An Eastern Girl's Struggle

A young girl screams as she is being beaten by her father. He lands his fist on her face. When she collapses to the floor, he repeatedly bashes her head in with his two gorilla-like fists. Not only does she feel fear and pain, but also humiliation; the father has an audience treating the situation as if it were an act in a comedy. This audience was my mom and my brothers. Because of many situations like this in my past, I have developed what is commonly known as manic depressive disorder. However, due to my father's leave to Damascus in August of last year, I have regained the willpower necessary to fight back for the years that were unjustly stolen from me.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but my father leaving the house was a landmark day in my life. This person who I had a hard time thinking of as a person rather than a monster was gone. I felt free on that sunny August tenth morning to know that I would not see him ever again. This led to the growth of many once-contained curiosities that made me learn so much about myself in such a short period of time, and they certainly led to many interesting places. Above all else, I came to realize that part of what my father was doing was a way to prevent me from having these experiences so that I could remain dependent on him. By the end of January during the following year, I knew that I simply could not allow this to happen.

Let's fast-forward to early February. I wasn't doing well in school because I became addicted to new experiences. In fact, I wanted to move out right after school was done. From here I believed that my only option was to join the military which, to be fair, is such a clichéd thing to do. My desire then was to become a military communications officer, and so I started working out as if I was a bodybuilder. I even skipped school just to go to the recruitment centre in downtown Hamilton since I didn't want my mom to know exactly what was going on; I was eighteen so my school did not report my absences. I thought I was happy for once in what was a lifetime of abuse. It turns out I was wrong.

It didn't take me very long, perhaps about a month or two past the day I first saw my recruiter, to figure out that my desire to join the military was nothing more than a reaction to the results and side-effects of a situation that no one should ever go through. Thus, the desire was meaningless. To say that it served no purpose though would be wrong since I learned more about the world when it came to fruition than I had under the regime of a tyrant. After this realization, I began looking for my purpose in life. I thought about what I wanted to bring to the world and I did eventually find it.

I only have two words: Loreto Leombruni. He is a secondary school teacher. Actually, I have a couple more: Anita Kudiyate, also a secondary school teacher. They worked at the same school. I never was more inspired by any people than I was by them. In my third year of secondary school, Loreto was like the father I never had in how much he cared about my well-being, and Anita was like family to me in that same year. The more I thought about them and how they touched me just reaffirmed each time I did so that I wanted to be like them. And so, I decided that I would try my best to be a product of their inspiration and aspired to become a secondary school teacher.

In the grand scheme of things, I learned that the worst of horrors can create incredible beauty. I know I probably won't ever have a relationship with my dad because of what he did, but what he did may have been, for all I know, part of the mould which formed who I am today. The situation will never be forgiven, but I can at least thank the darkness for the new light.

"Winter" Published on Monkey Biz

My last post was published on Monkey Biz, albeit in a slightly different variation. Click here.

Winter

It's coming. I can feel the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer. When it's morning and you're surrounded by darkness, a cold chill to your spine, and you no longer need an air conditioner. When the many bright green leaves of trees age as humans do, and eventually they will meet their frostbitten death. All life has stopped growing; rather it has been stunted or it already died. Soon, the snow will meet the ground and pale my sun-kissed olive skin as I walk across the mountain that is my home. But this is my home, and I would have it no other way.

This is Hamilton.

Child of my Nightmares

(this is an account of a dream I had last night)

A strange child. Huge puffy head, small lifeless body. Perhaps to be clearer it should be mentioned that this it’s head was comparatively much larger to it’s body than the head to body proportion you’d see in other infants.

It looked at me and I looked at it. Was it mine? I do not know, yet I’d travelled time and place just to save it and hold it in my arms. Was it a boy? Is it a girl? I did not presume for I was not sure. One cannot be certain with the child’s many physical abnormalities.

Red crack-like scars covered the child’s emaciated legs and stomach. It’s physical weakness does not permit it to stand or hold its head up high as a person. Again it puffed its face in discontent. It was slow to most things but not to know that it was a victim of birth. And we certainly can’t find the murderer. But I was there.

Like a well runs dry of water, I ran dry of patience. I left it for a minute and as soon as I got back, I was already cursed. Half of the child’s extremely fragile neck ripped off somehow. I stared at it as it was dying, while it cursed existence and wished that it was nothing rather than a lesser person.

The thing that happened next frightened me the most. The beautiful Asian medic next to me grabbed the poor thing by it’s head, and it breathed no more.

As I sat up screaming on my bed, the product of my nightmares forbade my return to rest. I hope to never again dream of children dying in my arms.

Early Childhood Educator and Assistants Research Career Report

This is a report I've done as a tribute to the current voluntary work that I do at a preschool. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing about this interesting career choice (though I daresay I'd not do this for my career past this summer). So here it is... a dedication to Early Childhood Educators.

Career or Job Title, Description and NOC (National Occupation Code)

The career which is highlighted in this report is in the category of “Early Childhood Educators and Assistants” as outlined by the National Occupation Classification system in Canada and Job Futures, which is a service of Service Canada. The following is a description of this occupational grouping (NOC 4214) by Job Futures.

Early childhood educators plan and organize activities for preschool and school age children. Early childhood educator assistants provide care and guidance to pre-school children under the supervision of early childhood educators. Early childhood educators and assistants lead children in activities to stimulate and develop their intellectual, physical and emotional growth.

Necessary Personal Requirements for the Career or Job

According to Okanagan College in British Columbia, a successful Early Child Education Student and Graduate, and assumedly a person/persons already working within this occupational grouping, must have the following personal skills: a caring and accepting attitude, strong interpersonal skills, self-awareness, skills in critical thinking, flexibility, and an acceptance of diversity.

Education and/or Training Requirements

In order to pursue a career within this occupational grouping, a bachelor’s degree or college diploma in early childhood education is required. However, in the Mohawk College citation provided in the attached works cited, a certificate of qualification is made available. It can be assumed that this restricts the educator’s options to being an assistant to a fully-qualified early childhood educator, thus leaving them on the level of early childhood education assistant.

Colleges, Universities and/or Institutions Offering the Courses and the Locations

Three post-secondary institutions offering programs and training for certification within this occupational grouping are as follows:

· Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology: a one-year certificate program in Early Childhood Education provides certification as an early childhood education assistant, while a two-year diploma program provides certification as an early childhood educator. Locations are available in the following Ontario cities: Hamilton and Brantford.

· Seneca College: a two-year diploma program is offered in a regular two-year course or one year for students who already have an undergraduate degree, both of which provide certification as an early childhood educator. There are eight campuses in total, all of which are in Ontario: Markham (Buttonville and Markham Campuses), Toronto (Jane, Seneca@York, and Newnham Campuses), King City (King Campus), Newmarket (Newmarket Campus), North York (Yorkgate Campus)

· Niagara College Canada: a two-year early childhood education program is offered and provides certification as an early childhood educator. There are two locations in total; one in Niagara, Ontario, and the other in Welland, Ontario.

Program Description and the Length of the Program

Because only one program will ultimately be chosen by a student for certification, and because of my current location and for the purposes of making the assumption that I am willing to take on this apprenticeship seriously in the future, I have chosen to highlight Mohawk’s two-year Early Childhood Education program. The program length is hour-based: after the completion of 4000-6000 “on-the-job” and theoretical work hours, a student may get their apprenticeship certificate and then complete more theoretical work in order to gain their diploma. No course specific course requirements are listed.

Current Salary Range

According to Job Futures, the salary range for an Early Childhood Educator ranges at $10.57-13.51 on average. For people at 20-24 years of age, the average salary is $10.57 (the lowest); 25-24, $13.51; 55+, $12.60; and the overall average is $12.67. This is significantly below the national average for all occupations, which is $18.07.

Employment Outlook

In Ontario, the employment outlook for Early Childhood Education is fair because a significant amount of people within this occupation class will be retiring in the next few years. However, much better opportunities are available abroad in countries like New Zealand, where prestigious scholarships are being offered to students to train in this area since in 2007, the country had its highest birthrate in 44 years. In fact, New Zealand currently faces a shortage of ECE’s.

Bibliography

National Occupation Classification. July 1st, 2009

"Early Childhood Education". Okanagan College. July 1st, 2009 .

"Job Futures - Early Childhood Educators and Assistants". Job Futures. July 1st, 2009 .

"Early Childhood Education :: Niagara College". Mohawk College. July 1st, 2009 .

Women of Seasons

"They will kill me but they will not kill my voice, because it will be the voice of all Afghan women. You can cut the flower, but you cannot stop the coming of spring." - Malalai Joya, women's rights advocate in Afghanistan.

When life gives you lemons...

This category known as "quotes" is dedicated to the everyday awesomeness brought to you by average people.

"When life gives you lemons....CHOKE ON THEM AND DIE!" - Dave Kern, a douchebag buddy from America

Arab Christian

Arab Christian
defends faith, Shi'ites deplore
He is here no more

(I realized I made a silly mistake in editing, so I had to change "Sunni" to "Arab" again).

Happy Canada Day!

To my American friends: yes, there is a day called Canada Day. It is July 1st, which is today and it's the birthday of Canada. To celebrate, I thought I'd share a really cute video by Nadine. It can be viewed below.

And, my Canadian amigos, or Americans being held hostage in Canada... tell me what you've done after all the Canadian festivities, eh. Please don't make an ass of yourself and chug down a bottle of maple syrup to prove a point - that's just a waste of perfectly good maple syrup!

I may or may not make a post tomorrow on what I did today.

Still Life of a Flower

Still life of a flower from a pattern I did because I couldn't sleep tonight:

No larger version needed. That's all the detail this has.