Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

For this week’s blog assignment I decided to research the country Mongolia.  I chose Mongolia because I wanted to learn more about a country which I was not too familiar with. In 1990 Mongolia went from a socialist country to a multi-party democratic state. Due to the transition Mongolia has experienced hard time in getting back on its feet and above poverty level. The adjustment and changes to the economy has also called for basic services and welfare to be reduced. Mongolia was once a country that had various resources to help all families but because of the transition some families have had to go without basic needs.  According to the article, in 1998 36% of Mongolia’s population was living below the income poverty line. Majority of the families affected by poverty are presided over female households and impact the lives of children 0-16 years of age. I found very interesting how poverty and the transition influenced the children of Mongolia. Many Mongolian children are forced to work to help support their families and had to give up their right to education to support the one’s they love most.  Hopefully with time Mongolia can get to a point where they can reduce the numbers of families below or at the poverty line and put into place a system which aids all families in need.

Reference

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Changing demographics and diversity are changing the way educators, families and children address education. This week’s lesson on demographics and diversity pushed me to want to know more about the UNICEF. I decided to research the UNICEF partly because of its name United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. I wanted to know more about the International aspect and learn about the UNICEF, and what it means for all children.  UNICEF believes in uplifting all children, regardless of social class, race, gender, or any other discriminatory factor. Diversity is huge aspect of education and educators must be open-minded to all demographic s of students.  The purpose of UNICEF states, “We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress.  UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind – to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path.  We believe that we can, together, advance the cause of humanity” (UNICEF). In some countries girls are not afforded a right to education and with the help of the UNICEF, girls are afforded the same education as boys.  UNICEF promotes diversity and over the next few weeks I want to learn about all programs and resources provided by the UNICEF.

                 

http://www.unicef.org/index.php

This week marks a new start to another class on my graduate studies journey. I was asked to contact two early childhood professionals and so I decided to contact the following to establish communication:

2kdotcom@ghana.com (Ghana)

arebimbo@yahoo.com (Nigeria)

sannas@ycef.com (Hong Kong China)

sabtodomigo@unicef.org (Dominican Republic)

I have not been able to contact anyone as of yet and strongly believe I may need to choose the alternate assignment for Part 1.  I chose to contact professionals from countries I knew very little about to gain as much knowledge as I could about early childhood education and their country. I decided to select the National Black Child Development Institute. The National Black Child Development organization believes in advocacy and helping all families in improving their way of life. I felt it was important to gain as much knowledge about children and programs of color, which could benefit me in my classroom daily.