Poverty in Jamaica

I decided to review poverty in Jamaica. The three major things that stood out to me in the article was that the population as a whole was growing at an annual rate of 0.5% in 2005, having declined steadily from an annual rate of 1% in 1997. The population growth rate has been moderated by migration, but that rate too has been declining. From a high for the last decade of 23,900 in 2001, the number of migrants fell to 17,200 in 2005. The main flows have been to North America - USA and Canada - and to a lesser extent the UK. I think the main reason for the decrease in population is for one people could be moving to different countries where they have a better chance of surviving and not living in poverty - better life for the family as a whole.

Jamaica is classified as a country of medium human development according to its Human Development Index. It is in the top half of this group, ranking 101st of the 177 ranked countries. Life expectancy at birth was 72.2 years, but the literacy levels for the population 15 years old and over of 79.9% was among the lowest of the Anglophone Caribbean countries.

The most widely used definition of child poverty is that of UNICEF: "Children living in poverty experience deprivation of the material, spiritual and emotional resources needed to survive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential or participate as full and equal members of society." There are material items that children and families need to live above the poverty line such as income, food, education and health. Spiritual things are stimuli, meaningfulness, expectations, role models and peer relationships. Emotional things would be love, trust, feelings of acceptance, inclusion and lack of abuse.

References:

Child Poverty and Disparities in Jamaica. (n.d.). Retrieved from UNICEF Social Inclusion, Policy and Budgeting: http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Jamaica_Child_Poverty_and_Disparity.pdf

Zero to Three Newsletter

I chose to follow the organization "Zero to Three" http://www.zerotothree.org/.
Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development. Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. I decided to subscribe to the organization's newsletter list and received my first newsletter on  Thursday, January 15th. This newsletter addressed many different topics such as 

• what to expect during your child's development between the ages of three to six months and things that parents can do to support learning and growing, 
• common experiences parents have at this age (three to six months)
• what it's like for baby... babies are developing trust in you as they come to count on you to meet their needs
• research shows how babies sense and react to their parents stress
• how to choose quality child care and,
• activities that nurture a baby's development and connection to you 

I found the topic that discusses what it's like for the baby to be pretty interesting. I am a new aunt but not new to infants so I find myself more dedicated and emotionally connected to my niece - she is two months old and I think it is pretty cool to get a look at what she is thinking. The article stated that when a baby cries and hear their mother's or anyone that sounds familiar voice talking back to them that lets them know that help is on the way especially if they are crying because they are hungry. At three months a baby can figure out that hunger pains are connected to food, and that their source of food is .... you! The baby then uses their communication skills (crying) to "tell" you that he/she is ready to eat - this is an important thinking skill that the baby is developing.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

While trying to establish a connection with professionals from outside of the United States I have noticed that I am having a difficult time reaching someone with a valid email address - I sent out 4 emails and received all error messages back from the system stating that the email address was incorrect or couldn't be found. So I decided to send out 4 more emails and I am still waiting on responses from those individuals.

I do think by Tuesday if I haven't received an email back from the professionals that I have reached out to then I am going to have to go with the Alternative to Part 1 of this blog assignment.

For Part 2 of the blog assignment I decided to study "Zero to Three" website. Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development. Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. I did register to receive weekly newsletters from this organizations which should be really interesting and helpful this semester.