I picked Thailand because I had a foreign exchange student from there several years ago. Every country suffers from the basic hardships of the economy just at different levels. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, standards of living, and quality of life for countries worldwide, according to this list Thailand is number 103.
Some children in Thailand suffer from homelessness, poverty, working the streets as sex slaves, lack of education, lack of health and development services, etc. "Children of ethnic minorities, migrants, refugees and the very poor.
These children are still denied many of their basic rights to survival,
protection and development. For example, there are still an estimated
600,000 primary-school aged children not in primary school or who are
enrolled late" (UNICEF, 2009) According to the UNICEF Thailand website children face challenges of: birth registration, access to and quality of education, HIV/AIDS, trafficking and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, child labour, poverty and increasing disparities, juvenile justice, violence against children, child accidents and injury, child soldiers and refugees, stunting, obesity and iodine deficiency, awareness of child rights and mechanisms for child participation, social trends such as increased drug and alcohol use and the break-up of traditional families and a lack of data on children’s issues. These all affect a child's growth, development and learning. No child should have to experience any of these issues.
Any of these issues would affect a child's emotional development in a variety of ways. A child will feel unloved, unwanted, worthless, not form proper relationships with others, have difficult trusting others, be unstable emotionally, etc. They wouldn't have the proper knowledge and education need to thrive successfully.
While there are numerous issues that children from poverty are experiencing there are 10+ government agencies helping as well as 15+ non-government agencies working on improving conditions. It is mind boggling that children experience these challenges. Personally I just want to take all the children that do not live in favorable conditions like mine and bring them to live with me and give them everything. Unfortunately, not only are there way too many children in the world to do this they wouldn't fit in my house. it makes me very sad that children out there go through these hardships. It helps to know that UNICEF exists and that they work in close partnership with the Royal Thai Government, the
private sector, NGOs, faith-based groups, youth groups, local
communities and vulnerable children to pave the way for a better world for children. Makes me want to do my best and try my hardest to help every child I come in contact with.
http://www.unicef.org/thailand/index.html
Rica, thanks so much for sharing what you have learned from your study on Thailand. It is discouraging to read that over 600,000 children are not in school or registered. We cannot help but think how detrimental this will be to the upcoming generation and how this will affect the country as a whole. I like you would love to bring all of them home and do my best to educate, guide, and love them unconditionally.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many areas where children need care, love and support. It saddens me to read that children are sexually exploited and don't have a voice to advocate for them like their parents or caregivers. That is why I believe we in this country need to be their voice and talk about the issues that exist. Our children I I think will then be advocates for change as well. Thanks for your informative post.
ReplyDeleteYou are not the only one who would want to bring all the children home and keep them safe. The number are amazing especially in this day and age that many countries still struggle with basic needs for their children. It unfair that those who are born into wealth are those that will control the country later on and not see the bigger picture of what other children in their country are live in.
ReplyDeleteWow! Rica you had an exchange student I think that is so great for you to lend out your home to another culture. This experience had to be so wonderful. You think in America we have problems but you read about other cultures and countries who are in worse situations than we are. I know in these type of countries children are exploited working in factories at a young age, girls being sold and prostituted loosing their youth. Children are forced to grow up very fast. Great post
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