The habitat

 When I think of my neighborhood back home in Haines city, I think of oranges and Love bugs.  I think of my family and high school friends. My home is blue and white. I prefer Haines city to Fort Myers because I am more familiar with where I grew up. Moving to Fort Myers was hard for me to get over in the beginning. I had asked myself over and over again why had I come to Fort Myers? I never found the answer; living in Fort Myers is not all bad just different. It was harder for me to move than I thought. I missed my family. I have four sisters and one brother. In Haines city, I lived with 2 of my sisters, my parents and 3 nieces and nephews. Also other relatives came in and out. My house is defiantly a hotspot with people coming and going. In Fort Myers, I live in an apartment with not nearly as much people.

I miss the noise of the children running around the house. I miss my mother waking me up early in the morning for no apparent reason other than to annoy me. My neighborhood has changed quite a bit since my move to southwest Florida. More shopping centers have been built and construction has increased tenfold. Wal-Mart was once the biggest shopping center. Now we have a mall, though the mall is not located in Haines city it is near enough that I no longer have to travel to Orlando, which is about a 45-minute drive. Having fun in Haines city all depends on what you consider enjoyable. There’s not too many places to go so most of my time was spent with family or talking on the phone with friends. If you want to go to the movies Downtown Disney is your likely destination. Visiting the Walt Disney World theme park is also a great pastime. Usually someone knows someone who knows someone that works at Disney who can sign people into the park for free.
 Moving to Fort Myers has taught me the value of family and with all of the friends that I have made here I have learned that family is not only by blood.. 

I had frequent soccer practices at the community park when my school was under construction.

  

I pass this place so often that I just had to take a picture.

----------------------------------------------------------The Road to ECHO

     

Echo  

                                             Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization

When I first thought of echo, I thought it would be a place full of badly fertilized plants and tree huggers. I really don't like going outside unless it involves playing sports. However when I got to ECHO t the atmosphere was inviting. I really liked the concept behind all of the technology. For example, the biogas digester that uses organic wastes and creates methane gas for cooking.  Hunger is such a prevalent problem in all countries. I’ve never had to experience severe hunger and I am very grateful for that. However I always wonder about those that are experiencing these tragedies, what are they thankful for?

               The lemons were huge, in the Haitian culture lemons and limes are heavily used for cooking.

Echo has cultured a diversity of plants.

The Maringa tree is known as the Miracle Tree.
The many uses of the Moringa trees have been said to be used to combat malnutrition, among infants and nursing mothers.

 Moringa seeds can be used to sanitize water. One seed treats one liter of water. The Moringa coagulates and clumps together many particles. The water then must be sifted in order to get rid of the inedible matter.

Rice

Different techniques are used for worm Composting.

                                                                           

The Duck/ Tilapia pond was also a clever way of raising farm animals. Because they yeild several benefits. Duck droppings fall into the water and feed the algae. Tilapia live off of Algae and thus humans are able to eat the fish from the water. Ducks are also valuable because they can lay eggs and their size allows for consumption with very little having to go to waste. Since not everyone has access to refrigerators. 

mock homes to show conditions of how others live around the world.

Hillside farming is also a very interesting concept. 

It was very interesting to see what techniques echo has created and borrowed from others to bring to

different people around the world. One thing that I noticed on ECHOS website that I felt was odd was that

Echo does not work with farmers in the United States.

The ECHO website says “Those who suffer from hunger in this country have access to food banks, food stamps, soup kitchens, and charities that help meet their needs. These services are seldom available in developing countries, so ECHO has become an "extension agent to the world."

I thought that was an odd statement. Soup kitchens do run out of food and not everyone qualifies for food stamps or are able to go to food banks. There are people starving right now in America despite all of the programs that are offered. It just seems like there is another reason why ECHO says that they do not want to work with U.S farmers. While ECHO is not the cure of all cures it is a great start.