For
this week’s blog assignment, I wanted to learn more about West and Central
Africa. I decided upon this region because currently in my class I have two
families from Nigeria and during high school and undergrad, I knew several
people who were also from Nigeria. I would often ask them about their country
and I was amazed because they gave me both positive and negative insight on the
country. I am happy to complete this assignment, because I get to learn about
how the country and/or region as a whole, is influencing child development.
According
to the UNICEF website, many things effect a child’s healthy overall
development. “Nearly 2 children out of 10 never reach their fifth birthday,”
(UNICEF). These items include:
·
Polio immunization
·
Nutrition
·
HIV/AIDS
·
Water and sanitation
·
Gender disparity in primary and
secondary education
·
Child/women sexual violence
·
Maternal and newborn health/death
·
Child exploitation
·
Poverty
In
my opinion, all of these adversities affect how children develop emotionally,
mentally, and physically. As a
professional, I found the above items extremely alarming and I wondered how I
would have been if I were born into this region. I can imagine that often
times, these children suffer from losing a limb due to polio and other
infectious diseases, dying from mal/under nutrition, loss of a parent or both
due to HIV/AIDS, and emotional scars and physical scars from sexual
exploitation and sexual violence. I
believe that those children who have lost a parent suffer a great deal; because
they may or may not have another family member who can adequately care for
them.
After
looking over the UNICEF website and the information about West and Central
Africa, I wish there was something that can be done to end the situation in
West and Central Africa. As a
professional in the education field, it saddens me to see that girls are not
allowed to be educated and makes me appreciate the little things and being able
to educate all children. Here below are a few videos that I found
helpful in learning about the region of West and Central Africa.
The links to video are
as follows:
References
Sha'Keema,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree, people I know or have spoken to from Nigeria have said both positive and negative things and when asked if they go back, some said yes and some said no. Man that is sad to hear that half of the children born didn't get to see their 6th birthday. Health care is a huge issue right now I see, not just in America, but all over. While reading your blog I couldn't help but think, how would I respond to a child that has lost both parents or a limb. Children who have suffered such a traumatic event need someone who is patient and has no biases what so ever. Thank you for sharing
Sha'Keema,
ReplyDeleteWhat a significant, yet extremely sad, state of affairs when two out of ten children never live to the young age of five. I can't even imagine living in a community affected by this statistic. Families must constantly deal with the loss of a child, and I can't imagine losing even one. Taking a look at how children are impacted across the world definitely made me realize how grateful I am to live in such a place that is not nearly as impacted by such harsh, negative influences. Of course, we certainly have our share of issues in the United States, but it almost seems like nothing compared to other regions. My hope is that one day there will be enough awareness and advocacy to help children impacted in all areas of the world to receive the support they need.
Our children here in the United States are truly blessed beyond measure. Although they too have their own experiences with hardships, most have never endured such a thing as HIV and other diseases. I can only imagine having to teach these fragile babies in school and wanting them to "GET IT". How can they concentrate on school when they have things like this to think about daily. I have a couple of families also in my class who are from Africa. I remember one of my African little boys were acting out and his mom continuously threatened to take him to school in Africa if he could not get it together. Now hearing this, it saddens me that some children even have to go through this.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad how many difficult things these children have to endure. There are so many things going on that prevent these children from being able to have a decent education. It is truly a blessing to have UNICEF to help in all of these different areas. We are truly blessed in this country and our children have not idea of the poverty and illness and malnutrition and even violence that happens to children in these countries.
ReplyDelete