Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1
The podcast participant
I chose to share is Delfena Mitchell. She is the “Director of the Liberty
Children’s Home, on the outskirts of Belize City. This program opened in the
summer of 2005 and is licensed to house up to 40 children, predominantly between
birth to 5 years of age” (World Forum Foundation, 2011).
What I learned from the
podcast is that Delfena Mitchell and her colleagues take care of children who
have been physically and sexually abused, neglected or abandoned in the area
where they live. Delfena Mitchell talks about child abuse being the number one
incident in the Caribbean area. Her organization believes that the children
should not go to school right away when they come to them; that they need to
have time to heal. Therefore they school them in their home until they are
ready for public school.
In this podcast Delfena
Mitchell talks about a boy named Joseph and how when he and his six siblings
came to the house, he did not speak for over a year. One day during a horseback
riding outing, Joseph started talking to Delfena. He told her about how he used
to get beat with a stick by his grandmother and how he used to hide under the
bed when he ate so no one else in his family would take it from him.
Delfena continues to
say that after a year or so, with medication and time, Joseph began to talk. He
now talks all the time. So much so that when Joseph talks all the people in the
house stop to listen because they want to hear what he has to say.
It is unfathomable to
me that there are children that live in these conditions. It breaks my heart to
hear of their upbringing. But I am encouraged to hear about people like Delfena
Mitchell and the Liberty Children’s Home that have reached out to so many children
who are being abused and neglected. I am also shocked at how high child abuse
is in the Caribbean area. I applaud everyone at the Liberty Children’s Home for
their heart and service for the children in their area.
Thanks,
Cortnee :)
Reference:
World forum foundation. (2011). Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio/
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