by Kristyn Zalota | Jan 15, 2013 | Birthing, Clean Birth Kits, Social Good, Uncategorized, World Voice
This post is the second installment by Kristyn Zalota, Founder of CleanBirth.org, about her work in Laos. To read the first post in the series, “One Mom’s Mission to Save Lives in Laos”.
Tahoy mother and 3 day old baby. Tahoy women have 8-10 babies, many of whom die.
“Off to Laos! I am really doing this!”, I enthused in a text to a friend en route to JFK for my around-the-world flight. I was headed to a remote province of Laos to provide local women with Clean Birth Kits (essential birthing supplies: picture instructions, absorbent sheet, soap, cord clamp, sterile blade that prevent infection) and training on safe, hygienic birthing practices.It took me 48 hours to get to Thailand, due to a delayed flight, and I was worse for the wear on arrival. En route from Thailand to Laos, my stomach hurt from travel-induced anxiety, malaria pills were causing another kind of digestive distress and I was sleep-deprived.
Plus, I didn’t really know where I was going: a cell phone number from my Lao partner organization, OVC, was my only information. Arriving in the Thai-Lao border town, Pakse, I obsessively dialed my contact for hours until she answered. Much to my relief, she picked me up and drove me from Pakse to Salavan, where OVC is based.
My first day in Salavan, I knew that the stress and discomfort of travel were well worth it. I saw immediately, that the directors of OVC, Nong and Nyai, were women that I could work with. They are efficient, hard-working, committed and generous. For more than 10 years, they have been providing medical, educational and agricultural support to ethnic minorities in this remote region. They believe in empowering the local people: seven of OVC’s staff of twelve live in the communities and are ethnic minorities themselves. (more…)
Kristyn brings her years of experience as an entrepreneur and serial volunteer to CleanBirth.org. She holds a MA, has run small businesses in Russia and the US, and has volunteered in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Uganda on projects related to women’s empowerment.
After having children, Kristyn became an advocate for mothers in the US, as a doula and Lamaze educator, and abroad, as the Founder of CleanBirth.org. She is honored to provide nurses in Laos with the supplies, funding and training they need to lower maternal and infant mortality rates in their villages.
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by Kristyn Zalota | Jan 8, 2013 | Birthing, Clean Birth Kits, Health, Inspirational, International, Maternal Health, Social Good, Uncategorized, USA, Womanhood, Working Mother, World Events, World Interviews, World Moms Blog Writer Interview, World Voice, Writing
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in New Haven, CT. I am originally from CT but have lived in several countries, including Russia, England and Thailand.
What language(s) do you speak?
English, Russian, enough Thai and Spanish to chat and order food
When did you first become a mother?
My son Nikolai was born in Oxford, UK in 2005.
Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work outside the home?
I am stay-at-home mom, who runs a non-profit when the kids are at school.
Why do you blog/write?
I wrote my first blog, WanderMama.com, to share my experiences living in Thailand with my then 1-year-old and 4-year-old. I write my current blog, CleanBirth.org, to share information about my Clean Birth Kits project in Laos. (more…)
Kristyn brings her years of experience as an entrepreneur and serial volunteer to CleanBirth.org. She holds a MA, has run small businesses in Russia and the US, and has volunteered in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Uganda on projects related to women’s empowerment.
After having children, Kristyn became an advocate for mothers in the US, as a doula and Lamaze educator, and abroad, as the Founder of CleanBirth.org. She is honored to provide nurses in Laos with the supplies, funding and training they need to lower maternal and infant mortality rates in their villages.
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by Lauren @Hike.Blog.Love. (USA) | Dec 18, 2012 | Autism, Family, Friendship, Kids, Parenting, Philanthropy, Social Good, Special Needs, World Motherhood, World Voice, Younger Children
The author holding her son after completing the Best Buddies 5K in August 2012.
I hold my breath as my five-year old son zooms around the playground. There are children laughing and squealing all around us. Games of tag and the sound of ring-around-the-rosey sung in unison fill the evening air.
My son continues to run in circles as if he is the only child on the playground. Another child approaches him and catches his attention. He stops. My heart starts pounding and I convince myself to wait and watch before jumping in to help him navigate this brief social encounter. It’s over as quickly as it began and he is back to zooming around the playground.
Some of the moms and other children begin to stare. Most smile politely and continue on with what they were doing and I sink back into my seat, wondering what the future will hold for my son. This is a typical day in the life of my five-year old son who is diagnosed with autism and cognitive delay. While my other typically developing five-year old son is eager to play with friends on the playground, my son with special needs is satisfied to stay within his comfort zone of isolation.
Could you imagine a world without friendship? I certainly could not.
So one day I asked myself if my son is truly happy playing alone with only brief and superficial social encounters. Doesn’t he really crave friendship like his brother? Although my son is limited verbally, a single conversation was enough to clarify that he did indeed want to make friends. As his mother, I was determined to help him do it. (more…)
Lauren is a lover of nature, an avid hiker and mama to two boys adopted from across the globe—one who happens to have autism. She is passionate about special needs adoption and the great outdoors.
You can find Lauren blogging about all of her adventures at "http://hikebloglove.com", Hike Blog Love. where she hopes to inspire others to get outdoors and explore. She fiercely believes that adventure is for all.
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by Alison Fraser | Dec 14, 2012 | Africa, Being Thankful, Canada, Communication, Culture, Family, Friendship, Girls, Human Rights, Humanity, Inspirational, International, Kenya, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, Philanthropy, Social Good, World Motherhood, World Voice, Younger Children
Teddy Bear Picnic Fundraiser
Global awareness has been identified, by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, as key to the success of today’s young people. I have always prided myself on my commitment to raising my three young daughters to understand the challenges that people all over the world face on a daily basis. Despite my best efforts, I felt like I was failing. Of no fault of their own, given their young ages, I felt that they were slowly being swallowed up by a world driven, at times, by materialism and egocentrism. As their mom, I knew it was my responsibility to raise them as globally aware citizens. But how?
The major stumbling block at the time was their young age. How would I ever manage to teach my daughters to be empathetic when they were all under the age of 6! After much thought, I realized that the only way to accomplish this was to truly involve them in the process right from the start. So, no fancy and sophisticated fundraisers, no black tie events, no galas…but a teddy bear picnic: absolutely! (more…)
Alison Fraser is the mother of three young girls ranging in age from 5 to 9 years old. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Alison works as an Environmental Toxicologist with a human environment consulting company and is an active member of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). She is also the founder and director of the Canadian Not for Profit Organization, Mom2Mom Africa, which serves to fund the school fees of children and young women in rural Tanzania. Recently recognized and awarded a "Women of Waterloo Region" award, Alison is very involved in charitable events within her community including Christmas Toy and School Backpack Drives for the local foodbank.
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by Mama Mzungu (Kenya) | Dec 4, 2012 | Health, India, Kenya, Philanthropy, Poverty, School, Social Good, World Voice
Children wait for their names to be recorded and then given their deworming tablets in Nyanza, Kenya.
There’s a minuscule pot of money globally to solve those intractable problems of poverty around the world. Sure, there are a lot of sources: foreign aid, UN agencies, global and local charities. But they are dwarfed by the size and scope of human need, which governments in low-income countries cannot, for a variety of reasons, completely address. The international development world is in constant battle for this pot. “
Look at me!” says HIV/AIDS. “Over here!”, says malnutrition. “We’d like something, too!”, says access to credit for small business. “Don’t forget about us!”, say malaria and tuberculosis. These are all worthy causes, so it’s a struggle.
And the global community does not necessarily prioritize or coordinate our global giving on the basis of need of recipient or effectiveness of the solution. Generally, it appears based largely and unscientifically on “what’s sexy” at the time. (more…)
Originally from Chicago, Kim has dabbled in world travel through her 20s and is finally realizing her dream of living and working in Western Kenya with her husband and two small boys, Caleb and Emmet. She writes about tension of looking at what the family left in the US and feeling like they live a relatively simple life, and then looking at their neighbors and feeling embarrassed by their riches. She writes about clumsily navigating the inevitable cultural differences and learning every day that we share more than we don’t. Come visit her at Mama Mzungu.
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by Lauren @Hike.Blog.Love. (USA) | Nov 30, 2012 | Adoption, Babies, Being Thankful, Death and Dying, Health, Human Rights, International, Poverty, Social Good, Special Needs, Tragedy, United Nations, USA, World Events, World Voice, Younger Children
December 1st is World AIDS Day. As a tribute, our World Voice writer, Lauren, submitted this post.
They cry and yearn to be held, but there are not enough arms to hold them. Many of them have watched their parents die. Some have parents who are too sick to care for them. But all of them want the same thing—to be loved and to know that they matter.
They are just like you and me, but they are the tiniest victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some, like their parents, are HIV positive. Others are considered lucky and have escaped infection. All are residing in an orphanage with a future that is uncertain.
How do I know what an AIDS orphan wants and needs? Because on a hot August Day in 2008, I stood inside an orphanage that houses orphans affected by HIV/AIDS and I held my son for the first time. So it should come as no surprise that tomorrow, on World AID Day, I will join millions of people around the globe to unite in the fight against AIDS.
World AIDS Day aims to educate, inform and empower people to join the effort to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic.According to UNAIDS, more than 34 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS and a staggering 3.3 million of them are under the age of 15. The HIV/AIDS epidemic claims the lives of 1.7 people each year. With 2.5 million new infections occurring annually, the epidemic is far from over.
But there is hope. (more…)
Lauren is a lover of nature, an avid hiker and mama to two boys adopted from across the globe—one who happens to have autism. She is passionate about special needs adoption and the great outdoors.
You can find Lauren blogging about all of her adventures at "http://hikebloglove.com", Hike Blog Love. where she hopes to inspire others to get outdoors and explore. She fiercely believes that adventure is for all.
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