ECHO

ECHO is a very important organization.  It gives people the resources and skills they need to help grow there own food and make a living doing it.  The organization is important because they are not just giving people food, they are giving people the resources to cultivate food for a lifetime.  Its like the old saying goes, "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

I like that ECHO teaches people that you just don't need soil to grow plants in.  They are showing people that you can grow food in many different situations.  They can grow food in urban areas as well using swimming pools, cans, and carpets as resources to promote growth.  This shows that the land does not have to be fertile and you can live in an urban area and still grow food. 

The examples that were showcased in ECHO vary greatly from those of American agriculture.  I'm so used to seeing rows upon rows of one crop.  ECHO teaches people that this is not the only way to do it, that you can intermingle different crops together, which helps promote growth. 

ECHO does a great service for those people living in developing countries.  It gives them the tools to grow their own food and make an income on it.  They want people to be able to support themselves and be able to feed themselves. 

ECHO not only teaches these people how to grow food, but they give these people appropriate technology.  This means that the technology that the people use is appropriate for the environment in which they live as well is not too advanced that the machine being used is expensive to fix.  They want to make sure people can live within their means and are able to use the technology provided to them. 

While ECHO does provide a great service for people, I am not interested in performing my service learning with this agency.  I like the service that the organization provides for people, however I do not like gardening and would prefer to do my service learning with animals.