For our third action project in Policy, we had a chance to find a non-profit organization that needed volunteers. Every students had to submit a proposal that explains why they are interested in serving an organization. We had to do at least three hours of service and I am going to say, I loved. I served GCE H.S because I had some difficulties reaching out to an organizations but I was happy that I decided to work or volunteer on a garden which is a nice way to address human rights. It took the person in charge about 18 months to have her garden idea approved. Bellow is my essay along with images of me and other students.
Before I dug the ground for the soon to be GCE Garden at GCE High School, I was looking for a place to volunteer. I tried to volunteer for a non-profit organizations but time failed me on doing so. I looked for three other organizations– again time did not favor me. I couldn’t find something that I really wanted to do which that brought me closer to something I wanted and love to do. I figured out that GCE was planning to do a garden and I thought this was a chance for me to actually do something that I feel most connected to. Gardening has always been one of my favorite things to do and I was a farm boy for years too. Since the space for the garden was dry, we had to dig a bit with shelves. There were seven or eight GCE students who participated in this awesome digging. I call it creative thinking or digging for truth because the area I dug had some objects that were thrown down or buried for a long time.
While preparing the space some people passed by and they had questions: why are these teens doing this? Most of them had a thought that we were forced to do it as a punishment. I can’t blame them for thinking that way because most teens these days at least in the United States don’t care or are not interested in doing stuff like this. On the other hand people were very happy seeing us doing something that is incredibly good for the environment. I am a young man who cares about the environment very deeply. I always read about health problems that could be easily ignored if we chose to protect our environment.
Three days before me doing this, I attended the Tedx Midwest talk. An Urban Gardening activist, Ron Finley, talked about how many people have no choice but to eat what they see or are given. This has become an issue to the well-being of Americans because diabetes is increasing big time. Us teens showing that we care about the environment is one of the powerful movements that can affect change. At the Lincoln Park Community Center, I learned that it doesn’t take the whole village to make a change but it needs the seed to become something. That something also needs the roots to help it grow strong. At GCE many are inspired to do things and they inspire others to do good things too. That’s what I love the most about doing something like this because we inspire others to make a difference and while working we forgot our differences.
The experiences reminded me that to eat, dress and survive is a hard work. When I was little I worked hard to eat and to survive but when I got here, I was civilized. I forgot that living is hard but joyful. I was reminded that survival for me or for you is something to take seriously.