Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Maysoun Chehab is the Regional Early Childhood Care and Development Program Coordinator at the “Arab Resource Collective” (ARC), a not-for-profit non-governmental organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. This organization works with childhood practitioners and policy makers to raise awareness of early childhood care and development, and children's rights. They also train caregivers on the best practices know in childcare. The countries included in this organization Lebanon , Jordan , Syria,Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq. They instruct parents and caregivers on issues in the early childhood field. In July of 06' Maysoun worked with children and families who had been affected by war in Lebanon. 126 schools were destroyed by this war. Maysoun and other members of ARC, implemented a psycho-social support project, training parents and teachers about post war emotional and social reactions. The targets of this project were initially parents and teachers, teaching them coping strategies. Adults were targeted first so that they felt comfortable and supported. This was a successful strategy because the adults then could give their children the support they learned from trainings with this organization.

I have not yet been fortunate to connect with an international early childhood professional. I chose to view some case studies from the “Early Childhood Research and Policy Centre” An interview of children in rural eastern Mongolia provided first hand look in to the lives of poverty stricken children of this area. The interview consisted of 5 boys and 4 girls aged between and 11 and 15 years. Most of them had recently started shcool, either having dropped out previously or never had attended at younger ages. Most days the children reported laborious activities such as collecting dung, water, or firewood. Others named mil-work responsibilities or assisting with household chores and providing care for younger children. Some of the children attend Unofficial training . This refers to special classes arranged for those who have dropped out/missed schooling to get them back into the education system – it is within the state system, but not in standard school classes. Although this program is in place, some children do not attend for various reasons.

Here is the statement of one of the interviewees

“I go to unofficial school sometimes – not this winter, though, because I didn’t have notebooks. And children make fun of us for going to unofficial training so we dropped out of it… I don’t like dropping out. I get dirty and don’t wash my hands – if I go to school I wash my hands all the time. My mother is always telling me to go to school and my older brother hits me when I don’t go. I dropped out of training this time when he moved to the rural area – he wasn’t around to beat me to make me go!”

When asked what are the advantages of working vs. attending School, some of the children replied...

“It is good to take care of yourself without having to depend on others.”

“If we stopped working it would be bad for our families.”

“Having more time to play.”

“Having money from collecting wood – to spend on themselves or their families.”

It is clear that the priority of many disadvantaged families in this area of Mongolia is to survive off of the resources that are available even if at the expense of their children’s education. Although some of the children do have desire to obtain education they are discouraged with embarrassment because of their poverty level. Some of the children did not have enough money for school supplies while others could not complete homework because they do not have electricity and no light is available after the sun goes down. I learned that due to the life style, conditions, and circumstances that these children are confronting; there is extreme challenge to succeed in gaining proper education.

Retrieved From http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/.  Case Studies - Children In Rural Eastern Mongolia Talk About Their Lives.