Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

When searching for podcasts one really jumped out at me and caught my attention. It was by a woman named Irma Allen who is the Chairperson of the Swaziland Environment Authority (the equivalent of the EPA in the United States), and a member of the World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children. She lives in Swaziland, a small kingdom between South Africa and Mozambique. Irma has a very strong passion for early childhood itself but specifically for the nature dimension of early childhood. One of the challenges in the EC area that she faces is training the community people and teachers to become teachers of the early years. What is different in this area is the fact that there are no classrooms, nature is the classroom. The local environment is the preschool center as well as the materials and everything. In this area they rely vastly on the grass, the trees, the weather more than ever. When there is water and when it is raining they take that opportunity to work on water activities. Doing this creates a greater respect for the environment and conservation, where the environment gives us lessons about life and death and that decomposition leads to new life. She speaks about one of the first students of the early childhood center that joined them for a farewell party they had had for a women there that was a teacher. He spoke during this party about how his early childhood experiences had taught him how to appreciate his home country and his environment and how those experiences gave him strength and determination later on in life. He felt that he had a place in life and a role to play. During his struggles and failures throughout his life he always kept thinking about how important his early childhood was and the experiences he had.

Sometimes we can take for granted the fact that here in the U.S. we have classrooms to teach in, materials such as blocks, puppets, books to use to teach our students. In some places around the world all they have is the nature and environment around them to use as their materials and manipulatives. Having teachers and educators like Irma Allen that spends there time focusing on the children that are less fortunate than the children here in the U.S. is amazing. She is giving the children of Swaziland an amazing early childhood experience using the resources that are available to them.

Since reading this podcast I became more interested in South Africa’s childhood poverty level. I read an article where the title was “More than half of South Africa’s children live in poverty”. This really grabbed my attention. I was unable to link to childhoodpoverty.org, so I had to search out my own resources. Aislinn Laing (2012) the author of this article posted by the Telegraph in the UK gave us some disturbing news, the Unicef report found that 1.4 million children live in homes that rely on often dirty streams for drinking water, 1.5 million have no flushing lavatories and 1.7 million live in shacks, with no proper bedding, cooking or washing facilities. Aida Girma, Unicef's South African representative, said that two thirds of child deaths were preventable with simple improvements in primary care for children and that if "drastic" changes were not made immediately, South Africa would fail to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals of eradicating child and maternal mortality and malnutrition (Laing 2012). Reading this article broke my heart and I can’t fathom what life is like for children in South Africa.

Reading more and more about the poverty levels in children around the world just becomes more disturbing for me. I am actually ashamed that I haven’t realized the severity of these struggles children face sooner. There is more demand now that ever to educate people about childhood poverty here in the U.S. and around the world. I am very lucky for what I have in my life and the materials we are offered here to help in educating our children.

Here is the link to the article about childhood poverty in South Africa.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9280481/More-than-half-of-South-Africas-children-live-in-poverty.html

Sharing New Resources

zerotothree.org

The organization that I chose to focus on is Zero to Three, National center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Zero to Three provides information to parents, professionals and policymakers about the knowledge and know how on how to nurture early development. Their mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers. The Zero to Three site contains information on behavior and development, maltreatment, and the care and education of infants and toddlers. Under each individual section (health & development, maltreatment & care and education) Zero to Three provides articles and readings on each topic in a more in depth look and provides areas of interest that pertain to that subject. In my opinion Zero to Three is an amazing resource when looking for concrete information regarding the development and well being of infants and toddlers.

One of the current issues that caught my eye on the What’s New caption on Zero to Three website is the Child Development Case for a National Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program. This is an important topic to me because of the relationships between parents and children have in the early stages of life and how they shape the developing brain. It is important for parents to be there in the early stages of their child’s life in order to build these experiences needed for proper development of the child. It also gives parents the time they need to chose a proper child care setting to place their little one in when it does come time to return to work. This early bonding experience is something that parents cannot get back and is crucial for them to have. This leave act also gives the parents the opportunity to take care of any early medical needs their child may need at that time. Positive, consistent relationships during a baby’s early years yield confident individuals who are better equipped for success in school and life, paving the way for a higher quality workforce and strong economic growth (Zero to Three 2013).

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Unfortunately I have just moved and have not been able to set up internet access yet, so when trying to listen to podcasts where I have had the access to internet connection I have been unable to do so. I also have not had luck with contacting professionals so I have decided to research Save the Children and and The Global Fund for Children. I have signed up for emails for both foundations to receive updates and anything new regarding the foundations and am looking forward to getting mail from both. I am also on my way to contacting professionals from both foundations.

In regards to researching one of the early childhood foundations websites I have chosen Zero to Three, National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. I have always been drawn to the research on the development of infants and toddlers and this is something that is a passion of mine. With my work in the early childhood field it has come to my attention the need to inform parents and educational professionals on the importance of early experiences in the lives of infants and toddlers.

I would love to know how others have done with contacting professionals and any tips they may have regarding this.