by World Moms Blog | Mar 17, 2012 | Eva Fannon, Saturday Sidebar, South Africa
Today’s Saturday Sidebar is about, well, St. Patrick’s Day. In many places, it’s more than a religious holiday, it’s also a cultural holiday.
“Will you be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? If so, how? If not, how is St. Patrick’s celebrated where you live?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in my family with parties, parades, green beer, Irish music and stories of leprechauns! For the kids, we hide gold coins and do silly things around the house, so they think the leprechauns played funny tricks on them. It’s a great day in my family!!! (You can read more of the details in this post I wrote about it last year.)” (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 Martine de Luna (Philippines) | Mar 15, 2012 | Philippines, Working Mother, World Interviews, World Moms Blog, World Moms Blog Writer Interview, Writing
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I’m from the sunny Philippines! I reside in the capital, Manila, with my husband and son. I was born here and I’m Filipino, though I spent my childhood abroad, as we were expatriated in 1985. I actually met my would-be-husband while in school in Singapore, during the mid-1990s.
What language(s) do you speak?
Despite growing up in Hong Kong and Singapore until I was in my mid-teens, I don’t know how to speak Chinese! (Then again, I went to British schools.) English is my first language. I learned to speak Filipino (Tagalog) when we moved back here; I was 15 then.
When did you first become a mother?
I gave birth to my son, Vito, in 2009. Friends, however, said I was “mommy material” because I liked kids so much (I used to teach in a progressive school), and because I (more…)
Martine is a work-at-home Mom and passionate blogger. A former expat kid, she has a soft spot for international efforts, like WMB. While she's not blogging, she's busy making words awesome for her clients, who avail of her marketing writing, website writing, and blog consulting services. Martine now resides in busy, sunny Manila, the Philippines, with her husband, Ton, and toddler son, Vito Sebastian. You can find her blogging at DaintyMom.com.
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by World Moms Blog | Mar 13, 2012 | Guest Post, Maternal Health, Motherhood, Social Good, World Moms Blog, World Motherhood, World Voice

Sarah and her precious baby.
When I had my daughter Hayley Jane at full term via c-section on October 25th, we were on cloud nine! Our little princess had arrived and even my son Derek, at just 26 months old, was thrilled for our family. I was released from the hospital and spent two days in that post baby honeymoon phase. Then I woke up on October 31st, and I knew something was off.
I told my husband, Rob, that I couldn’t fully catch my breath and that I had a dull headache and thought my vision seemed blurry. I thought I was being paranoid, as I was recovering from a c-section and had a new baby that was nursing every 2 hours. But Rob told me to call the doctor.
I was surprised at the stern immediacy in the doctor’s voice when she said to “grab my pump and get back over the bridge.” My in-laws rushed over, and I kissed my babies good-bye through flooding tears because I didn’t want to leave. Derek was going to be a fireman for Halloween that day, plus my brand new Hayley Jane, I needed to be home and dress Hayley in pink and cuddle her…would she forget me, would we never bond?? I didn’t realize then that it would be 3 hellish days until I saw them again. (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 World Moms Blog | Mar 11, 2012 | 2012, International, Motherhood, World Moms Blog Itinerary, World Motherhood
Put on your seatbelts, because we’re going all the way to New Zealand on Monday! Karyn @ Kloppenmum tells us about what she thought things would be like when she first became a mother. But what about those things that we don’t expect, that no-one tells us about?
On Tuesday, we stay international as we head off to South Korea. There, Ms. V ponders the question: what’s in a name? Join us for this interesting read about how names are chosen in South Korea and what they mean.
On Tuesday evening, a guest post in the social good column! Sarah Hughes is trying to raise awareness of maternal health and pre-eclampsia.
On Wednesday, we will be in Nevada with Roxanne. This mom talks about how we instinctively try to do things for our children as they navigate their early childhoods. Are we doing right by them, or do we try too hard to keep our children close to us?
(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 World Moms Blog | Mar 10, 2012 | Family, Motherhood, Parenting, Saturday Sidebar, Scoops of Joy, Tara B., World Motherhood
This week’s question comes from World Moms Blog writer, Tara B. She asked WMB writers to toot their own horns!
“What is one of your best attributes and how do you share it with your family?”
Read on to see what some of our world moms had to say…
Mamma Simona of South Africa writes:
“”Tooting my own horn” is something that I find extremely difficult to do! That said, I think that my best attribute is that I find it easy to empathize with others (i.e. looking at things from their point of view). The flip side of that is that for too many years I neglected to look at MY side of the equation! I was so busy looking out for everybody else that I neglected myself. I have now finally learned to “put on my own oxygen mask” before attempting to rescue others. I have always asked my children how they would feel if they had to swap places with the child they were having a problem with. They are now very caring teens who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, yet remain respectful to others who have different beliefs from them. I feel that I have shared my values simply by living by them. Children learn from how you act and not really from what you say! :)” (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 Burden | Mar 8, 2012 | Social Good, World Moms Blog, World Voice
On World Moms Blog we try to make every day International Women’s Day! But, today is really THE day! If you’ve been reading us, you know that we champion life-saving vaccinations for children in developing nations through the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign and the GAVI Alliance.
However, on this day for women, we want to tell you about how the GAVI Alliance is also working to save the lives of many women in the developing world.
Every two minutes, statistically, a woman dies of cervical cancer. And now GAVI financing and programs have paved the way to offer life-saving HPV vaccinations to help prevent these deaths in places where it’s not so easy or affordable or possible to keep up with regular pap smears.
At World Moms Blog we value our children, and we know that every child deserves a mom.
To read more about GAVI’s program and see how they are making a difference, please visit the GAVI site.
This is an original post to World Moms Blog. Jennifer Burden is the founder and an editor of World Moms Blog. She can be reached at worldmomsblog@gmail.com or on Twitter @WorldMomsBlog and @JenniferBurden.
Photo credit to Koshyk. This photo has a creative commons attribution license.

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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