Around the World

I chose eastern and southern Africa, because my in laws recently visited that area and I learned a bit about some of the people who live and work there. When I looked at the regional website it stood out to me that the press releases were about war, malnutrition, and getting safe drinking water.

This area is plagued by war and disease with very little access to proper care.  While there are affluent and middle class areas, many of these countries have a large population of poverty.  There is are four topics highlighted on the main page.  One is about a little boy who was saved from a fighting camp and was about helping villages get clean water.  These issues directly relate to the well-being of the children in these villages. 

When children and families are fearful and lack proper nutrition their emotional well-being and development will suffer.  Many of these children will grow up early and take on the adult world before they have had the opportunity to learn and practice social-emotional development.

As a professional this really puts things into perspective for me.  As a Head Start teacher I deal with children that are at risk daily, but I have never had to deal with something as serious as children training to fight in a war.  I know many teachers that travel to this part of the world to help, and my hat is off to them for their service to these children and families.