Salvadorans want to produce food for the fellow Salvadorans and Salvadorans. We have different activities with them. They want to be part of those activities. There are lots of Salvadorans who live abroad. They want to send their financial support to Salvadorans, their fellow Salvadorans, and be part of the development. Support to Salvador, their fellow Salvadorans, and be part of the development. So El Salvador, if someone wants to know, is a rapidly transforming country and this is the time to be there, to be part of it, and this is why the Salvadorans are actually doing a lot for their fellow citizens and the government is also backing up a little bit.
Speaker 2:Right it's with the Crecer Juntos law which is growing up together law, that's one of the many laws you referred to.
Speaker 4:The government of El Salvador is very supportive. I think it's a young government. I've seen many ministers.
Speaker 4:They're young, but more than that they're very intelligent and they're very committed on top of it. It's a very good combination being young and being committed and being, you know, intelligent and innovative, and this opens opportunities for us to be part of their you know, to be part of their dreams, to share our experiences. We have it around the world. In many countries we work, we pick up the ideas and we export these ideas to other countries where they are needed, and this is where we come in as the World Food Program to play our part. But we're not the major player there. It's Salvadorans, and we are there to help.
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Speaker 1:We're here on our podcast Beyond the Plate with, with our guest, Riaz Lodi, country director from El Salvador for the World Food Program, originally from just east of Macon, Georgia, Pakistan, and Barron Seeger, from World Food Program right here in Washington DC. I have to ask Barron just to take a moment and let's look at the numbers. According to UNICEF, there are 1.5 million kids in El Salvador from the ages of 5 to 17 years old. That's 23% of the population, roughly, you know, over 20%. Yep, the World Food Program and Food for the Poor collaboration affecting more than 400,000 children. We're talking about 28% of the youth being and that's just the tip of the iceberg right, Go ahead, please.
Speaker 3:Well, it's a stunning number and such an exciting number.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the World Food Program and Food for the Poor can unite and come together and make a very bold plan to feed 420,000 school kids and also train 500 farmers. This program is, by the way, incredibly unique because it's not only feeding kids, by the way, I would also say, when you feed kids, the enrollment numbers skyrocket. I've been to countries and I've seen within a mile distance where school feeding is being offered and a mile down the road it's not. And guess what? There are zero kids in the school where it's not being offered.
Speaker 3:And the school is full where food is being offered, because it also allows kids to take rations home and and the child protection opportunities that come with school feeding. That means kids aren't being employed in child labor, they're not being trafficked. And then and then it's the economic benefit nutritious school meals, homegrown school meals and then produced locally by farmers. So it's sustainability in the community, this partnership with the Food for the Poor. The benefits go well beyond the school feeding program of kids. It goes to community, it goes to income generation, it goes to sustainability.
Speaker 1:All right. So everybody's wondering okay, this is a lunch program. Now, ben, you're seeing, we've got this on camera. This is it. This is the lunch program. Well, this is a lunch bag. Yeah, so close.
Speaker 3:By the way, this is not my lunch, I'm sure your co-workers, by the way, every day. Yeah, this is what we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Bio. By the way, there was a little little and one of the other bags it had like a little mascot. What was that all about? That was so cool. We got the boring bag, but there's a cool bag that has a little mascot on it Riaz, what is that? Who's the mascot? Do we need a name for him or something?
Speaker 4:I I don't remember seeing this, but yeah, in fact this is a government-led approach. So whenever they find it fit to have a mascot on the bag. We put a mascot on the bag.
Speaker 1:That's right, we're going to call him Danny, anyway, perfect, I'll take that.
Speaker 2:I'm on every face, thumbs up on every bag.
Speaker 1:But back to you, Barrett. I got a question. There is such an emphasis on children and youth, and if I'm looking at just what we're talking about in this program, we're talking about effectively one million youth being affected. We're talking about increasing school enrollments. We're talking about helping farmers grow locally, grow these ingredients locally, so we're talking about propping up the economy. And then there was something that I thought was interesting, and it was called improving education outcomes. What's that all about?
Speaker 3:So improving education outcomes means that if you have food in the school, the kids, the parents, are going to support the kids being in school. So we've got the family element, and then it makes it much easier to recruit the teachers to do the entire set of training, and so kids are getting an education allowing them to fulfill their dreams. If you will, you know it's interesting. At the start of the program you mentioned what kids want to be, and I can't tell you the number of times I've been to the field and I've talked to kids that want to be doctors and lawyers. I, by the way, have not come across a child that wants to be behind the radio station.
Speaker 1:But, again.
Speaker 3:I've got a few years behind me.
Speaker 1:You've got some smart kids down there.
Speaker 3:I also haven't met anybody that wants to work for the World Food Program USA yet, but I will say that our job is to make sure that every child has access to food. And again, the main reason and with the partnership with Food for the Poor, the focus is on local. Imagine if you were in a school and you had to import everything. Think about the cost of that Ground transportation, storage. And so the goal, as Riaz has stated, is to do more locally produced school feeding programs and then training the farmers. So the corn, the soybean, it's going to be produced locally, so it's going to create income generation for these very specific communities. So it's going to create income generation for these very specific communities. And I would say, as we think about World Food Day, the theme at the Food for the Poor is from empty to plenty, and that means making sure that every single child has a plate of food when they go to school.
Speaker 1:I think it's more than just food, right, I mean we're talking about. There's something I heard you all say earlier when we were talking with the entire organization here at Food for the Poor. You said we are Helping children, but helping generations. Riaz, unpack that for us. Help us understand that a little bit.
Speaker 4:Well, we believe that if you want to make a sustainable change to a country, the children and women are the best place for investment per se. And I call it investment for a reason, because many countries and many people believe in social protection programs. That's one way of looking at it. But the issue of nutrition is not simply an issue of health. Studies show that it's an economic issue. If you invest in your children, if you invest in your women, if you invest in nutrition, you're actually improving the country. You're actually contributing to your GDP of the country, because these children, with better education, with better nutrition, they get better cognitive abilities, they get better jobs, they contribute better to the economy, to the society, they become better citizens. So everything gets better. So that's why I call it investment, and the return on investment is huge. I mean, now the studies are out there, we don't need to simply think about it. I mean it's scientifically proven that better fed children, better nourished children, grow up as better parents, better whatever.
Speaker 4:So we believe in it and that's why we are. We have expanded our school feeding program around the world. Wherever we work, it's one of our best entry points in any social protection program.
Speaker 1:So, as we get ready to wrap up, I'm so excited about this start to our family. You said it earlier, riaz, this is the first of many children in this marriage. I love family. You said it earlier, riaz, this is the first of many children in this marriage. I love that. I love it. I mean, that was perfect, so effectively. You are cousin Riaz, cousin Baron. We always end our episodes here on Beyond the Plate, on a passionate note. No, we've changed it today.
Speaker 4:We met earlier. I wasn't there though. Positive note because of Riaz is going to be passionate note.
Speaker 1:Gentlemen, sorry I apologize. We've rehearsed this over and over ad nauseum, but we have renamed our positive note that we end every episode on to passionate note because of you, sir Riaz. You and the team had an interesting trip in May of 2024. And in an article that you wrote, titled Passionate About Humanity, we found that you were listening to stories of families. You were helping to build their resilience, you were empowering them to take the food security into their own hands for future generations. In fact, it was your passion for humanity that positively impacts in El Salvador and helps World Food Program fulfilling theulfilling the Mission, saving and Changing Lives.
Speaker 1:So we thought it fitting for our passionate note to be really from you both and I just want to ask really what was your greatest inspiration from that trip, seeing what you've seen? I mean, you're there day to day, riaz, so I'll let you start. And then, barron, you have your greatest inspiration from that experience. And I hope somebody talks about those kitchen in a box. That's way cool. But anyway, I don't want to influence you on your passion. No, riaz.
Speaker 4:There are two types of people in this world those who know their rights and they do everything to achieve their rights.
Speaker 4:They would do anything to do that and there's the other type of people are those who know and remember other people's rights and they know their obligations before they know their rights.
Speaker 4:So what I see in Food for the Poor and its donors and fundraisers is the second type of people who are working hard to make sure that the people who are deprived of their rights, whether food or anything else, they get to achieve their rights, and they are passionate about the work they do, as are we. So this is the common thing that I see between the Food for the Poor and the World Food Program teams that we are all working hard to make sure that the people who lack access to food they get access to food, just like everybody does, who have access to food, naturally, who have the resources to have access to food. So this is why we we work hard to make sure that no one is left behind and that all the insecure people with the children, women, men, wherever are, they have access to food, nutritious food, affordable food, and at all times. That's what we call food security.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's inspiring, aaron.
Speaker 3:So I think for me, it was the last trip to El Salvador. Ria is an incredible innovator, created something called Kitchen in a Box, which is how the meals for school are cooked, all done with green solar energy. He did allow me to go back in and be a chef, by the way, and I did like a patty of rice and beans and it was mixed with vegetable and beans and it was mixed with vegetable, and I would say that for me, it was the most humbling experience as being able to hand a plate of food to a young person that wants to study and has incredible aspirations to do great things in this world. And I would say, the other thing that excites me is the audience listening today, because Food for the Poor is an amazing organization. You're partnering with the World Food Program USA.
Speaker 1:Well, we always end on a fist bump, gentlemen, but this time I think it's only appropriate. We have a Biofortik toast. Cheers, cheers, cheers, cousin Barry, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, Thanks for listening to Beyond the Plate. We love having you here. Keep up with us on Instagram and TikTok at beyondtheplatepodcast, and if you enjoy the show, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and give our videos a like. Just search Food for the Poor Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 1:Your support means the world to us All.
Speaker 2:Right, folks, we'll see you on the next Beyond the Plate episode. I'm waving.
