International Contacts

International Contacts

Unfortunately, I have not received a response back from any international colleague and I had to do the alternate assignment.  However I did learn about Mongolia through the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo#12).  I watched all ten podcasts from the World Forum Foundation radio. 

The podcasts were about the passions that inspire these professionals to help young children.  Not a lot of talk about poverty; however, Meridas Eka Yora, ran an orphanage in Indonesia.  She talked about how you had to be mother and father before becoming the teacher and that the oldest children take care of the youngest.  Irma Allen who lives in Africa talks about the fact that there are no schools.  Children’s learning experiences all take part outside.  The outdoor environment has a lot to teach us and they use natural resources that are available to them.  Maysoun Chehab in Arab trained parents and teachers how to help children that have been through a big conflict such as war.  Teaching adults how to deal with the conflict helps children to deal with it.  Delfena Mitchell ran a home for abused children in Belize.  You could hear her passion in her voice when she talked about a little boy in her program.  Deevia Bhana in South Africa talked about sexual abuse that goes on there.  They believe that having sex with young girls would cure HIV or AIDs this is a scary thought.  It would mean that no young girl is safe from being raped.

World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals.
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

After visiting and researching the website http://www.childhoodpoverty.org, Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre I learned a lot about poverty in Mongolia.  Mongolia went through a rapid structure change that hit families hard, unemployment rose, inflation and prices soared.  There were cuts in basic social services and welfare reduced support.  In 1998 36% of the population was below poverty level.  Poverty was higher in urban areas than rural. 

Before this transition Mongolia’s social services were high standard and accessible to all.  Now access to healthcare for poor families, migrants, and those in remote rural areas is poor.  Health insurance schemes demands user fees and restricts use to these registered as living in that area.  Malnutrition is growing in 1998 30% of children under five had low height for age and 10% were under weight.  51% of population did not have access to safe drinking water.

Many Children were forced to work outside the home for money which resulted in no schooling.  One third of migrants moved to urban areas for better education.  Migrants are four times more likely to drop out of school than long-term residents due to urban schools not accepting migrant children.

This information is not the most recent and I look forward to researching more about Mongolia to see where they are today with poverty.  I still hope that the international colleagues will respond to my emails; however I still plan to research Mongolia further.