I had to go with the alternative assignment and watched a podcast from Delfena Mitchell. Delfena Mitchell is the Director of the Liberty Children’s Home in Belize. The center serves children from age birth to five years of age and sometimes older based on whether family is already at the center.
From listening to the podcast I learned about the struggle of a nine year old boy. He was kicked out of school because he was not developmentally ready. It was Delfena Mitchell who was able to get the boy to open up about the experiences that he had at home. She found out that his grandmother would hit him with a stick and his food would be taken away from his family members. He talked about having to hide under his bed with his food so that he was able to eat everything that was given to him. I emailed Delfena Mitchell and she has not gotten back to me. Therefore, I went to http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/ to find out more information.
“The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP) is a collaborative research and policy programme which involves Save the Children, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and partners in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and MongoliaAchieving change to tackle childhood poverty involves” (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php). From this site, I learned that over 600 million children world-wide live in poverty and that 10 million children die every year form diseases that could have been prevented. CHIP was set up to start filling the gap about the knowledge of childhood poverty due to the fact that some countries know very little.
Something that I wanted to share with everyone from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php• Positive action at different levels
• Positive change in a range of policy areas
• Attention to policy implementation as well as content
• Effectively using research findings
• targeting key fora and institutions/departments who make and influence policy
I have learned so much from this week but I think the most important thing that I have learned was to listen. Children need time to open up and by actively taking part in their life they will feel more comfortable to share their stories. We need to get the information out there that poverty is everywhere we look and we need to start making changes. The main thing that we need to remember is, “Lost opportunities in childhood cannot always be regained later - childhood is a one-off window of opportunity and development. Poverty experienced by children, even over short periods, can affect the rest of their lives” (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/).
Taking time to listen truly is one key component on battling childhood poverty. That can often be the first step. Thank you for sharing the information from the CHIP website, and the story about the young boy. I wonder, had someone listened earlier, would that little boy have had to face the struggles in school at the age of 9?
ReplyDeleteHello Charlotte, ejoyed reading your post. You would have thought the school would have look at the overall circumstances as to why he was not developing. Thank you Delfena Mitchell for your observation and concern. As an educator our job goes beyond teaching, observation is vital when it comes to a child's life. CHIP is a very informative website that I to found to be resourceful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this story.
The one thing from your blog post that stands out to me is how many children die from diseases that can be prevented from a vaccine or proper drinking water or cleaner conditions. All of this being so preventable makes it difficult to understand how this can happen.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that with all the information and knowledge we have, we still have poverty. It just proves how complicated poverty is and how it can be passed down from generations.
ReplyDeleteIt is so horrible to hear that this is what children are going through right now and I think it is powerful motivation to get people to take action but hopefully people would think to take preventative measures to ensure that things like this don't have the chance of happening.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte -
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you were unable to contact Delfena Mitchell, which would be a great contact. I agree that poverty is something that everyone must tune into to and attempt to change. It is horrible, that children experience any sort of poverty but I am thankful that there are foundations, organizations and cooperation’s that are available to help educate others on the changes that need to be done.
Thank you,
Schlee