Dear Colleagues,
I have continued to try and get in
touch with the childhood professionals from the podcasts I have watched, but I still
have not heard back from them. For this week’s blog assignment, I had to visit
the “Global Children’s Initiative” website. There was a great amount of
information on this website and I gained a few insights. Before I explain the
insights that I gained, I want to share information about another podcast I viewed.
I watched the podcast that featured
Ms. Delfena Mitchell. She lives in Central America in the country of Belize.
Ms. Mitchell explained that Belize has the highest rate of child abuse and
neglect in Central America. In 2005, she founded an organization called Liberty
Foundation, which provides residential care and education for children whom
have been abused and/or abandoned. The Liberty Foundation began to provide high
quality education for preschoolers within the community in 2006. This was
enlightening! One last thing that I would like to share with you all is the
story that Ms. Delfena Mitchell shared. There was a child who was abused and
did not talk for a whole year. When that child came to the Liberty House, that
child was given time to heal, which included medication, horseback riding, and
even gardening. These things helped that child begin to talk again. Ms.
Mitchell explained that it is important to give people time to heal if they
have experienced harsh things such as abuse and neglect.
Now, I will share the insights I learned
from Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative website. I gained
insight about how new scientific
knowledge can inform innovative global strategies. For example, strengthening
adult capacities to improve child outcomes. I also gained insight from the
article, “Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at
a Time” (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013). This article explained that “combining short-term survival efforts with attention to children’s developmental needs only magnifies the long-range benefits for individuals and societies” (Lawton, 2013). Another insight I learned was about the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP). This was about measuring the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia. Here is more information from the website:
a Time” (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013). This article explained that “combining short-term survival efforts with attention to children’s developmental needs only magnifies the long-range benefits for individuals and societies” (Lawton, 2013). Another insight I learned was about the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP). This was about measuring the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia. Here is more information from the website:
“The ZECDP created a
new comprehensive instrument for assessing children’s physical,
socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their
schooling careers—the first assessment tool of its kind in Zambia. Completed in
May 2010, the Zambian Child Assessment Test (ZamCAT) combines existing child
development measures with newly developed items in order to provide a broad
assessment of children of preschool age in the Zambian context” (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013).
Additional information about issues
of equity and excellence I acquired would be that there are people and
organizations all over the world who share one main goal. That goal is to help
young children.
References
Episode 3:
Delfena Mitchell [Audio podcast]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio/
Liberty Foundation (n. d.). Our story. Retrieved from http://www.libertyfoundation.org.uk
The President
and Fellows of Harvard College (2013).Center on the developing child. Retrieved
from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/
I am happy to hear that places like Liberty House exist and people like Ms. Mitchell are recognized for their support of young children. I think that Ms. Mitchell has established a place where hope can be restored. She's giving these abused and neglected children a sense of feeling safe, loved and supported. I commend Ms. Mitchell for her selfless efforts.
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI found the information about the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) to be very interesting. I especially liked the part about the new comprehensive instrument for assessing children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling careers. I think that I would like to learn more about this. Thank you for sharing this information. I enjoyed reading this weeks blog as it was full of a lot of very useful information
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThe Center’s commitment to global work represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent. We are striving for fairness for all and I am happy children who have some severe stressors in their lives can get a second chance. keep up the good work of sharing such insights.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThe Liberty Foundation seems like an excellent opportunity for children in need. The United States needs more programs like that so that unwanted children, especially the ones who will never be adopted, can feel as little deprivation as possible. As a child I never went horseback riding or gardening so I am glad that these children are permitted to do this to aid in the healing process.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI listened to the same podcast as you and I found this woman to be inspiring and motivating. She is doing so much for the children in her country and has very little. I was shocked to hear that Belize is the number one country for abuse and neglect. I think all too often professionals forget about the smaller countries. How do you plan on using the information from the podcast to help motivate your plans as an early childhood educator?
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear of the work that Ms Mitchell has been doing in Belize. I was surprised to hear of the level of child abuse and neglect among children in that country. I am happy that the children there are getting the therapy needed to heal and move on. This week I also chose to examine the Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative website. The information on this sight helped me to understand the purpose of the site and its objectives. I got the opportunity to read about what they have been doing all around the world. I found most insightful the article by Shonoff (2013) on ‘Strengthening adult capacities to improve child outcomes. He discusses the need to build stronger foundations for children