Thank You

Professional Hopes and Goals

     It’s that time again time to move on to the next class. I must say that this class has touched my heart string more than any other class I have had. I have learned so much and have grown so much. The three words diversity, equity and social justice have taken on new meaning in my life or I could just say has meaning in my life. We are all different in so many ways but yet the same. This past 8 weeks has taught me to appreciate people for who they are and what they have to offer. I may not be able to speak Spanish but I can learn from and respect those who do speak Spanish. We may not attend the same church or worship the say way but we all have a right to attend the church of our choice and worship who we please. Just because I am African-American and you are of another race does not mean we cannot get along together. I am 58 years old soon to be a senior citizen but I have something to offer just as my classmates who are so much younger than me. We are all unique individuals in our own special way; we all deserve to be given a fair chance at life.

     One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I will be open minded, compassionate, understanding , eager to learn, accepting, fair, and recognizing that people are different and they come with a lot to offer if given a chance.

     To my colleagues your words have been an inspiration to my life.  There is no other class that I have shed as many tears as I have with this class. The words of encouragement and praise that you offered to me during this class will go with me forever. I guess what amazes me the most is that we have never seen each other but yet have shared so much together. I look forward each week to reading your discussion board and blogs. My hope is that I have in some way or another encouraged you as much as your have encouraged me. Thank you for your support and remember we are all unique in our own special ways.

  From Thailand to the United States

     As a child care specialist for North Carolina’s Children’s Hospital I have been asked to make preparation for 50 Hmong Children who will be arriving in the United States in 30 days from a Refugee Camp located in Thailand. Two former refugees who are now married relocated to the United States and have started a group home for displaced Hmong children refugee children.

     The living conditions in the refugee camp have been poor with over 43,000 people living in less than one mile. There are no toilets, no adequate water for bathing, no clinics for the sick, no jobs, no land to grow food and no way of getting money.

     The ages of these children will vary from 2 years old to 5 years old. In order to prepare the staff for the coming of these children I have set in motion a plan to help make their transition to the United States run smoothly.

·       Since we have their adoptive parents here in the United States I would first have them to meet with everyone in the children’s department who will be involved with these children. In this meeting we will discuss ways to better serve these children as well as learning basic words that these children will understand in their own language.

·       Next it will be important to meet with the head of the dietary department to implement a meal plan that will gradually introduce the children to American food while still allowing them enjoy their native food.

·       These children have never seen a toilet, running water, people who look different from them, spoken English or heard English so this will all be new to the. I will put a welcoming committee together that will basically and gradually introduce these children to a modern way of life. We do not want the children to become fearful so we will move at a slow pace.

·       Since these children will be living in the United States they will need to learn Basic English so there will be teachers who will begin to teach them English.

·       It is going to be very important to have their adoptive parents on hand during this two week period. The children will be able to relate to them, they look like them, they talk like them and they eat food that they like. This will give the children a sense of home and their culture.

     These preparations hopefully will allow the children to make a smooth transition from the refugee camp to their new home. After leaving the hospital I have been asked to continue to follow and assist the adoptive parents and children for the next three months. My job as a childcare professional will be to direct an onsite child care center for the children to begin preschool.

   

References

    UNC Health Care

    http://www.ncchildrenshospital.org/news/usnews/rankings12-13   

    The Refugee experience in Thialand

    http://www.cal.org/co/hmong/hthai.html

Atlanta, Georgia

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression  

  One memory that I have of an incident where I witnessed someone else being the target of bias and prejudice was around 15 years ago. For Spring Break I took a group of approximately 30 African American teenage youth to Atlanta Georgia for Spring Break. At least 60 percent of the group was males. While in Atlanta I decided to take the group to Underground Atlanta. My directions to them were to walk around, do some shopping and to meet me back at a certain time and location.  Prior to coming I instructed everyone to be on their best behaviors, do not go in stores in large numbers, and not to stay in the stores to long.

     After being in the Underground for about an hour one of the youth came and told me that security had one of my youth for shoplifting. I quickly went to the store and found the youth being questioned by security. I asked the young man what was going on and he said that he was accused of stealing something. He told me that he had brought something from the store and I asked him if he had a receipt and he said yes. I asked for the receipt and sure enough he had it. Security told us that they were sorry for the mix up. 

     The young man was terrified at what had just happened. I knew that he had been questioned because he was a black male in a store and with other young black boys. Personally I feel that the situation was unfair and that the young men were automatically being watched because of their race and because it was more than one youth in the store. I did explain to the entire group that it was important to be very careful when going in and out of stores. I told them to keep up with their receipts. As I listened to different ones I could hear them saying that was not fair, we don’t even want to go into any other stores.  Their comfort of going into stores and shopping had left a bad feeling in them.

     As for me I knew that I had to try to protect our youth as much as possible and educate them on how to protect themselves in situations like this one. I had never had a situation like this one to happen to me before so I could only imagine what it felt like the, embarrassment and shame of being accused of stealing.

     In order for there to be changes for greater equity I feel that the store managers would have to come together with security and their employees and put together steps to be followed in cases where one is suspected of shoplifting. Just because there are more than 2 black boys in a store does not mean they are there shoplifting. The easiest thing that could have been done was for security to simply ask the young man if he had a receipt before he accused him of stealing