Childhood Stressors

If I were to sit down with any person in this world, they would have something to say about how they grew up.  Growing up we all deal with things that may not be positive, but children are resilient and it becomes their normal.  In many third war countries, they deal with much more than I ever in my life would ever dream of dealing with or seeing.  However, we all have our battles, some may not be as big as others may but it is still our battle.

 Three things came up for me:

One is chaos, now when I refer to chaos it is not the kind of chaos as war or violence.  The chaos in my house was with four children.  We all had our personalities, schedules, and needs.  Things were not always peaceful. It did not harm me per say, it mainly strengthened my ability to multitask, handle disorder, and to find peace within myself.  As an adult now, I require alone time often, and you will know when I need it because I will get grumpy.  Many times, I lie down and cover up; it is my safe place.  Additionally, I am able to step back now from lots of practice and evaluate a situation outside of myself.

The second thing I dealt with is my father being in the military.  I had to move a lot.  I still struggle with friendships because I have been conditioned that they move away, or I move away.  I have now lived in Colorado for 12 years.  The longest I have ever lived in one place. It was my life, I adapted just like any other kid, and I just kept my distance.

When I was in 7^th grade was the first time my mom got sick. That was a very high stress in my life and during that time is when I gained weight…I have been fighting it ever since.  I am strong because of her, but I am also weak because of the situation. She died when I was 22 years old leaving behind five children, the youngest being 2 years old and me.

Malnutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa:

Eastern and Southern Africa have chronic malnutrition. Which is causing stunting. Stunting is irreversible; therefore, it is important to stop this symptom of malnutrition right away. UNICEF is aiding in the battle of malnutrition. One way is encouraging exclusive breast feeding, providing education, and providing nutritious food.

“Over the years, awareness of nutrition issues, particularly stunting, has increased, thanks to advocacy informed by researches. Sixteen out of the 21 countries in ESAR now have improved nutrition plans that no longer treat nutrition as a standalone sector, but one that needs to be integrated with health, agriculture, sanitation, welfare, education and others.Twelve countries are in the SUN partnerships, with Burundi and Kenya being the newest signatories. Ten countries have all or most of the provisions of the Code for Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes as law, with Kenya and South Africa having just recently passed this into legislation. Most countries in the region have bi-annual mass vitamin A supplementation as part of the Child Health Day campaign, together with other high impact interventions such as de-worming, immunization and distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.Countries are increasingly recognizing Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition as part of the minimum core package of nutrition interventions. Seventeen of the 21 countries in the region have begun to build national capacities to scale up this approach.”
http://www.unicef.org/esaro/5479_nutrition.html

Sadly, children are dealing with this and have no control over it. It is so important that we educate these countries and give them the knowledge they need to support their children's growth and development.