Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The only stressor that affected me as a child that I can remember is when I was affected by isolation when I was burned at the age of 9.  It was a hot summer day and my mom was cooking some butter beans in a pressure cooker.  I went into the kitchen and the pressure cooker exploded in my face.  I was a child who was being curious and tried to take the top off, after my mom told me not to go in the kitchen around the stove.  I went into the living room and ran to a mirror and I was horrified when I saw my face.  My family rushed me to the hospital and I had 2nd degree burns in my face and chest.  I spent weeks in the hospital because of my own disobedience.  I was isolated from my friends and family and I was living in pain because of my accident. Although, it was a tragic for me, I still had to endure the physical and emotional drama that I endured over the next five years.  When I finally went back to school, certain classmates were not sensitive to my feelings.  They called me burnt toast, Freddie Krueger, and other mean names.  I dealt with their mean attitudes and at the end it made me a stronger person.  I feel that the stressful events in our lives make us stronger and wiser.  I understand that my disobedience caused my own accident and pain, but at the end it was a painful experience. With the guidance and inspiration of my family and church, I was able to overcome a painful ordeal.  The doctors and medical staff at Natchez Regional Medical Center was truly a blessing for me because their medical procedures and treatment allowed me to gain my facial appearance back to its original texture.  However, as time went by so did the physical and emotional scars.  When I tell people of my ordeal, sometimes they look twice with disbelief because they cannot imagine that I was even burned.  I am truly blessed and thankful that things were not as bad for me.

The country that I would like to know more about is Africa.  The kind of stressors that are affecting Africa is poverty; lack of nutrition-malnutrition, hunger and underweight; diseases-AIDS/HIV and malaria; disasters such as flooding, landslides and pollution; exposures and participation in wars and acts of violence; lack of maternal health that is leading to death and birth complications; lack of primary education; and inequality of boys and girls.  Africa is making progress to alleviate these problems that are affecting the adults and young children in their country. Improved partnerships between African and donor nations have resulted in increased aid flows being used more effectively (Doors to Diplomacy Web Project, 2006).  Children across the world deserve to have a healthy well-being.

References:

Doors to Diplomacy Web Project. (2006). MMBrico.com Doors to Diplomacy Web Project. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from MMBrico.com: http://www.fightpoverty.mmbrico.com/facts/africa.html