Getting to know Your International Contacts

International Contacts After a rough start for making contact with profesionals outside the United States, I finally have two contacts I'm talking to-one in Denmark and one in Canada.

My contact in Denamrk wrote:
The poverty level in Denmark is not high, but it is increasing. I could not find the exact %, because, there several different ways to calculate how many poor people, and children we have in Denmark Our school system are for everybody, so in theory all children have the same rights, and level of education, in real life, some parts of the bigger cities have areas where the education lack a student standard. These areas are populated with a lot of refugees, emigrants and people with social problems.

At the moment the rich is getting richer, and the poor is getting poorer, and the politicians is a lot to blame. It is the private organizations who help the most, by helping with clothes, food and shelter.

In the area that I work, is no poverty at all, so my job is more to teach these children, that they are very lucky, and there are others who need help, and it is vital to show solidarity, and help others and share.

Rasmus

And for Canada this is what I was given:

Hi Susan, Just to give you a little info about myself. I am an ECE with my special needs and infant toddler diplomas as well. I have been working in childcare for many years and in many places in BC. I am currently managing a young parent program that is being run out of a local high school. We provide an infant toddler center and support for young parents who attend the high school as well as families from the communities. We are able to provide all of the food and diapers throughout the day for our children and help to give them role modeling and routine that they require. I believe that the poverty level in Canada is around 10-14% but you might need to check that stat. I believe that in our society it is mostly the middle income families who sometimes have the hardest times. Families who are below the poverty line in Canada are able to get government subsidy which covers a portion or sometimes all of their childcare costs. For the families who are just above the cut off line, they have to pay full childcare fees and most times it is their paychecks that are going straight to cover the costs of childcare.

There are many resources in Canada to help families who are below the poverty line and needing extra help such as subsidized childcare, food and clothing donation services, subsidized housing, counseling services, etc. There are many community services groups who are able to help out those in need and many resources available. At our center we are able to provide food, diapers and clothing for children of young parents who are not able to provide it for themselves. We offer parent group counseling services, weekly meetings, cooking classes, knowledge classes, teach self help skills, etc. I hope this helps. Sorry it’s not very much but if you require any further info, please let me know.

Thanks-Nicole

After getting this information I did more internet searching to see if I could find more information to go with the emails and I found a chart that lists countries and their poverty levels.

This chart shows us where our country stands compared to others and it’s a rude awaking for all of us to stop and really focus on what our priorities should really be.

Reference:

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/05/29/491443/un-report-child-poverty/?mobile=nc