Jessica M. Care Companion in Los Angeles, CA 90016

I have not had much experience working with children with disabilities nor have I received training. But I do have a bachelors degree in psychology and an abundance of experience working with all school age children for more than eight years.
The last eight years of my life have been the most rewarding years of my career. I spent the last years of my life working in East Africa, Tanzania helping individuals on so many different levels including education, health, and social advocacy. My most recent position was working at an organization called Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania(IEFT) which created a school called Orkeeswa Secondary School. For the past ten year, Orkeeswa Secondary School has helped the Maasai indigenous population by providing superb education services, which is rare in Tanzania. I was hired here to survey the student counseling program and to direct the Student Health Program. As a student counselor I went above and beyond the expectation of a student counselor. I was a teacher, a social worker, and an advocate for these children. In east Africa so many children are living under very difficult circumstances and are confronted by so many challenges. So as a school counselor I helped them combat these challenges and to find ways to cope. Before my work at IEFT, I worked as a Program Officer and Volunteer Program Manager for an organization called Support for International Change(SIC). This program was created to provide HIV and AIDS education and Mobile Testing Services. I ran the volunteer programs and did a lot of administrative work for this program. Lastly I want to emphasize my Peace Corps experience, which began my journey in Tanzania. I was chosen by the United States Peace Corps to come to Tanzania to work as a Health Extension Education Volunteer. I was trained in education, Health, and Cultural awareness before they allowed me to establish my position in a rural village. Some projects that I accomplished during my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer was Malaria Awareness education, Teaching ESL, HIV and Aids Counseling, Life Skills clubs at the schools, and Menstrual Health Education