Getting to Know Your International Contacts

This week I listened to the podcast of a truly amazing man; Mr. Meridas Yora, Director of the Yayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation. Following a devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Meridas developed three boarding schools for children orphaned as a result of the devastation in Aceh, a special territory on the Southern tip of Indonesia and the closest land to the epicenter. Meridas stated that in just 9 minutes, more than 300,000 people lost their lives and as a result, more than 130,000 children became orphaned. He further explained the psychological affects these orphaned children suffered from following the tragedy. As children cried night after night, teachers had to act as fathers and mothers before being teachers. His staff consisted of many psychologists and at times his teachers had to also be the nurses and psychologists to these children. Meridas also indicated that some orphans were in so many traumas, that they couldn’t accept what had happened and were inconsolable. Those children needed “special treatment” as he said, and he moved them to his own home and cared for them as part of his family. Meridas created a family for these children inside the schools as the oldest learned to care for the youngest and fill in the void of the lost family members. His work is truly inspirational and highlights the power of the individual who has a goal and a passion for child-wellbeing.

One of my professional goals is to become an advocate for young children around the world. UNESCO’s website provides great insight into the ways people around the world can become child advocates. for example, in its efforts to support education in general and early childhood education in particular, UNESCO is supporting “Global Action Week”, an annual awareness-raising campaign on Education for All, by mobilizing its networks (e.g. governments, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, the private sector, etc.) and by organizing specific activities in different countries and at UNESCO headquarters. The efforts this year are intended to focus on "Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children" (UNESCO, 2011). I visited the campaign’s website at http://globalactionweek.org/pictures and signed up as a step closer to achieving my professional goal. The website states that “over 200 million children under the age of five do not receive these rights, giving them less chance to achieve their potential and end the cycle of poverty”. Therefore, the campaign brings attention to the subject of early childhood education and puts it on the forefront of world leaders’ agendas. I further watched the “Global action Week” campaign film where I became motivated to continue to pursue my professional goal until the campaign’s motto is realized indeed “Rights from the start”.