Getting to Know Your International Contact

Overseas Contact

 

I contacted an organization called “Thrive” that was trying to connect me with an Early Childhood Professional in Pakistan. After several emails and no response, I gave up hope with this contact and began searching through social networking and people that I know for another one. I know that there is an alternative assignment, but I am really interested in making contact with someone overseas and discussing the similarities and differences between education here in the U.S. and education in other countries.

 

It turns out that one of my co-workers has a daughter in Iran that teaches young children. Her name is name is Farnaz Fahool and she teaches a private Kindergarten class in Mashhad, Iran.  Phone calls will not be possible due to the time difference and our daily schedules. I have emailed her and I am waiting on

a response.

 

Information on Poverty

 

The website that I chose to research was the National Center for Children in Poverty ( http://www.nccp.org/)  This website contains a wealth of information about poverty and it is well organized and easy to navigate, I have some basic knowledge on how poverty effects young children, but after doing research on this website I learned much more. I learned that there is a difference between being “poor” and being “low income”. The National Center for Children in Poverty defines
children living in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold – $23,624 for a family of four with two children in 2013 – as poor and children

living in families with incomes below twice this level as low income. (http://www.nccp.org 2013)

I also learned that the percentage of low income families in the state where I live, Virginia, is a lot higher than I thought. The low-income percentage is 36%.

Doing this research has made me want to contact my local social services office to find out what I can do to help aide in the war against poverty. I am just one

person, but if I can even help just one child, I will feel that I am making a difference.

 

References

The National Center for Children in Poverty http://www.nccp.org