Getting to Know International Contacts

UNICEF NIGERIA

Solar refrigerators were donated by UNICEF so that children can receive vaccinations (Kaalu, 2017). I did not realize that something as a normal refrigerator could be influential in boosting immunization rates. It makes total sense that the vaccines must be maintained at a certain temperature. Prior to UNICEF donating the solar powered refrigerators, vaccines were kept on ice-lined refrigerators.

NIGERIAN CHILDREN’S DAY

I was surprised to learn about the Nigerian Children’s Day. Nigerian Children’s Day is a day UNICEF calls for an end to violence against children and adoption of Child Rights Acts in all states (Abuja, 2017). Millions of Nigerian children experience some type of physical, emotional or sexual violence. By the time a child turns 18, they have experienced some form of abuse (National Population Commission, 2014). Child Rights Act in 2003 was implemented by Nigeria to control the international Convention on the Rights of the Child (Abuja, 2017). So far, State-wide Child Rights Acts have been passed in 24 of the Nigeria’s 36 states.

Water Sanitation

 

Water sanitation in Nigeria. Children who wanted a simple drink of water had to run all the way home. Because they had to go home to get a quick drink, many of the children would not come back to school. UNICEF provided the funds so that children could have access to clean drinking water (Kaalu, 2017). What a concept; clean drinking water. Many of the children in Flint, MI are living without clean drinking water. Children attending school increased by 30% since adding the clean water pump (Kaalu, 2017).

Abuja. (2017). National children’s day. UNICEF Nigeria. Retrieved from

https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media_11542.html.

Kaalu. (2017). Solar refrigerators boost access to vaccines in Gombe Health Clinics, Northeast Nigeria.

Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media_11539.html.

Kaalu, S. (2017). Provision of water by the EU helps more children to learn at a school in northern

Nigeria. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media_11424.html.

Sharing Resources

Last week I signed up to receive emails on the progress of children who are benefiting from their services. The Global Fund for Children invests in local organizations that work tirelessly to give all children the opportunity to grow up healthy and safe, get an education, and pursue their dreams. GFC provides their partners with strategic support to help them grow bigger, get stronger, and reach even more children in need.

MUMBAI, INDIA – Education in India

They live in slums, on train platforms, and on the streets. They work on fishing docks and in marketplaces and as domestic servants. They are migrants, moving with their families between villages and the city. These are Mumbai’s uncounted and undocumented children, and they are everywhere—except in school. Door Step School is trying to change that. The organization finds vulnerable children and engages them in learning wherever they may be—often on the streets and in the slums where they live, work, and play (GFC, 2011).

Door Step’s innovative and successful projects have had a measurable impact in Mumbai. Door Step reports an overall increase in the number of school-going children in the area it serves. Like Jyoti’s parents, more families are making their child’s education a priority (GFC, 2011).

This is only one of the organizations around the world the GFC supports. Door Step School received the Sustainability Award in 2009, which it used to establish a low-risk reserve fund, contributing to the organization’s long-term viability.

These are the types of successes that challenge me to want to do more.

 Global Children’s Fund (2011). Education comes knocking in India. Retrieved from

http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/education-comes-knocking/.

Expaning Contacts

The Global Fund for Children has advanced the dignity of millions of at-risk children through hundreds of small for the past 20 years. Grassroots allies and supporters are the reason this organization has been able to accomplish what they have. Because of their supporters, girls and boys around the world are getting the help they need to overcome dire circumstances. The children that are helped by GFC can feel safe, get an education, grow, and flourish.

I signed up with this organization because I am interested in child sex trafficking and what is being done to combat this horrific misjustice to many innocent children.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

We have poverty here in the United States. When you read about countries that are still developing, children are more impoverished that we could ever imagine. In Ethiopia a quarter of all children are underweight. In a study published by Outes and Porter (2012), wealthy children is a relative term. Their study found that the wealthiest children are poor when compared to global standards. Their households have less than a dollar to spend. Ironically, their outcomes are better than those children who are underweight.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and the national rate of undernutrition is 44 per cent (Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, 2011). In the Young Lives study 2000 children from around the country were first measured when they were aged six months to 18 months in 2002.

Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (2011). Central Statistical Agency, Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia and ICF International, Calverton, Maryland, USA. Ethiopia 2011 Demographic and Health Survey: Final Report.  Heckman, James: Resources on Professor Heckman’s work available at http://www.heckmanequation.org/content/heckman- 101.

Outes, I. & Porter, C. (2012). “Catching up from early nutritional deficits? Evidence from rural

Ethiopia. Economics and Human Biology in press, corrected proof. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2012.03.001. 

Establishing Professional Contacts

Education Africa: http://educationafrica.org/

Education Africa is an organization that was established in 1992 in South Africa. It is an organization that strives to assist South African disadvantaged children in obtaining a quality, relevant education. This project has been developed to assist caregivers in impoverished communities who are tasked with looking after preschool children while their parents are at work.

South Africa Partners: http://sapartners.org/early-education-2/

South Africa Partners builds mutually beneficial partnerships between the United States and South Africa in the areas of health and education. Having emerged from the U.S. anti-apartheid movement, South Africa Partners was established in 1997.

I have always had an interest in the early childhood education in Africa. This class gives me an opportunity to renew my interests and find out more. I am excited about an opportunity to hopefully build some relationships.

My Supports

Without a doubt, my biggest support is my family. My husband and children have supported me in the good times and the not so good times. When I need a confidant, I can go to my husband and discuss things that I cannot with others. I have someone I can trust with the most sensitive kind of information. I can talk about my day when it did not go so well. Having this support helps with my stress and helps me to continue on.  

I had a job that was so stressful it started to impact my health. I needed to work because my husband had become ill and we really needed the money. I would go to work and cry because the environment was so toxic. I could not trust anyone; I could not talk to anyone; I could not be myself with anyone. It was the worst job I ever had. One day I was at home and my supervisor called me. She was yelling at me so loud, my husband could hear her from across the room. After she hung up the phone (after yelling for about 15 minutes) my husband to said to me, “Tomorrow you go in there and submit your resignation. We don’t need the money that bad to accept that type of abuse”. I said to him, “what are we going to do?” He said, “we’re gonna pray”. I would not have had the courage to do that without his support. I would have continued to work and probably ended up in the hospital. That is what having his support means.

You can never have too much support. Everybody needs somebody.

My Connections to Play

Playing was my way of escaping. We did not have a lot of money growing up, so I would play all kinds of imaginary games. Our parents encouraged us to play outside until the street lights came on. We had to be home by then. Children today play video games, use Snap Chat, Facebook, or any other technological device.

Growing up in my house there was there were not a lot of store bought toys. We did not have money for toys so we had to be creative. I look at the way children grow up now and I think I had it a bit better. You used your imagination; your brain. You had to add and subtract using a pencil and paper; not the Internet or Siri. Playing helped me to be creative and always looking for a solution. Play played an important part in my life; without being able to play I don't know what I would have done. It taught me how to express myself when I didn't have the words. I built friendships through play. I feel disappointed that children do not have the same opportunities that I had growing up.