Service Time in Upis

by Callyn Saylor

We worked in a greenhouse that had the bottom made out of brick. It was cold outside, but it was just right inside. The greenhouse took a lot of the schools money, so they had the greenhouse but no tools to plant with, so the first day we gave them tools that we worked with to plant and groom.

The first day I walked in and took off three layers at least, and got right to work; we started with weeding out all the plants finding small orangish white carrots and chewing on them till they were gone. As we worked, the children from the school would throw snowballs at us through the holes in the brick part of the green house. Then we made the beds; flattening the dirt and making it all level with the garden tape.When we finished making all the dirt level it was tea time and the end of work for the day. The next day we planted carrots and potatoes and so much more.

 All of them had to be planted in a certain way–some had one inch deep trenches some had two inch deep holes that we made with our fingers. When we finished planting,we went outside and they told us that these plants would be going in soups and salads that the children would eat for lunch, and that they did have lunches provided by the government but those lunches were not vary nutritional or good. It was amazing to see how we would be helping the children and how much of an impact we made just by giving a little time.