Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources


Contacting an Early Childhood professional outside of the United States proves to be a challenge.  I started by going to the resources and choosing several people to e-mail.  The e-mails came back to me as being unable to find the address so I guess the e-mails are no longer valid.  I have also contacted the ECE professor at Pacific Union College where I work to see if she personally new of any ECE professionals in another country.  She was going to try to contact someone, but she had not talked with them in three years so she was not sure how to get into contact with them.  I will check with her again to see if she has had any luck.  In the mean time I have decided to do the alternative assignment.  I went to the World Forum Foundation web site and listened to a pod cast.
The pod cast I listened to was by Meridas Eka Yora.  Mr. Yora is the founder and director of the institution Fajar Hiayah for Islamic Education.  He is also the Director of Yayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation.  He lives in Indonesia and through these organizations he had founded three boarding schools so that children who were affected by the the 2004 Tsunami would have a place to go.  Many people were killed instantly and many children were left without parents and families.  In creating these schools he hopes to give the children a better chance in life.  It was interesting what he said about how the teachers at the schools were realizing that it was important to be a Mother or Father figure first then to be the teacher.  This helped the children feel more secure.  He also talked about how the older children took on the roles of older sister or brother to the younger children.  
Mr. Yora has many schools throughout Indonesia.  One of the things that stands out in a list of the Foundations corporate social responsibilities was that all children from poor families between the ages of 4-15 would have access to free education if they live in the surrounding neighborhood of one of the Fajar Hidayah schools.

Resources
Fajar Hidaya: A Brief Profile
World Forum Foundation Radio

The early childhood organization web site that I choose to look at more closely was the National Head Start Association.  I found that they support early childhood professionals, parents and children in many different ways.  They provide awards and scholarships to teachers, parents and administrators who demonstrate leadership and a determination to continue their education.  The offer conferences and training opportunities for their teachers and administrators on a regular basis. They have pod casts that cover important early childhood topics that teachers and parents can listen to.  They also have a disaster relief fund that helps those that have gone through a natural disaster. They provide preschool and many other programs for low income children and families.

Resource
National Head Start Association