International Contacts

I was unable to establish contact with any international educators via our website resource list. However, I have a friend, Dani, that is working with the PeaceCorps in Mali as a volunteer with a local school.  I'm able to keep in contact with her through Facebook.   She is working with the school board, teachers, and willing parents to help them understand their role in education.  When I asked her about poverty in Mali, she wrote:

"...Education is not something of importance to most villagers, especially when it come to girls education (because their place is working in home, cooking, caring for children, etc.) Parents send their children to school when they have the money (equal to about $3/student/year for 1st cycle).-meaning in some families only one or two children are able to go. In my village, the money goes to the school board, who is responsible for seeing that all the teachers' houses are well kept, and they also pay the two teacher's salaries. At times, the money can be supplemented for bags rice, students doing chores, fetching water, planting, rebuilding walls that have fallen down in the rain, -pretty much anything... The school year is from Oct- June, working around the planting season, however most of October is consumed with harvesting, which is a priority over attending school.

From personal experience, I have found the education system, and the school in my village a huge challenge. ...Seeing 80 students in one classroom crammed four to a bench, broke my heart, because I knew there was no way all of those students were learning, and no way to have one on one time at all, ever with the teacher-that is just not the way things are run here. Once I was working with a third grader writing letters in the dirt. When asked the letter, he couldn't tell me unless he started reciting the alphabet from the begining to reach that letter. In the 2nd, and 3rd grade classes, USAID provided a board with removable letters I have found that the students can identify the letters when pointed to if they are in the correct order, but not if I mixed up the order."

Also, she wanted me to share her blog link with you. http://bygollymali.blogspot.com/

My other contact is the International School Educators which I contacted through Facebook, too.  I'm not able to discuss independently with a single educator yet but I am receiving responses to my posts. In regards to poverty, ISE responded that the effects of poverty for educators varies from country to country but teachers needs are almost always meet.  They also stated that teachers may find it difficult to see the poverty in the village they are teaching but the villagers adapt by relishing in their culture and heritage. https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/International-School-Educators/126726737416062

This week I've learned that poverty in America is very different from poverty in other parts of the world.  I've learned that poverty tends to be generational but with the recession many first time families are being disadvantaged because of job loss.  There are local, state, and federal resources available to help individuals and families that suffer from generational or temporaray poverty.  It's not always easy to escape the hardships of poverty but there are organizations and/or programs that are dedicated to helping individuals become self-sufficient. As an early childhood educator, there are many resources in my hometown as well as on the worldwide web at my disposal for helping the children and families that I work with that may be disadvantaged for any amount of time. The effects of poverty on a young child's development can be negative and long-lasting so it's important that we provide the necessary support to counteract the negative effects of poverty.