Deborah Layton claimed, following her defection, that people in Jonestown were malnourished and only ate rice and vegetables. That myth has been around for years now, even though it’s been quickly debunked by actual Jonestown residents who spent months in the compound and worked the fields. Another claim from Layton was that people working the field had no break and had to walk a long distance from the field to kitchen. That myth has also been debunked. People working too far had a lunchbox so they could eat on site. The hours in the field were long, from early in the morning to the evening, but according to Andrea Walker, who actually worked there for a while, they had several breaks and an hour for lunch. Her testimony and other peoples testimonies are far different from Layton’s claims :
Andrea Walker arrived in Jonestown in March 1978 and had to leave in September or October for family reasons.
‘Many people got diarrhea, that’s true (Layton claimed people were sick because the food was terrible) But it wasn’t because they were starving us. It was because of the climate and the strangeness of the food.’
Those who were underweight were given special snacks three times a day. Every Sunday they were weighed by the nurses.
‘When I got there I was very heavy. I weighed 130 pounds, but my weight dropped to 105 pounds after I had diarrhea. I was pleased because that was what I really should have weighed. Even so, I was given milk shakes and eggs because I hadn’t adjusted to the local food. We had to eat things we had never eater before — cassava, eddoes, dasheen, cutlass bean. But we got accustomed and I started to love it. We also had a lot cheese, noodles and rice. Once a month we had chicken. We had shark and as much fish as we could eat.
Admittedly, there were days when they had just rice and vegetables. Nevertheless, Deborah Layton had only concentrated on the bad parts. Children were given eggs twice a week and the Jonestown medical staff paid close attention to their protein intake. Pregnant moths had milk as well as eggs. The food gradually improved through the months. Jonestown was still expanding. ‘Layton wasn’t there long enough. She didn’t know what Jim had in the piggery and what we had. She worked most the time in the radio room and in Georgetown. I don’t know why they want to present Jonestown as if it was a horror. ‘
‘American reporters were looking for a bad story.’ Add her companion who was also in Jonestown ‘They were looking for a quick buck and that was the easiest way. If they saw something good, they wouldn’t print it in the paper.’
‘They looked after us. Everyone had regular physicals. Dentists came round,’ add Andrea Walker.
Andrea Walker’s testimony is backed up by Tim Carter, “I’ve read a lot of bullshit out there that this was, that people were being starved to death intentionally, or being malnourished”, but also Hue Fortson, and Odell Rhodes. They also all mention they had a short time period where there was, only, mostly rice and vegetables, accompanied by staples and the occasional fish (mostly shark).
Resources : Black and White by Shiva Naipaul, Awake in a Nightmare by Ethan Feinsod and Odell Rhodes, jonestown.sdsu.edu
James Warren Jones 