by World Moms Blog | Nov 24, 2012 | Human Rights, Purnima, Saturday Sidebar, The Alchemist, Tina Santiago-Rodriguez, World Moms Blog, World Voice
This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Purnima. She asked our writers,
“How do you intend to spend your year end holidays?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
World Mom, Jennifer Prestholdt and her family celebrating their holidays
Hamakkomommy of Japan writes:
“Christmas in Japan can be kind of sad if it falls on a weekday. This year, I am planning to spend the day with a fellow gaijin friend and her family. New Years is the main holiday here. The days leading up to it will be spent cleaning (apparently the lucky new year god doesn’t come to dirty houses.) On Jan 1st, we’ll head over to the in-laws house around 8 AM for a traditional meal, the traditional sake, followed by the traditional sake-induced speech my father-in-law gives every year. After that, we usually head to a local park for kite flying (which is done on New Years for some reason.) Kids get money from relatives, so we’ll probably end the day at the toy store with temper tantrums and hangovers.” (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by Jennifer Prestholdt (USA) | Nov 20, 2012 | Education, Human Rights, Motherhood, World Motherhood, World Voice
Sometimes I have trouble finding the words to talk to my kids about the violence that hear about in the news, the injustices that they see in our own community. As a human rights lawyer, it is my job is to document and expose human rights abuses. But I have always struggled with how to communicate to my kids what human rights are and why they should care about them.
Recently, however, I was preparing for a project that involved interviewing children about their experiences. Experts advise that interviewers use simple language when speaking with children about difficult topics. “Simple language” means avoiding big words, of course, but it also means using simple, direct sentences. Straight-forward grammar – subject and predicate in sentences; basic speech parts – nouns and verbs and adjectives. I suddenly realized what I was doing wrong in talking about human rights with my kids. Rather than explaining complicated concepts, what I needed to do was break it down to the core values that everyone needs to live fully in this world. I needed to start with the basic building blocks of language: words. (more…)
Jennifer Prestholdt is a lawyer and the Deputy Director of The Advocates for Human Rights, a volunteer-based human rights organization that works locally, nationally and internationally. Her work in human rights takes her around the world, but she spends most of her time in Minneapolis, MN, where she lives with her children (two sons and one daughter), her husband, an elderly cat and a dwarf hamster.
As Jennifer’s kids are now all in school (1st, 4th and 6th grades), she is finally finding more time to do the things that she used to love to do, especially running, writing and knitting. Jennifer loves to travel and has had the dubious distinction of having been accidentally locked in a bathroom on five continents so far. Australia and Antarctica await!
In January 2011, Jennifer made a New Year’s Resolution to start writing about her experiences in order to share with her children the lessons learned from 15 years of work in human rights. The result is her personal blog, The Human Rights Warrior. The name comes from her son Simon, who was extremely disappointed to learn that his mother is a lawyer, not a warrior.
You can find her on her blog The Human Rights Warrior or on Twitter @Jprestholdt.
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by Kyla P'an (Portugal) | Nov 13, 2012 | Ethiopia, Eye on Culture, Girls, Health, Human Rights, Inspirational, International, Maternal Health, Media, Multicultural, Social Good, Tragedy, Travel, Uncategorized, United Nations, USA, Womanhood, World Events, World Interviews, World Moms Blog Writer Interview, World Voice
As we continue to explore the world of women and moms across the globe, occasionally World Moms Blog will bring you exclusive interviews with people outside of our contributor base. These interviews will focus on people and organizations that are moving and shaking the world and in the process, are bringing greater awareness to women everywhere.
World Moms Blog Founder and Editor, Jennifer Burden, met Andi Gitow at the September Social Good Summit in New York City. Jen could tell Andi was someone that had a role worth sharing with World Moms. Below is a recap of a recent phone interview WMB Senior Editor, Kyla P’an, conducted with Andi :
WMB: World Moms Blog is a blog that focuses on motherhood around the globe, on social good, and on human rights. Can you tell us about an aspect of your work at the UN that overlaps one or any of these topics?
Andi Gitow: My work and films largely focus on human rights and the causes and long lasting legacy of violence. This includes the use of rape and sexual crimes as a weapon of war. I have covered stories on human rights violations and conflict and healing in Bosnia, Liberia, and Darfur. Other issues we have covered include maternal health and the risks mothers face in the developing world. I have found in my coverage that human rights and women’s’ rights regularly overlap.
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Kyla was born in suburban Philadelphia but spent most of her time growing up in New England. She took her first big, solo-trip at age 14, when she traveled to visit a friend on a small Greek island. Since then, travels have included: three months on the European rails, three years studying and working in Japan, and nine months taking the slow route back from Japan to the US when she was done. In addition to her work as Managing Editor of World Moms Network, Kyla is a freelance writer, copy editor, recovering triathlete and occasional blogger. Until recently, she and her husband resided outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where they were raising two spunky kids, two frisky cats, a snail, a fish and a snake. They now live outside of Lisbon, Portugal with two spunky teens and three frisky cats. You can read more about Kyla’s outlook on the world and parenting on her personal blogs, Growing Muses And Muses Where We Go
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by Erin M. Threlfall | Nov 7, 2012 | Culture, Indonesia, Social Good, Traditions, Uncategorized, World Voice
World Moms Blog has formed a strong relationship with GAVI Alliance, a public-private organization whose mission is to increase access to life saving immunizations in poor countries. To raise awareness of GAVI’s incredibly important work, WMB contributors have been invited to host “Global Tea Parties,” which are being filmed and made into a documentary film.
When the founder of World Moms Blog, Jennifer Burden, first shared the idea of the GAVI Global Tea Party, and invited Moms from around the globe to host their own, I was thrilled to be a part of the fun.
First, any excuse to host a tea party is a good excuse to me! I grew up with the idea that tea parties are a special way for women to gather together and share stories, celebrate big events, and grow closer in their acquaintance with one another. (more…)
Originally from the US, Erin has credited her intense wanderlust and desire to live around the globe to her nomadic childhood. Every two to three years, her father’s work with a large international company provided the opportunity to know a different part of the US (VA, OH, PA, GA, SC, NY) and eventually Europe (Germany and Italy) and Asia (Thailand and Japan). Though her parents and siblings finally settled down in the heartland of America, Erin kept the suitcases in action and has called Ghana, South Korea, Togo, Bali, and now New York home. Single Mom to a fabulous seven-year-old citizen of the world, she is an educator and theatre artist who is fascinated with world cultures and artistic practices. Her big dream is to some day open a school focused on well-being and inquiry based learning to meet the needs of all her learners. In the meantime, Erin and her Little Man Edem, plan to keep investigating theatre and influencing education, one continent at a time. You can read some of her ramblings and perhaps find the common thread by checking our her personal blog, telling all about This Life http://www.erinmthrelfall.com/
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by Jennifer Burden | Oct 30, 2012 | Africa, Eye on Culture, Health, International, Shot@Life, Social Good, United Nations, World Moms Blog, World Voice, Younger Children
Yesterday, I found myself donning a hijab and touring the inside of a mosque in Mubende, Uganda. It was not my ordinary Friday afternoon as a stay-at-home mom in suburban New Jersey…
By invitation of the UN Foundation, I’m on an observatory trip to Uganda with the Shot@Life campaign delegation to take a first-hand look at UNICEF‘s programs in the country.
This past July UNICEF began bringing the medicine to the people, instead of trying to get the people to the medicine. They’ve had great progress in partnering with religious organizations to make this happen because 90% of Ugandans attend a church or mosque every week according to UNICEF.
So, our first Family and Child Health Day stop was at Mubende Town Mosque on Day Two.
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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 | Oct 26, 2012 | Shot@Life, Social Good, World Voice
“When we walked out of the airport, the smell of crisp wood burned air swept in the gentle breeze. We had made it to Uganda after almost a full day of traveling. We were excited to hear about Uganda’s health programs for children.”
This week, I am on a UN Foundation delegation to Uganda with the
Shot@Life campaign. Today was our first day on our mission, and my mind is already blown! We started our day (well, some of us started their days with breakfast, but my phone was still accidentally set for Amsterdam time, so I came at the last moment) by piling into a UN bus and heading to the UNICEF offices in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.
We spent the morning and early afternoon in a meeting room type setting to be debriefed by UNICEF about Uganda and the programs they are working on for the health and safety of the children.
Let me tell you this. There are AMAZING people doing really interesting work for children’s interests here. Dr. Sharad Sapra is the UNICEF Country Representative for Uganda. Previously he had worked for UNICEF in NYC for 6 years, and then chose to take this assignment in Uganda. He spoke of the importance of the “4th screen”, the cell phone. He explained it was fourth to the movie, tv and computer screens. The ideas Mr. Sapra and his team have come up with to engage the people of Uganda are innovative. So innovative that they are now being incorporated in other countries.
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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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