Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week Amos Balongo shared with me information about Kenya’s school system. He told me that where a child lives makes all the difference.  A child who grows up in the urban areas of Kenya goes first to nursery school. Then the child goes to kindergarten which he described as a mixture of preschool and kindergarten in the United States. Then the child would attend primary school for the rest of their education. 

However Amos also told me about education in the rural areas of Kenya. He said unless the child comes from a wealth background it was not rare for them to not go to school until primary school and even then they might start primary school later in life. 

From this week I see that in Kenya if a child does not come from money or life in the right parts of Kenya that their education suffers. 

Sharing Web Resources

“The federal budget is an important moral statement of what we value as a nation and where our priorities lie. This year, the federal budget process is more important than ever. Many states are facing budget shortfalls and the deficit is at a record high. CDF believes investing in programs for children and youth is the long-term answer to our country’s budget problems. We will keep a close eye on the budget process, looking carefully at what funding increases or decreases are being proposed and how funding for these programs will affect millions of children and low income families across the country.”

The Children’s Defense Fund is taking a similar stand as The Rand Corporation. They realize that our country is going through some economic difficulties. However their stand is for different reasons then economist, they are trying to keep the money for the children and not see it get cut, so they are making a plan that will appeal to the economist and politicians. 

This week I had also received an email from the Children’s Defense Fund and found the information to be very interesting and relevant to this weeks topic:

“Did you know that in 2010 General Electric reaped pretax profits of $5.1 billion in the United States but paid nothing in federal income taxes? Had GE paid the full 35 percent corporate tax rate, it would have paid $1.8 billion in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Instead, GE reported $3.3 billion in tax benefits! In total, GE's federal tax breaks in 2010 were over $5 billion!

This lost revenue could have been used to fund an additional 670,000 eligible preschoolers in Head Start, creating at least 67,000 new jobs for teachers.

Imagine if all corporate loopholes were closed. Politicians in Washington have a decision to make. And we must insist they make the right choices by choosing education over corporations. They must protect children and education from all budget cuts and close corporate loopholes.”

The CDF is keeping their eye on what our government is doing and trying to show how the decisions they are making are not necessarily benefiting our future which investing in education would benefit our future.

The Children’s Defense Fund is really giving children a voice, I just hope that the CDF is listened to and making a difference. In order for them to be successful they need the support of others, including our government. 

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

For this weeks assignment I only heard back from one of my contacts, Amos Balongo. Amos does many things in Kenya related to children and serves on a board for all of Africa to make choices for children but Amos's passion is Camp Ohana and he is the Chairman. Camp Ohana "has a singular focus, which is the development of underprivileged, orphaned Kenyan children into compassionate adults who are successful leaders in their communities and in an increasingly globalized world. The Foundation will accomplish this through the creation of an educational camp program called Camp Ohana."(Camp Ohana).


I emailed Mr. Balango and asked him about poverty in Kenya and this is what he sent me.


"Hi Amy,

Poverty in Kenya is a topic that I almost can not discuss in one sitting as it takes many shapes and forms.

At the center of it all is the fact that many kenyans do not have access to the basics which is food, water, shelter and clothing. The unemployment rate in Kenya Hoovers at about 40% with a population of about 34 million.

Water is life, with that said, I want to discuss one of the contributing factors to poverty in Kenya and that is lack of water. Please visit www.campohana.org and check out our projects. There you will find information on the clean water project.

Additionally you will find information on our health and wellness program that my foundation runs in kenya. This is another way that we are dealing with extreme poverty in Kenya."


After reading my email I went and checked out the website and found...
"Over 50 percent of Kenyans are living below the poverty line. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has compounded the deteriorating health standards and resulted in growing destitution, and unprecedented levels of poverty.
The water crisis in Kenya is disrupting social and economic activities throughout the country. Unfortunately, the current wave of droughts and water shortages in Kenya and the rest of East Africa is only expected to continue" (Camp Ohana). Amos along with others are working to change the water and poverty situation in Kenya. 


Please visit the website, it was very inspiring to see that people can make changes. www.campohana.org

Issues and Trends: Changing Demographics and Diversity

Children’s Defense Fund. http://www.childrensdefense.org/

The Children’s Defense Fund’s main focus is to provide a voice for all children. 

Their mission statement states:

“CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown.” 

This past newsletter I received went out right before the forth of July and it was a “Declaration for Dependents”, it was a declaration for our children. What needs to be done in order to provide for them. 

They also discussed “Closing The Achievement Gap Before It Starts”, they want everyone to have equal opportunity and some cultures are suffering and they want to close those gaps.

Another issues that were discussed were, “Making the Case for Full-Day Kindergarten”, “From Freedom Rides to Freedom Schools”, “Dozens of Dynamic Workshops at Proctor Institute”, and “Happy 45th Anniversary Medicaid”.

After reading the newsletter for this weeks assignment I did see the connection between our weekly topic and the newsletter. In the newsletter I read about “Closing The Achievement Gap Before It Starts”, this article is about not having achievement differences between different races. Its showing that our culture is changing and we are trying to bring equality to education.

I also believe that the Children’s Defense Fund’s mission to give all children a voice relates to our topic. All children include all children from different cultures, different backgrounds, etc. 

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I am very fortunate to have had a lot of experience working internationally with youth. For 5 years off and on I worked as a contract partner for the U.S. government and lived in many countries for 3-9 months at a time. Over this time I have met many people working in the Early Childhood Field.

My first contact is named Christine and she is a Child Development Center Director in Lakenheath England. I lost touch with her but was able to begin to corresponding with her now through email.

My next contact lives in Kenya. His name is Amos and he works for leader compass and is building Camp Ohana, an orphanage projects for his government.

Selecting an early childhood organization was very easy for me. I already receive newsletters from the Child’s Defense Fund. After researching this organization for another class I thought the organization was amazing and wanted to keep informed about it, so I signed up a couple months ago. I feel like the organization does not just talk about making changes, they really make them!
http://www.childrensdefense.org/