by Jennifer Burden | May 26, 2013 | Maternal Health, Uganda, Uncategorized, World Moms Blog
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to write on maternal health for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s amazing blog, Impatient Optimists. The foundation is “guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.” I chose a story out of Uganda from when I visited there with a delegation from the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign. I described my meeting with a nurse midwife from one of UNICEF’s Family Health Days in Fort Portal, Uganda.
Jennifer Burden of World Moms Blog and Cindy Levin of RESULTS talk to a lab technician in Fort Portal, Uganda, while there with a delegation from the Shot@Life campaign. Photo credit to Stephanie Geddes.
World Moms, you must go over there and check out what I learned about prenatal care from the trip and the instruments used for pregnant mothers. And you won’t believe how many checkups the nurse midwife is hoping that her patients attend and what percentage actually do. And why babies who have an HIV positive mom and who are not HIV positive must stop breastfeeding at 1-year old. Ok, enough here. The answers are all over at my post at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “What I Learned from a Midwife in Uganda“. Go there, and check out their site!
Comments here are closed. Go on over there to comment!
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by Mamma Simona (South Africa) | May 15, 2013 | Expat Life, Friendship, International, Life Lesson, Living Abroad, Relationships, South Africa, Uncategorized
In 1983 I was 14 years old and I’d fallen in love for the first time. The object of my affection was an American boy by the name of Campbell T Fisher Jr (known as Toby). He and his family were sailing around the world in a small yacht. Their “modus operandi” was to stay in a place only for as long as it took them to earn enough money for fuel and provisions (for the next leg of their journey).
From the moment we met at a school dance, we knew that our time together was precious. Back then there were no cell phones (hence no texting) and no Internet. His parents didn’t have a car and mine worked all day, so we used to walk (a lot) to wherever we wanted to go. Money was tight for both of us, so going to watch a movie was a rare treat. The first movie he took me to see was “An Officer and A Gentleman” which was being shown at the Yacht Club where his family’s yacht was anchored. I remember thinking that the movie was so appropriate because Toby was my” officer and gentleman.”
Unfortunately they were only in Cape Town for 6 months. I was totally devastated when he sailed away, but we vowed to keep in touch and get together again as soon as possible. Keeping in touch meant “snail mail.” We’d write long, rambling letters telling each other everything that was happening in our lives. Of course, by the time the letter arrived, most of the news was “stale.” We also sent each other “mixed tapes.” Do you remember those? We’d put together compilations of sappy love songs and mail them to each other! (more…)
Mamma Simona was born in Rome (Italy) but has lived in Cape Town (South Africa) since she was 8 years old. She studied French at school but says she’s forgotten most of it! She speaks Italian, English and Afrikaans. Even though Italian is the first language she learned, she considers English her "home" language as it's the language she's most comfortable in. She is happily married and the proud mother of 2 terrific teenagers! She also shares her home with 2 cats and 2 dogs ... all rescues.
Mamma Simona has worked in such diverse fields as Childcare, Tourism, Library Services, Optometry, Sales and Admin! (With stints of SAHM in-between). She’s really looking forward to the day she can give up her current Admin job and devote herself entirely to blogging and (eventually) being a full-time grandmother!
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by Mama B (Saudi Arabia) | May 8, 2013 | Parenting, Relationships, Saudi Arabia, Sexuality, Uncategorized
I have never really thought of myself as a conservative person. Not because I’m not one I probably am in the traditional sense of the word but life seems to be all about labeling people. Sorting them and stacking them into neat little sections. We are obsessed with it.
We talk to people and get to know them just enough to label them something and keep that label stuck to them regardless of whether it actually fits them or not. Sometimes we skip the getting to know all together and slap the label on based on first impressions, on the way they dress or talk or the job that they do. Some labels are good, some bad, but all have the same effect of flattening a person out till they are barely one-dimensional. So I don’t particularly like labels. And I don’t feel comfortable committing to one adjective for the rest of my life
Now as an Arab, Muslim woman from Saudi Arabia you can imagine I have been labelled many things based only on one of the afore-mentioned facts (Arab, Muslim, female and from Saudi). You can also imagine that many of these labels are not particularly nice ones. For example “oppressed” is one I have slapped on me simply by being an Arab woman. Add the other two parts (Muslim and Saudi) then that label is practically tattooed on my forehead.
If I dare to say I am not oppressed then the other label is pinned to me; “Brainwashed.” I remember when I got engaged while I was studying in London one of my professors called me into his office to ask if I was okay and if I had a choice in the matter. The fact that I was studying in London, living on my own, and that he had known me at that point for two years didn’t affect how he saw me. I was still an oppressed little Saudi girl to him.
I know people have certain preconceptions about women in Saudi and it is very difficult to convince them otherwise without them coming to see for themselves. A British woman who recently moved to Riyadh said “I have yet to meet a timid Saudi woman! I expected the women here to have no say in all that happens in their lives and homes and with their families. I was so surprised to see that they are in charge.”
I think people have a need for others to be one thing or the other. They cannot be undefinable, un-categorisable. So it always throws my more “Western” “liberal” friends (might as well join them if you can’t beat them!) through a loop when I don’t fit into the category they expect me to. They are surprised by how “conservative” I am when it comes to certain matters concerning my children. For example:
1- I don’t want my son to be in a co-ed school after the age of 12. It is not because I want to segregate him completely from women. On the contrary I want him to have, hopefully, the same female friends he has now at 10. The reason is all the co-ed schools here are international ones with a majority of ex-pat students. Our religion and culture mean that there is no dating and no premarital anything. That is why I think it is unfair to put him in an environment where dating is the norm. Kids will be having crushes, and first kisses and so on and I will then expect him not to do it. I’m not delusional, I know boys will be boys. I just don’t want to put him in an environment where everyone else is going in one direction (the more exciting, fun and hormone filed direction) and I am expecting him to go in the other.
2- I don’t want my 7-year-old girl to wear bikinis or short shorts or off the shoulder clothes. This is not because I think there’s a pervert around every corner or anything like thatay. It’s because I want her to be more modest and to grow up feeling like wearing crop tops is not okay. It may be cute at 7 but at 17, not so much. Having said that, I think people really over reacted to the pictures of Jessica Simpsons baby in a bikini last year. Had she had a picture of her in Pampers only people wouldn’t have had such an issue. She was 4 months old people. It’s cute!
3- I don’t want my daughter to take hip hop classes. Her personality is a huge factor in this because if there is music and table she can stand on she’ll be on that table dancing her little tush off. I think a lot of the dances that are taught in these classes are inappropriate and too grown up. Also, whats the cut off age for this? I don’t want my daughter to start something she really loves, get really good at it and put all her energy into it then say: Fantastic! Good job! Stop doing it now. And “professional dancer” is not a career option for her.
4- I don’t like the kids listening to songs with mature themes or words in them. I am not talking only about swear words but content that is not something a 7 or 10-year-old should be listening to. So I opt to go for the watered down versions like the songs by Kids Bop. They take all the top hits and make the lyrics child appropriate. So it’s the same songs but kid friendly! My kids love it.
5- I don’t let them watch Disney channel because I saw one of the sitcom episodes where the plot was about two girls seeing who could kiss one boy first. Not okay in my book.
So if those things slap the label conservative on me then I guess I am.
Then there are the people who are surprised by how “Western” I am in certain things about my parenting. Most of the people who label my actions “Western” are Western themselves, and what they label as (quite condescendingly) are any good parenting traits I have. They assume that because I value early bedtime and healthy diet and love to encourage my children to read and put a high emphasis on being polite and respectful to all people, that I MUST have that from studying in London. Or from having a Western nanny when I was a child. To these people I tell them to look at my mother and grandmother and they can see where I learned how to raise my children with values we already have.
I know I have gained a lot of parenting skills from books written by Western authors, but the common sense was there to begin with. I did need a book to tell me what fruits to put in my children’s morning shakes to get the healthiest option. And a book did help me learn how to help motivate my children with reward charts and such.
I have learned a lot from my little (large) collection of parenting books just as I have learned from how my grandmother raised her children into adulthood and how she respects their life and their decision and didn’t raise them to be extensions of herself but rather self-aware, resilient, independent human beings who also didn’t fit into any particular label.
I am personally uncomfortable with either label. Conservative because it is stifling and Western because it’s condescending. I am me. I have been influenced by my Islamic upbringing, my Bedouin grandmother, my British nanny, my hundreds and hundreds of books, my friends from different countries and religions and by life!
I think, because people seem to have a need to sort others out into neat groups, I will have to find a new label. Maybe “Islamic, Conservative, liberal, free-spirited, regimented, modern, temperamental, Arab, world mom”?
What do you think of the 5 points I listed earlier? Do you agree with them? Are you a “conservative” parent? Do you think you fit into a label?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Mama B from Saudi Arabia. She can be found writing at her blog, Ya Maamaa.
Photo credit to _nyem_who holds a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution license.
Mama B’s a young mother of four beautiful children who leave her speechless in both, good ways and bad. She has been married for 9 years and has lived in London twice in her life. The first time was before marriage (for 4 years) and then again after marriage and kid number 2 (for almost 2 years). She is settled now in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (or as settled as one can be while renovating a house).
Mama B loves writing and has been doing it since she could pick up a crayon. Then, for reasons beyond her comprehension, she did not study to become a writer, but instead took graphic design courses. Mama B writes about the challenges of raising children in this world, as it is, who are happy, confident, self reliant and productive without driving them (or herself) insane in the process.
Mama B also sheds some light on the life of Saudi, Muslim children but does not claim to be the voice of all mothers or children in Saudi. Just her little "tribe." She has a huge, beautiful, loving family of brothers and sisters that make her feel like she wants to give her kids a huge, loving family of brothers and sisters, but then is snapped out of it by one of her three monkeys screaming “Ya Maamaa” (Ya being the arabic word for ‘hey’). You can find Mama B writing at her blog, Ya Maamaa . She's also on Twitter @YaMaamaa.
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by Olga Mecking | May 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in the Netherlands. Neither me, nor my husband are from there. I was born in Poland, but have been living abroad for a while (among others in Canada, Germany and now the Netherlands). My husband is German.
What language(s) do you speak?
Theoretically, I speak 5 languages – Polish, German, English, Dutch and French. However, to be frank I speak 3 of them really well (Polish, German and English), my Dutch is on its way to improvement, and I like to say that I speak half of French. I don’t know why but my French only works when the person I’m talking to doesn’t know any other languages. However, I have two French cousins and I wish I could speak it better. I speak Polish with the children, my husband speaks German and they learn Dutch at daycare.
When did you first become a mother?
I had my first child in 2009. It was also the year we got married, I was trying to graduate from university and we had an international move to arrange! It was a crazy year! 2 years later, my second daughter was born, and I am now a happy mom to three children, as my baby boy was born only a month ago. (more…)
Olga is a Polish woman living in the Netherlands with her German husband. She is a multilingual expat mom to three trilingual children (even though, theoretically, only one is trilingual since she's old enough to speak). She loves being an expat, exploring new cultures, learning languages, cooking and raising her children. Occasionally, Olga gives trainings in intercultural communication and works as a translator. Otherwise, you can find her sharing her experiences on her blog, The European Mama. Also take a while to visit her Facebook page .
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by Jennifer Burden | Apr 29, 2013 | Ethiopia, ONE, Social Good, Uncategorized, World Voice
Model Maya Haille & chef Marcus Samuelsson host the launch of the Three Goats Foundation at Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem, NYC on April 7th, 2013.
Last autumn, the ONE Campaign, co-founded by Bono with the mission to eradicate extreme poverty, took a delegation to Ethiopia. Included in the delegation was a fashion model, Maya Haille, whose family is from Ethiopia, and she is also married to the famed Ethiopian NYC chef, Marcus Samuelsson.
Maya’s journey to help the people of Ethiopia has been heartfelt. When she and Marcus once delivered supplies to a village there, the people thanked them by giving them 3 goats. What were NYC folk to do with 3 goats?
Maya said, “Although I can’t take the goats home, I can tell the story.” So, on April , 2013, Maya and Marcus invited their friends, family and the public to Marcus’ restaurant, “
Ginny’s Supper Club” in Harlem to launch their foundation, “
Three Goats” to aid the people in their beloved Ethiopia. I was in attendance at the fundraiser, which brought in over $80,000 to aid women!
I caught up with the amazing woman behind #ONEMoms community relations, Jeannine Harvey, and together with Maggy Keet from Three Many Cooks, we cabbed it to Harlem for the women of Ethiopia. Maggy is no newcomer to social good — she had previously spent 9 months in Tanzania, where she helped build a maternal health unit for the ministry of health there. Maggie’s group raised $100,000 for the building — incredible!
The Three Goats event was filled with gorgeous African music and dancing, Chef Marcus’ scrumptious food, including goat and his renowned Swedish meatballs. Yes, you read right — Marcus and his sister grew up in Sweden. When in Ethiopia, their mother suffered from tuberculosis and had to travel far by foot with her children for her treatment. One day while on this route, she didn’t make it, and her children were later adopted to Swedish parents.
The event included amazing auction items, which guests paid hundreds and thousands of dollars for including, tickets for the Jimmy Fallon show, a high profile photography session, cosmetics, FashionABLE scarves and more.
FashionaABLE is an amazing company that we have mentioned before on World Moms Blog. We first learned of it from the #ONEMoms trip to Ethiopia. Founded by Barrett Ward, who was also in attendance at the 3 Goats event, the company brings women off the streets from prostitution in Ethiopia and empowers them to design and make scarves and helps them find alternative outlets for sale. Examples of places that carry the scarves are FashionABLE’s own website, the ONE Campaign and Harabu House. They are one of my favorite gifts to give!<
Left: Jennifer Burden of World Moms Blog with Maggy Keet of Three Many Cooks and Jeannine Harvey of ONE. Center: with model Maya Haille. Right: With Barrett and Rachel Ward of Live FashionABLE. April 7, 2013 at the launch of the Three Goats Foundation in Harlem, NYC.[/caption]
It was a great night out for a great cause, and I was thrilled to witness the launch of Three Goats to help women in Ethiopia. I look forward to following the additional good to come from the new foundation!
Do you have a foundation that’s near and dear to your heart? Come share it, here, in the comments!
This is an original post to World Moms Blog, by founder, Jennifer Burden of New Jersey, USA.
Photo credits to the author.
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by Jennifer Burden | Apr 28, 2013 | Uncategorized
KJ Dell’Antonia, writer at the NY Times Motherlode, updated the prestigious website’s parenting blog list on Friday. In the category she described as “must-reads that are more destination than ‘blog'” she wrote, “The subject matter on World Moms Blog ranges from Westerners’ thoughts on global issues to posts from writers worldwide.”
We are thrilled and honored to be among websites, such as Babble, Asha Dornfest’s Parent Hacks, Katherine Stone’s Postpartum Progress, and InCulture Parent.
As we mentioned on our Facebook page on Friday when the news broke, “Somebody pinch us!”
Thank you to KJ Dell’Antonia and the NY Times Motherlode for highlighting us among the many. You have no idea how much the honor means to our global editors and contributors, all of whom are volunteers!
Please read the full post at the NY Times Motherlode: “The Motherlode Blogroll: Freshly Linked but Never Final.”
— World Moms Blog
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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