#6--ECHO

ECHO was  a pretty unique place to visit.  I can't believe that people actually intern here and literally live off of the land.  There were a lot of things that stood out to me.  There were so many different types of plants and were grown in 6 different "types of land".  It was neat that they had live animals there too to help out with their crops-so cute =].  Here are a few different things that I learned:

-They have a tilapia pond that is big enough to feed a village.  It had a lot of ducks kept in it so that their waste would feed the algae in the pong which in turn would feed the fish.
-One of the plants' ( I can not remember the exact name) seeds can be ground up and placed in a 2 liter bottle of dirty water.  After 2 hours of sitting the water is 95% pure.
-A lot of animals (goats, chickens, rabbits) are used to help produce manure to help feed the plants.
-rice can be grown 2 different ways--the traditional way in a flood ground with seeds planted far apart or in a slightly moist area with seeds placed close together.  The difference between the two is that there is more weeding to be done by the women in the dry area.

After seeing all of the different cookers and grinders, I have to say that we have it easy in our country.  I could never imagine growing, picking, and grinding my own rice like that.  I can't believe people across the world literally have to build their own miniature cooker to have meals!  I feel that the work done at ECHO is relevant to the developing world because it is important to make use of what you have to be able to survive.  In foreign countries they do not have the types of luxuries available to them as we do to us.  (making use of appropriate technology--using what you have to make what you can) 

Even though ECHO was a really neat place to visit, I do not think that this is somewhere I would like to volunteer.  I do not think that it really suits my personality.

My friend Mikey pumping the water!

Two ways to grow rice

Solar ovens