My family and I had the wonderful experience of visiting the ECHO farm Saturday, June 18th 2011. I had no idea what strides this organization has made and currently working towards to end world hunger. We participated in the Global Farm Tour, which my one and only complaint was that our tour guide was up in years and seemed more interested in getting the tour over as quickly as possible due to the heat. He rushed through many areas that I a long with other participants wished to view areas for a lengthier amount of time. Other than this one criticism I was completely blown away with their assortment of plants and planting methods.
One method which really fascinated me was the rooftop garden. With the use of tires, pine cones, soda cans and other assorted objects they demonstrated how people living in crowded areas which do not promote growing in fields or on ground can plant seeds to grow an assortment of vegetables and fruits on their roof to feed their families.
I was also dumbfounded with the information provided of the smoke inhalation endured by people in certain areas while cooking. Our guide explained that while a mother might be cooking over a fire with her baby or small child on her back the child receives the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes a day from smoke inhalation. Their solution to this problem is a very ingenious set up, a tank filled part with manure and water turns into gas within a few days and travels and is stored in a half deflated tire. When it is time to cook, they now use a gas stove top which runs from the gas tire to the stove, solving the problem of breathing in smoke.
Along the tour we were treated to a few different leaves of the plants that are grown in different areas of the world to combat hunger. The one that made the most impact in my opinion is the moringa, or miracle tree. The nutritional value in one serving of the leaves is amazing and even more amazing is the impact that it has had on members of poor areas that are nutritionally deficit. From our guides tales of the importance of the plants nutrition my wife and I could not pass up the opportunity to buy one of these trees ourselves for our own yard with hopes of benefiting from it’s incredible nutritional worth.
ECHO is a great organization which I hope lasts for generations to come. The breakthroughs, the strides against hunger and their pure wanting to make the world healthier and happier is an amazing feat which they should be commended for. Regretfully they don’t receive government grants due to their being an inter-denominational Christian organization, which I do not believe is a valid reason for our government to overlook the value of these peoples work. I am very proud that such an organization is in this world with so many going hungry every day and I plan to support them in any way I can.
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