For this assignment, I chose the Middle East and North African Regions. I chose these regions because I wanted to get more information on how the people of my four fathers are living and being educated and the effects different things have on their education and learning. UNICEF works with all over the world to help children and their families deal with challenges they face daily.
In this region there are several things that would have an adverse affect on a child's learning and things that would be challenges for children. These things include An End violence initiative. This advocacy motto or theme is to help all children live free without the threat of violence. They believe all children have a right to be free of violence which harms their physical and mental growth. They believe for too many years people have turned a blind eye to the violence in this country and believe once everyone is aware and we work together to end the violence, the children will be protected.
Another challenge is HIV and AIDS. This disease is widespread all over the country. Statistics show "as of 2011, roughly 17.3 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and millions more have been affected, with a vastly increased risk of poverty, homelessness, school dropout, discrimination and loss of life opportunities. These hardships include illness and death. Of the estimated 1.7 million [1.5 million–1.9 million] people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2011, 230,000 [200,000–270,000] of them were children under 15 years of age." UNICEF is one organization that has worked hard to lessen this normal and has worked to help mothers get assistance with medications.
Another challenge they have is nutrition. It is said that with the proper nutrition, children are more productive, healthy and able to learn. "Stunting - or low height for age - traps people into a lifelong cycle of poor nutrition, illness, poverty and inequity. The damage to physical and cognitive development, especially during the first two years of a child’s life, is largely irreversible."
All of these things have adverse effects on children's emotional well being and development. It is very hard to learn when they have so many things fighting against them. If we can work to change these things along with UNICEF, we can help these children become bright, educated, healthy students. These are so many things that students in these countries have to deal with and it takes a village to help these children. Although things such as the many children with HIV/AIDS and the type of violence that some of these children incur may not be to that widespread in the United States, we do have these things here and must work hard not only for our children but also for the children in other countries.
As an educator, I have come in contact with students who have problems in their homes with poverty, gang violence, and also having parents who are incarcerated and these things have an affect on their learning. Some of them act out and others appear saddened as if the weight of the world is on their shoulders. We have to go the extra mile to work on the personal things in the homes and communities that prevent children from being the best they can possibly be. No child should be in the classroom worrying about whether he or she will have food to eat, electricity in the home or whether they will have to run through gunshots in the community to get home. It is up to us to make a difference.
I was enlightened to see how UNICEF has gone up and beyond to lighten the loads of millions of children and their families by helping become more aware of what is going on and raising the funds to make a difference.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html.
All children have the right to live free from violence. Violence which harms their physical and
Seletha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I too picked an African region because I wanted to see how important education was to Nigeria. It was sad to see how children were effected by things such as poor water, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and lack of education just to name a few. As an educator it made me look at the work I was doing here at home and made me want to do more for my mother country and for the children and families I service each and everyday. Thanks again for sharing and the best of luck to you.
Sha'Keema