Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Because  I was unable to get in contact with my two contact people across the country, I decided to do the alternative which was to go UNICEF’s  website and read an article about poverty in one country. According to the article, “Child poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and can be measured in many ways” (UNICEF.org, 2015).  UNICEF has many on-going projects, information, and tools related to child poverty measurement such as, “Monetary and non-monetary approaches to child poverty,  UNICEF-LIS collaboration mapping child poverty in Middle Income Countries, Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA), Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities” (unicef.org, 2015).

              

       I decided to research poverty in Brazil. “More than half of the world’s poor are children. Poor children are more likely to die from pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS, which together with malnutrition are responsible for more than half of the deaths of children under 5 globally” (Rasella, 2013). The Bolsa Familia Program known as BFP was launched in 2003 in Brazil. It is the largest CCT program, with a total of 13.9 million families enrolled in 2012 (Rasella, 2013). “The Programa Saúde da Família (The Family Health Program, FHP) is another large-scale national program, implemented in Brazil over recent years. They  found that both BFP and FHP coverage were associated with a significant reduction of under-5 mortality rates: the Bolsa Famila (BFP) effect was greater when the program had a high coverage (>32%) of the total population in a municipality, and all poor eligible population was enrolled and remained in the programme for 4 years or more.” (Rasella, 2013). 

      Based on my research, I learned that poor children are more likely to catch diseases and hard to fight off due to most families not being able to afford medical insurance. Today, more families are able to get insurance through the government which takes a heavy burden off them. They are more at ease knowing that their child are cared for and able to get treatment and medication. 

http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Child_Povery_Insights_September_2013.pdf

 (http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_childpoverty.html)  

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I chose was the National headstart associate Also known as NHSA. The National Head Start Association vision is to Our vision is “To lead”To be the untiring voice that will not be quiet until every vulnerable child is served with the Head Start model of support for the whole child, the family and the community. To advocate.To work diligently for policy and institutional changes that ensure all vulnerable children and families have what they need to succeed” (nhsa.org, 2015). Their mission is to “coalesce, inspire, and support the Head Start field as a leader in early childhood development and education”  (nhsa.org). Head start has been serving at risk year for many years and began under president Lyndon Johnson.

The internation organization I chose to research is the Association for Childhood Education Internation also known as ACEI. ACEI is a global community of educators and advocates who unite knowledge, experience, and perspectives in order to exchange information, explore innovation and advocate for children” (acei.org, 2015). Their mission is to promote and support the optimal education, development, and well-being of children worldwide (acei.org, 2015).

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On ACEI, there is a section for all newletters and information that are free and available to view. The newsletter that caught my attention was entitled, “Promoting Good Childhood in Kathmandu. This newsletter was in regards to ACEI members and supporters exploring early childhood development in Napal. While there, they held mini summit which was to gain knowledge about what's happening in the world in the area of ECD.... It is a reflection on the condition of ECD in Nepal and provides an opportunity for participants to learn together and hear the voices of people from grassroots level to policymakers” (acei.org, 2015).

Websites

http://www.acei.org

http://www.acei.org/acei-news/promoting-good-childhoods-in-kathmandu

http://www.nhsa.org/

bloggers

This week, I decided to reach out to Helen Ruyeng and Ms. Dominique. Helen is a blogger at   UNICEF connect. I reached out to Helen to see her views on Early Childhood in various countries and Education background. Ms. Dominique of Haiti work for NAEYC. The two individiuals were asked about their background on early childhood and the importance of early childhood in various countries. I do believe i will have to go with plan b since i have noit received feedback yet

Thank you fellow classmates EDUC 6160

I would like to thank everyone in Group 2 for contributing to my blog posts. I am grateful for your response to my blog and the gratitude that came with it. May God bless you all and I wish you all the best of luck.

Sincerely,

    Ashley Hankerson

Chaos

                Growing up, I must say that I was pretty spoiled. Being the first child, grand child and great grand child, I was given so many opportunities and was showered with gifts and other things. I will say for the most part,  I had a pretty good life, but there were certain parts that performed a lot of chaos.

                When I was 10, I moved from my grandmother house into my mom and step dad house. While living there,  I felt like I was living in hell. I felt a lot of times that they hated me. Growing up, I remember my step dad calling me a bastered child, saying that I was jealous because my siblings had both parents in their life and that my father didn’t want any part of me, and sometimes making me not eat because I did something wrong. When I turned 12, my aunt, my mother sister decided to take full custody of me. After moving from my mother house, my life got back on track.

                The region or country in the world that I like to know more about is my own country, the USA. I chose my country, because something’s that goes on in our country I totally do not agree with such as raising money for other countries that are dealing with poverty, adopting children from other countries, and focusing more on other nations than our own nation. I do not mean to sound bitter, but times I get frustrated when I see my country do more for other countries then they do for their own. For example, there is a lot of poverty, violence, hunger, chaos, Racism in our own country, but yet we fail to focus on that. I never understood why we focus more sometimes on children from other nations, when we have children here living below the poverty line, being abused, dealing or living around violence, starving, and living in pure chaos. Sometimes I think its better if we take the time and focus on our country and fix the issues here first.

Breastfeeding

                Breastfeeding your baby is a personal matter that can keep your baby healthy and strong. Breast milk provides lots of nutrients for infants which can help fight off germs and antibodies that cause sickness. Breast milk is nearly a perfect mix of vitamins, protein, and fat, which is everything that helps a baby grow (WebMD.com, 2014). Breastfeeding your baby lowers risks of your baby having allergies or even asthma (WebMD.com, 2014). “Breastfeeding has been linked to higher IQ scores in later childhood studies” (WebMd, 2014). Some benefits for moms who breastfeed is the extra calories you burn which can help you lose weight. “Breastfeeding lowers your risk of breast and ovarian cancer”(webMD.com, 2014).  

                Breastfeeding is meaningful to be because it provides so many health benefits for the baby as well as the mother. As a mother, I breast fed my son for about six months and I must say, I am thankful that I did decide to breast feed because I never really had to take off from work due to my son being sick. My son was considered a healthy baby boys and doctors stated to me, "You breastfeeding your baby protects him from different diseases that are out here. The only downfall about breastfeeding my baby is that he was constantly hungry so at times I would do half breast milk and half Similac milk to keep him full longer. Overall, I would recommend breastfeeding your baby due to the major benefits it provides.

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/nursing-basics

Birthing experience

My birthing experience was an amazing experience. In the beginning, I suffered with a low lined placenta and was placed on bed rest when I was close to my six month mark. I enjoyed feeling my baby move, hearing his heart beat, and watching my belly grow. At 38 weeks, I went to the doctor to have a weekly visit. When they checked my weight, I had gained 20 pounds in a week due to fluid in my feet. When the doctor checked my blood pressure, my pressure was so high that they had to admit me to the hospital. My labor was induced and at 10:48 I gave birth to a 7lb 8 oz baby boy name Elijah on June 20, 2011. Giving birth is an awesome experience and I would gladly do it again.