Week 1 Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field: Establishing Professional Contacts & Expanding Resources

Part 1: Establishing International Professional Contacts

When I first read about our blog assignments at the beginning of this course, I was extremely excited. Travelling and global affairs are extremely interesting to me and I love learning about new things occurring abroad, and especially liked that it would be part of my continued education with Walden. However, establishing international professional contacts was much more challenging than I thought. First, like some of my peers, I felt awkward reaching out to strangers, many of whom speak other languages, in order to inquire about establishing lines of communication and questions about their professions. (I mostly utilized the UNICEF and acei.org sites) But, nevertheless, I sent out NUMEROUS emails, made some calls, sought out friends, then, friends of friends, and even went to my alma mater, Eckerd College (I am fortunate enough to live within driving distance) to seek some direction in this task.

Unfortunately, after 16 returned “undeliverable” email messages, a few more stating that certain professionals were not with the agencies any longer, and even a few stating that they simply did not have the time to help me with my studies even informally, I was discouraged.

Then a friend of a friend of a friend checked her voicemail and got back to me stating that she has a cousin in Czech Republic who is a music teacher for elementary school children and would be willing to work with me over the next few weeks. I am awaiting our first chat session and looking forward to it. During my time studying abroad with Eckerd, I was able to travel for a long weekend to Prague, and fell in love with the city. It will be really interesting to learn about their educational system as well as current issues and trends within it!

Next, my good old college roommate really came through for me! She is currently working on her own graduate program in the field of International Health and is currently working in Haiti doing relief work, mostly with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered) community whom have been affected by HIV/AIDS. But, in talking with her about this class, she has put me in initial contact with one of her colleagues who works with children and families near Port Au Prince. Due to the lack of resources there, the contact I will have will be very intermittent, and we are working on getting her a Skype acct. so that we can communicate.

I do have some resources via Eckerd College department of International Education, getting in touch with some of my old professors in London, where I studied for a semester, but do not know if this will actually happen.

Part 2: Expanding Resources

For the second part of Week 1’s Blog Assignment, I chose to explore the International Child Resource Institute website: http://www.icrichild.org. I chose this program and website to explore and subscribed to receiving on-going information because it is international, provides so much great information, and has a blog that regularly updates with major ICRI events, news, issues, and trends regarding international children’s issues, specifically those regarding children’s rights, education, and advocacy! Furthermore,  one of the aspects of this agency’s vision that struck a chord with me was its emphasis on providing the resources to parents, children, professionals needed to care for children around the world.The website’s home page pops with photos and emphasizes the need to not only have a village to raise a child, but to EMPOWER those villages to reach and sustain their potentials! I know that this site, as well as many others will allow me to remain current on important global issues in the area of early childhood education , empowerment, and advocacy efforts!

"The young, free to act on their initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the unknown... The children, the young, must ask the questions that we would never think to ask, but enough trust must be re-established so that the elders will be permitted to work with them on the answers." - Margaret Mead