Getting to Know your International Contacts - Part I

Despite my numerous attempts to contact an international early childhood educator, I am yet to receive a response.   I have sent out over 20 emails to various international early childhood professionals and organizations, but I have not received any response.  I have been very disappointed by the lack of response and therefore I had to resort to the alternative assignment of listening to the, World Forum Foundation Radio (http://sarah-dev.worldforumfoundation.com/world-forum-radio/) from which I discovered insights from two podcasts.

The first podcast I listened to was by Delfena Mitchell.  Delfena Mitchell is the Director of Liberty Children’s Home in Belize. Liberty Children’s Home cares for up to forty abandoned and abused children, 0 – 5 years (although older children with siblings in care are and will always be accommodated) many of whom also have HIV/AIDS and special needs. They provide an environment where children are respected, nurtured and treated as individuals. They have an excellent reputation for helping children to regain their self-esteem, to develop trust in adults and to form healthy relationships.   In the podcast Delfena , retells a story of a nine year old boy, Joseph who had been abused by his grandmother and had not spoken in over a year. After spending some time with him in the gardens, horse backing riding and homeschooling him, he began to talk again. In a matter of weeks in a nurturing, loving and safe environment, Joseph opened up and spoke about his experiences.

 The second podcast I listened to was by Meridas Eka Yora. Mr Yora is the founder and director of an institution for Islamic education. After the 2004 catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, located in the southern tip of Indonesia, more than 130,000 children were left orphaned.  Mr. Yora worked with others to create three different boarding schools for these young children and he is also the director of the foundation which runs the school. With many of the children witnessing the death of their parents and/or families, they are traumatized. In the podcast Mr. Yora spoke about the fact that this foundation provides teachers them specialized training for working with these children. Before being teachers, they must take on the role of mother and father to help ease the hurt and to promote healing. Essentially, the foundation promotes a family-like environment for the orphaned children. Many of the older children watch out for the younger ones, acting like big brothers and sisters. Mr. Yora and his wife treat the children who are really struggling with this trauma, like they are their own children, which help them live a more normal life.

 After listening to these podcasts, I found that it admirable that there are professionals around the world who are willing to give off their time, energy, and love to help children overcome abuse, poverty, natural disasters, diseases etc. Additionally, it was also evident that secure attachment and strong bonding relationships is essential for the holistic development of children.  Without that family-like support, these children will not be able to reach their optimal development.