Imported Foods Raise Obesity, Health Issues for Pacific Islanders
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
The World Health Organization says obesity rates are rising in Pacific island countries. So, too, are health problems linked to being overweight.
The WHO says a major reason for the rising obesity rates is an increase in imported foods. It says many Pacific islanders have replaced their traditional diets of vegetables and fruits with imported processed foods.
Dr. Temu Waqanivalu is with the World Health Organization’’s South Pacific office in Suva, Fiji. He says many of the imported products lack nutritional value. But they are widely available, he says, and often cost less than healthier foods.
TEMU WAQANIVALU: “In some of the places, you”d be amazed to see how a bottle of Coke is cheaper than a bottle of water. I think that represents the kind of off-environment we”ve created that doesn”t really encourage or make lifestyle choices an easy choice for the population.”
Dr. Waqanivalu says the increase in imported foods is only part of the problem. He says problems with agriculture production limit the availability of healthier foods. And a lack of physical activity among many Pacific islanders only adds to the obesity problem.
The WHO says more than fifty percent of the population is overweight in at least ten Pacific island countries. The rate is as high as eighty percent among women in the territory of American Samoa. Fiji had the lowest obesity rate at thirty percent.
In all, almost ten million people live in Pacific island countries. The WHO estimates that about forty percent of them have health disorders related to diet and nutrition.
Diabetes rates are among the highest in the world. Forty-seven percent of the people in American Samoa have diabetes. So do forty-four percent of the people in Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand.
By comparison, the diabetes rate is thirteen percent in the United States, a country that has its own problems with rising obesity.
Officials also note an increase in nutritional problems like anemia and not enough vitamin A in the diets of Pacific islanders. Dr. Waqanivalu says treating conditions related to obesity and diet puts pressure on limited health resources and budgets.
Earlier this year, leaders of island nations met in Vanuatu for the first-ever Pacific Food Summit. Dr. Waqanivalu says the issues are finally getting the attention they deserve.
And that’’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. You can post comments and find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I”m Steve Ember.
Historic Route 66: The Story of America’s ‘Mother Road’
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I”m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I”m Steve Ember. This week, we go for a ride through the colorful history of Route 66, a road that has been called “The Main Street of America.”
((MUSIC: “Route 66″/Rosemary Clooney)
VOICE ONE:
The idea for Route 66 started in Oklahoma. Citizens there wanted to link their state with states to the east and west. By the nineteen twenties, federal officials wanted to connect state roads to provide a shorter, faster way across the country. So a plan was developed to connect existing state roads into one long national highway.
United States Highway 66 was established on November eleventh, nineteen twenty-six. It was one the first federal highways. It crossed eight states. It was three thousand eight hundred kilometers long.
Route 66 became the most famous road in America. It passed through the center of many cities and towns. It crossed deserts, mountains, valleys and rivers.
VOICE TWO:
In the nineteen thirties, people suffered through the Great Depression. In Oklahoma, many poor families lost their farms because of dust storms. So they traveled west to California on Route 66 in search of a better life.
In nineteen thirty-nine, John Steinbeck wrote about these families in “The Grapes of Wrath.”
VOICE ONE:
In his book, Steinbeck wrote: “66 — the long concrete path across the country, waving gently up and down on the map … over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys.”
Steinbeck wrote: “66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land … 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.”
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen forty-six, the songwriter Bobby Troup and his wife drove across the country to Los Angeles. He wrote a song about traveling on Route 66. The song told people they could have fun, could get their kicks, on that drive.
In Los Angeles, Bobby Troup took the song to Nat King Cole, who recorded it. It became a huge hit.
(MUSIC: “Route 66″/Nat King Cole)
VOICE ONE:
In the nineteen fifties, holiday travel brought more and more families out West to explore. Route 66 represented the spirit of movement and excitement.
In the nineteen sixties, Americans watched a popular television series called “Route 66.” It was the story of two young men driving across the country.
The show was filmed in cities and towns across America. Yet only a few shows were filmed on the real Route 66.
VOICE TWO:
In real life, people were getting fewer and fewer kicks on Route 66. By nineteen sixty-two, parts of the road were closed because they were in poor condition.
The federal government was building bigger highways. Cars and trucks could travel at higher speeds. People started driving on these new interstate highways instead of the old Route 66.
Finally, in nineteen eighty-five, Route 66 was officially removed from the national highway system.
People have formed groups to save parts of the old 66 and many of the interesting places to eat, stay and see along the way.
VOICE ONE:
Award-winning writer Michael Wallis is an expert on the historic highway. He is the author of “Route 66: The Mother Road.”
Michael Wallis was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, right off the highway. He has lived in seven of the eight states along its path. His Web site, michaelwallis.com, has information and stories about the history of the Mother Road.
(MUSIC: “Route 66″/Chuck Berry)
VOICE TWO:
Now it is our turn to take a trip on Route 66. We will have to search for it at times. Many parts of the road have new names or numbers. Some parts of it are included in other interstate highways.
Our trip begins in the Midwest, in Chicago, Illinois. Almost three million people live there. Chicago is America’s third largest city.
From Chicago, the road goes southwest through many small towns in Illinois. One of them is Springfield, the home of America’s sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.
Now we cross into Missouri. We drive through Saint Louis, the city known as “the Gateway to the West.” More than three hundred thousand people live there.
There are many natural wonders to see in Missouri. One of the most famous along Route 66 is Meramec Caverns in Stanton.
VOICE ONE:
Inside the cave, visitors see beautifully colored stalagmites and stalactites. These are mineral formations. Stalagmites rise from the floor; stalactites hang from the ceiling.
Long ago, local Indian tribes used the Meramec Caverns for shelter. A French miner named Jacques Renault discovered saltpeter in the caverns in the seventeen hundreds. The material was used to produce gunpowder.
Later, the outlaw Jesse James is said to have used the caverns as a hiding place.
VOICE TWO:
From Missouri, our drive takes us for a very short time through the state of Kansas. Then we enter Oklahoma. Oklahoma may well be the heart and soul of Route 66. That is because there are more kilometers of the road in Oklahoma than in any other state.
In Claremore, Oklahoma, a statue honors a famous American, Will Rogers. Will Rogers was born in Claremore. He became a popular actor, radio broadcaster and newspaper writer in the nineteen twenties and thirties.
We pass through many historic towns in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City, we can visit the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center.
And in Clinton, we can stop at the Route 66 Museum. This official museum tells the complete history of the road and its importance to America.
(MUSIC: “Route 66″/Depeche Mode)
VOICE ONE :
Now we drive through the northern part of Texas. The area is called the Texas Panhandle. We stop near the city of Amarillo to look at some unusual art that celebrates Route 66. Welcome to Cadillac Ranch.
A Cadillac is a large, costly automobile. Cadillac Ranch has ten of them half buried in the ground. A wealthy farmer and art collector named Stanley Marsh created Cadillac Ranch to honor America’s roads.
Continuing west, we travel through the states of New Mexico and Arizona. We pass through some of the most beautiful country in the Southwest.
Petrified Forest National Park is one of the natural wonders of Arizona. Trees that are millions of years old have turned to stone in unusual shapes.
North of Route 66 is a desert known for its red and yellow sand and rocks. Its name is the Painted Desert.
(MUSIC: “Route 66″/John Mayer)
VOICE TWO:
We continue on our trip, driving on a winding road up and down the Black Mountains. We arrive at Oatman, Arizona. Long ago, Oatman was a rich gold-mining town. Everyone left the town when the mining ended. Today Oatman still looks like it did in the past.
Now we enter California. We pass through the Mojave Desert, some mountains and several interesting towns. The old highway gets lost among the modern road systems of Los Angeles.
“End of the Trail” sign for Route 66 on the Santa Monica Pier. Last November the Route 66 Alliance, a preservation group, officially named the pier as the western terminus. The exact end point of the historic roadway had been in question.
Finally, we arrive at the Pacific Ocean in the city of Santa Monica. Our trip ends. We watch the tide come in, and thank Route 66 for the ride.
(MUSIC: “Route 66″/Buckwheat Zydeco)
VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and Shelley Gollust. Caty Weaver was our producer. I”m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I”m Steve Ember. You can listen to this show and read a transcript at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also get the names of all the artists you just heard singing versions of “Route 66.” And we hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
American History: Panama Breaks With Colombia, Clearing Way for the Panama Canal
BOB DOUGHTY: Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States at the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. He firmly believed in expanding American power in the world.
To do this, he wanted a strong navy. And he wanted a waterway that would let the navy sail quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Roosevelt decided to build that waterway.
This week in our series, Richard Rael and Maurice Joyce tell the story of the Panama Canal.
RICHARD RAEL: For many years, people had dreamed of building a canal across Central America to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The most likely place was at the thinnest point of land: Panama. Another possible place was to the north: Nicaragua. President Roosevelt appointed a committee to decide which place would be better.
Engineers said it would cost less to complete a canal that had been started in the eighteen eighties in Panama. But, the United States would have to buy the land and building rights from a French company. The price was high: more than one hundred million dollars.
So, the committee decided it would be less costly, overall, to build a canal in Nicaragua. The proposal went to the United States Congress for approval.
MAURICE JOYCE: The House of Representatives quickly passed a bill to build the Nicaragua canal. Then the French company reduced its price for the land and building rights in Panama. It decided some money was better than no money at all.
President Roosevelt was pleased. He gave his support to the Panama plan. When the Senate began debate, however, it appeared the Nicaragua plan would win.
Then a volcano exploded in the Caribbean area. A city was destroyed. Thirty-thousand people were killed. Soon, reports said another volcano had become active and was threatening a town. The volcano was in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua’’s president denied there were any active volcanoes in his country. But one of Nicaragua’’s postal stamps showed a picture of an exploding volcano.
loc.gov
A photo dated 1902 shows smoke coming from the Momotombo volcano, the “smoking terror” in Nicaragua
That little stamp weakened support for the Nicaragua canal. The Senate passed a bill for a Panama canal instead. The House of Representatives changed its earlier decision. It approved the Senate bill.
RICHARD RAEL: At that time, Panama was a state of Colombia. Canal negotiations between America and Colombia did not go smoothly. After nine months, the United States threatened to end the talks and begin negotiations with Nicaragua. The threat worked.
In January nineteen-oh-three, Colombia signed a treaty to permit the United States to build the Panama Canal. The treaty gave the United States a canal zone. This was a piece of land ten kilometers wide across Panama. The United States could use the canal zone for one hundred years. In exchange, it would pay Colombia ten million dollars, plus two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year.
The United States Senate passed the treaty within two months. The Colombian Senate rejected it. The Colombian government demanded more money.
MAURICE JOYCE: President Roosevelt was furious. He saw the issue in terms of world politics, not simply Colombia’’s sovereignty. He said: “I do not think Colombia should be permitted to bar permanently one of the future highways of civilization.”
Roosevelt was ready to take over Panama to build the canal.
That was not necessary. A revolt was being planned in Panama to gain independence from Colombia. The United States made no promises to support the rebels. But it wanted the rebels to succeed.
Under an old treaty, Colombia had given the United States the right to prevent interference with travel across Panama. Now, the United States used the old treaty to prevent interference from Colombian troops. Several American warships were sent to Panama.
RICHARD RAEL: The local leader of the Panamanian revolt was Manuel Amador. Amador had the support of the French company that still owned the rights to build the Panama Canal. The chief representative of the company was Philippe Bunau-Varilla. He worked closely with an American lawyer, William Cromwell.
Bunau-Varilla and Cromwell provided Manuel Amador with a declaration of independence, a constitution, and money. Amador used the money to buy the support of the Colombian military commander in Panama City, the capital. He also got the support of the governor, who agreed to let himself be arrested on the day of the revolt.
Amador formed a small army of railroad workers and fire fighters.
The rebel army planned to take over Panama City on November fourth, nineteen-oh-three. Just before that date, five hundred Colombian soldiers landed at Colon, eighty kilometers away.
The soldiers could not get to Panama City, however. All but one railroad car had been moved to the capital.
MAURICE JOYCE: Manuel Amador gave a signal. The revolution began. There was a little shooting, but no one was hurt. Most of the shots were fired into the air to celebrate the call for Panama’’s independence. Colombian officials were arrested quickly. Then Amador made a speech. He said:
loc.gov
Theodore Roosevelt, left, stands with Manuel Amador, center
“Yesterday, we were slaves of Colombia. Today, we are free. President Theodore Roosevelt has kept his word. Long live the Republic of Panama! Long live President Roosevelt!”
Colombia asked the United States to help it re-gain control of Panama. The United States refused. It said it would oppose any attempt by Colombia to send more forces there.
The United States also recognized Panama’’s independence. And, almost immediately, it started negotiations with the new government on a canal treaty.
RICHARD RAEL: The two sides reached agreement quickly. The treaty was almost the same as the one the Colombian Senate had rejected earlier. This time, however, the canal zone would be sixteen kilometers wide, instead of ten. And the United States would get permanent control of the canal zone.
The treaty was signed on November eighteenth, nineteen-oh-three. That was just fifteen days after Panama declared its independence.
MAURICE JOYCE: Colombia protested. It said the United States had acted illegally in Panama. Many American citizens protested, too. They called President Roosevelt a pirate. They said he had acted shamefully.
Some members of Congress questioned the administration’’s deal with the French canal company in Panama. Several investigations examined the deal.
Theodore Roosevelt did not care. He was proud of his success in getting the canal started. He said: “I took the canal zone and let Congress debate. And while the debate goes on, so does work on the canal.”
RICHARD RAEL: It took ten years for the United States to complete the Panama Canal. The first ship passed through it in August, nineteen fourteen.
loc.gov
A ship entering the completed Gatun Lock on the Panama Canal
In that same year, the United States signed an agreement with Colombia. The agreement expressed America’’s regret for its part in the Panamanian revolution. And it provided a payment of twenty-five million dollars to Colombia.
Theodore Roosevelt was no longer president when the agreement was signed. But he still had many friends in the Senate. He got them to reject it.
After Roosevelt’’s death, the United States signed another agreement with Colombia. The new agreement included the payment of twenty-five million dollars. It did not include the statement of regret. The Senate approved the new agreement.
MAURICE JOYCE: The issue of America’’s involvement in Panama caused much bitterness in other countries of Latin America. Some did not feel safe from American interference. President Roosevelt said the United States would not interfere with any nation that kept order and paid what it owed.
Roosevelt was worried because some Latin American countries were having difficulty re-paying loans from European banks. He did not want the issue of non-payment used as an excuse for European countries to seize new territory in the western hemisphere.
Roosevelt said the United States was responsible for making sure the debts were paid. His policy led to further United States involvement in Latin America.
That will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Richard Rael and Maurice Joyce. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English.
Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION — an American history series in VOA Special English.
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This is program #150
