"EVERYONE GO INTO THE HALLWAYS AND AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!" This was the message that the loud voice over the intercom was directing our 6th grade classroom to do. I can remember how panic my teacher was, using her cell phone to try to get in touch with her friend in New York, trying to see if she made it out okay from the daycare that was across the street from the Twin Towers. Two Hall monitor rushed into our rooms, and begin to move our class into the library, and all I can hear them say is, "Keep them away from the windows." As we are walking down the hallway of my three story elementary school, crowds of children are sitting on the cold white floor in silence, trying to wrap their small brains on what in the world is going on. Finally we walk into the library, and our class is directed to sit next to the holiday book shelf in silence. Finally my teacher walks in, surrounded with other teachers saying, "No it really happened, they crashed a plane in the twin towers! But my friend is okay, she called in sick today." The counselor turns on the news, and we watch as the plane crashed in the Twin Towers. As a Texas 6th grader, I had no idea what the Twin Towers were, and I really had no idea what terrorism was. As we all sat and watched the news, the principle rushed in the library and said, "They are locking down the Capital, Governor Mansion and the surrounding buildings. They are taking terrorist precautions." When the principle said that, I begin to cry because my mother worked next door to the Governor's Mansion. Other children whose parents worked at the Capital begin to cry as well, because we all thought that our parent were going to die. The counselors rushed all the crying or children who showed high distress into the their offices, as soon as we went into the offices, Firefighters arrived at the school, and directed our principle to lock down and make sure everyone was on the first floor and away from windows because our school was about five blocks from the State Capitol, and we were in "bombing range." I was so afraid, all I wanted was my mommy, and we couldn't get in touch with her. She didn't own a cell phone, and because her building had taken terrorist precautions, she wasn't at her desk and couldn't answer her office phone. This drove me crazy! I felt that something was wrong because all the other children could in touch with their parents but me. So I sat in a corner and cried, because I had no idea what was going on, and the one person that I trusted to take care of me, wasn't around to help me through this. One of the counselors saw, me and just walked over to me an held me. I was so afraid I was shaking. She just held me and rocked me back and forth, and said, "It's going to be okay." In about 2 hours, parents begin to pick up their children. I watched as parents and children rejoiced when they saw each other. Finally when school was out, my mother came running in the door. She grabbed me tight and kissed my cheek. I felt relieved and gratitude to Jesus that He brought my mother back to me. On the way home, I shared my day, and my mom shared her day of spending the afternoon in the basement of a government building. Even though we were thousands of miles away from New York, in Austin, Texas, we still experienced some of the ripple effects, of a National tragedy, that impacted our lives forever!
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Paris, France is so beautiful to me, full of romance and pasta. When I heard about the Charlie Hebdo Newspaper station being attacked by terrorist, I was shocked and in disbelief. Charlie Hebdo was a newspaper station, that was attacked by two men for publishing a controversycartoon with Muhammad. The attacked left 12 people dead. After the attacks at Charlie Hebdo, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared a "War on Terrorism." This "War on Terrorism" is to find, stop and defeat terrorist, to provide safety for the France.
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The way that terrorism and war provide stress for young children, it takes away from one of the basic needs of children, which is the need to be safe. Terrorism and war has so many factors, that it is hard to narrow down one effect that is had on development. I just know that if children are always worried about their safety, how can they ever learn and thrive in their development? Basic needs have to be met first, before learning can occur.
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References:
1. Bilefsky, D., & Baume, M. D. (2015, January 07). Terrorists Strike Charlie Hebdo Newspaper in Paris, Leaving 12 Dead. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting.html?_r=0
2.Schiavenza, M. (2015, January 10). France Declares Its Own 'War on Terror' Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/france-declares-its-own-war-on-terror/384409/
Imagine you are at a high end restaurant, your favorite restaurant, your sitting at the table with your friends having a great time talking about your life, romance and gossiping about the people who didn't show up to dinner (just kidding I know we don't ever do that), you ask the waiter for a cup of water, the waiter nods his head and walks towards the bar. You continue talking with your friends, when all of the sudden the waiter bring your water and it looks like this...
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What in the world would you do? In America, we would have a fit! We would call the manager, tell the manager and waiter some "choice" words and call the health inspector, take a picture and post it on Facebook and do the whole "nine" yards. After you would have complained, most likely this picture would be "BREAKING NEWS" and on the first page of the newspaper and the restaurant would be shut down.
Well what if I told you that there are parts of the world where this glass is "normal". I'll let that sink in. What if told you that children have access to this water, and drink this water regularly.
This glass tells a story, and this is why I chose the public health topic of access to healthy water.
America has spoiled me. I am so picky about the water I drink, I don't drink tap water, only bottled or purified water. Water is a choice for me, coffee is more my thing, but I know that if my throat is dry, all I have to do is go to my refrigerator and grab me a bottle of water that is clean and purified. How ridiculous am I? ( You don't have to answer that lol).
Once in undergrad, I was so poor that my water got "cut-off". It only lasted for one day and a half, and I will tell you that I had no idea how important water was to me, until I didn't have it. We use water for nearly everything, washing our hands, dishes, bodies, hair, toothbrush, before we put toothpaste on it, coffee pot, food and etc. For one day I had to experience what many people experience daily. Talk about a humbling experience, a day without water, will definitely make you appreciate it a little more.
In rural Kosovo, clean water is not really an option. This village in rural Europe literally has to ration water, especially in the summer months and often the water they have is not disinfected, leaving adults and children sick.
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The water is so dangerous here that the CDC has a list of what not to do when consuming the water here,
Don’t Drink
Tap or well water
Ice made with tap or well water
Drinks made with tap or well water (such as reconstituted juice)
Unpasteurized milk
You can't even drink tap water, which is something that I hate, but at least can drink from my kitchen sink. Please watch the 3:43 minutes video that talks about the water of Kosovo:
This topic is meaningful to me, because NO ONE should have to drink water that is unsafe. This information has provided insight to a World-Wide concern, and I want to be a change agent for this dilemma that is literally happening around the World. UNICEF has a project that works to provide clean water for children around the world, as do The Water Project and Clean Water U, and I hope that someday down my career path, I'll be able to start a similar project or assist in one of the three listed above.
My birthing story is definitely one for the books! My parents should have know that my dramatic entry into this world was foreshadowing my future life!
Setting: Breckenridge Ridge Hospital Date:April 15- April 16, ...(the year is a secret lol) Characters: My mother, father, aunt, nurses and doctor...oh and Jesus :)
Story: My father and mother arrive at the hospital one hour after my mothers' water broke. They walk into the hospital ready to give birth to their beautiful baby girl. The nurses greet them and send them into a waiting room, where my mother gets a chance to change clothes and wait for contractions (how fun!). About 15 hours later, I am refusing to come out. I simply am not ready, and I am chilling in the womb. The doctors advises my mother to walk around the hospital, in hopes that this will get me moving. My mother and father walks out of the room and down the hall. After about 30 minutes later, I change my mind, and am ready to grace the world with my presence, so I slide my head out to greet everyone, the only problem is my mother is in the middle of walking around the hospital and the nurses are holding my head in place so that I don't be slip out in the hallway...surprise!!! 25 minutes later I was delivered and singing (screaming) my lungs out.
That's Me!!! 6 Hours After Birth
This is a true story, and my mother states it often whenever I do something dramatic, and I worn her that she should have known the moment I poked my head out in the hallway that being dramatic is a strong characteristics of mines, I literally was born with it.
My thoughts about birth is simple, it's am AMAZING process and also a GROSS process. I have to be honest. It's amazing because a human being is leaving another human being, and it's the finish product of a nine month process. It's also gross because of the blood, and cords and slimy things that go along with it. I know as a Child Development person I am not suppose to feel this way, but I don't do well with blood or anything else that belongs inside the human body.
This past week I have been reading and learning about prenatal development and birthing rituals from across the globe. One county that I wanted to find more information about is Brazil. I chose Brazil because I have a close friend who is from there, and I enjoy hearing the similarities and differences between the US and Brazil.
When it comes to childbirth and Brazil, over 40% of woman get a cesarean section (C-section) actually this number increases if we take in account Brazilian private hospitals, where almost every birth is a C- section birth, whereas in the US more than one-third of woman get a C-section.
Rio de Janeiro Brazil
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For the most part there really isn't too much of a difference between the US and Brazil when it comes to birthing practices. Both countries rely heavily on giving birth in hospitals. My mother didn't have a C-section, she gave birth to my naturally but did give birth to me in the hospital. One difference was the procedures before the birth. In the US, parents rely on a variety of information from various resources such as the doctor, birthing class, family experiences and etc. But in Brazil the parents only listen to the doctor, and what the doctor says is "golden!"
Reflection:
My thoughts on child birth and child development is this, birth is a new chapter in a humans book. Many countries have different practices on how to birth children to get here, but the main goal is to "get the baby here!" Even though some countries have the same birthing practices, some countries do the birth process different. For example in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, home births are common.
