GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

Well unfortunately, I haven't heard from any of the contact I sent messages to in Week 1. I have begun a search again. I found a website for The World Organization For Early Education (www.OMEP-usnc.org). This organization was created in 1946, after WWII. A small group of educators and others came together with concern for the welfare of young children. OMEP promotes the well being rights and education of young children. While I was there I saw a story of a Kenyan educator that started her own school on a farm and is getting the children involved in purifying their drinking water. I emailed her and I also emailed the writer of the OMEP newsletter that was from Sweden. Hopefully I hear back from one of them. I also went to www.educationworld.com and started a blog requesting correspondents from around the world. This website has educators from all over the world. I hope to hear from someone there also. Wish me luck.

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

I subscribed to two newsletters. The first one I chose deals with the early childhood educators in Haiti. Haiti was involved in an earthquake a few years ago and has not fully recovered yet. Families re still living in tents. Many children are not attending school regularly. The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) values innovation, diversity and actions. The Haiti Case Study follows the Tipa Tipa method that trains pre-school teachers and parents on personal development, community spirit and values. I was motivated by this newsletter to learn more about how the educators increase their personal development and how the education system was being improved in the aftermath of the natural disaster. This newsletter subscription site is at www.wise-qatar.org/content/wise-haiti-case-study-tipa-tipa. The second newsletter I subscribed to was from the International Child Resource Institute in Kenya. The Daraja Early Care Program enables Africa's poorest children to receive an high quality education in an activity driven environment. The newsletter also supports a Grassroots Advocacy Project which assists women, children and families with networking and mentoring. Kidsafe Project is a rights based child abuse prevention curriculum. They have training courses on child advocacy. I was drawn to this newsletter because this Institute is empowering the children and the families. Prevention of child abuse is a very important topic because we lose our children in this manner by caregivers who may not have coping mechanisms, mental illness or other ailments. This newsletter is located at www.icrichild.org/Kenya

ESTABLISHING PERSONAL CONTACTS

The first steps I took to find professional contacts outside of the United States was to research the websites the Professor gave us. I subscribed to www.icrichild.org/kenya newsletters. That site is from the International Child Resource Institute in Kenya. This institute builds access to high quality and developmentally appropriate early childhood education for Africa's poorest children. Since I used to sponsor a child in Dominica, I googled Dominica and early childhood educators. I came across the Pan American Health Organization, who named Austelle Lockhart as one of the Roving Caregivers. The caregivers teach the young children in Dominica. I actually reached out to Mr. Lockhart on Facebook. From the website www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance I discovered the Ajoke International School in Ghana ran by Mrs. Bimbo Are. I emailed her and asked could she be a professional contact for me. I also found on that website a Haiti Step by Step Program/Tipa Tipa. I emailed the head of that school also at the website given. My email was returned as undeliverable to that address. I then googled Haiti Tipa Tipa and found this website www.sise-qatar.org/content/wise-haiti-case-study-tipa-tipa. I emailed that site and signed up for the newsletters. I am waiting on responses now. I want to wish everyone good luck making contacts.