by Kristyn Zalota | Jan 31, 2017 | 2017, Birthing, Clean Birth Kits, Human Rights, Humanitarian, Maternal Health, Millennium Development Goals, Pregnancy, Social Good, World Voice
When I began CleanBirth.org in 2012, it was very important to me that the organization succeed. I wanted so much to help other mothers give birth safely. I also craved a project of my own that was unrelated to being a mother or wife.
I can remember worrying in the first year that the Clean Birth Kits wouldn’t be well received or that my partner organization in Laos, ACD-Laos, wouldn’t do their part to ensure success.
In the first 2 years, I worked endlessly with ACD-Laos and traveled to Laos twice per year. Back at home, I went to conferences, Tweeted and posted on Facebook non-stop, and sought connections and fundraising opportunities everywhere.
There was so much of me in the organization in that early period. I needed the moms in Laos to give me a purpose, as much as they needed me.
Yet, the more I traveled to Laos, the more I understood that the only agents for real change in birth practices are local nurses. With common language and traditions, these nurses are uniquely effective at conveying knowledge about safe birth.
With the goal of empowering local nurses, my partners at ACD-Laos and I spent time in 2014 establishing mutually-agreed up Monitoring and Evaluation procedures. With these clear objectives and methods of tracking funds, the way was cleared for my partners at ACD-Laos to take ownership of day-to-day activities.
In 2016, when they began conducting training without me and then requested to expand to more clinics and a hospital, it was clear that ACD-Laos and the nurses were invested and in charge.It was also clear that my role had changed.
Just as the organization had evolved, so had I. With an international move and growing kids, I no longer needed CleanBirth.org to be my purpose.
While the need is gone, my commitment is stronger than ever. I am so proud to be part of the team we’ve created: the nurses, ACD-Laos, CleanBirth.org and our supporters. Year after year we make birth safe for an increasingly large number of women in Laos.
World Moms Network has supported CleanBirth.org since the beginning. We need your help in the next 2 weeks,as we raise our largest amount ever $20,000.
Please give now if you can: http://cleanbirthorg.causevox.com/
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 Alison Fraser | Dec 1, 2015 | 2015, Awareness, Being Considerate, Canada, Caring, Family, Global Citizenship, Global Goals, Happiness, Holiday, Humanitarian, Philanthropy, Social Good, World Voice
Typically, after Thanksgiving in the United States, the following Friday and Monday, known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, kick off the holiday shopping season. Black Friday, in the stores and Cyber Monday, online. However, Giving Tuesday follows and is what now kicks off the holiday “Giving Season.” This movement has been around for several years already.
With so much poverty around the world, the fact that a movement, based entirely on the giving of time and money, is gaining momentum gives me great hope. Did you know that you do not just have to give money on Giving Tuesday? You can, instead, donate your time. This means many more of us can get involved.
How great is a movement that the whole world can participate in as a collective unit with one goal in mind: to give?
So take today to think about the something you want to change most in the world. And give. Give of your money. Give of your time. Give only what you can. From around the world to your local community, find out how you can participate today, Tuesday, December 1st.
As each year of Giving Tuesday goes by, more and more organizations are getting involved, which plays at my heart strings. For example, here, in Canada this is the first year that Waterloo Region in Canada will be launching Giving Tuesday in an official manner. The community is rallying around local groups and causes in a way that I would never have imagined!
Let’s kick off the giving season and make this the most memorable Giving Tuesday the world has known to date.
A Note From our Founder:
Today, World Moms Blog asks our readers to consider volunteering, donating and/or advocating for these 4 organizations that have been created by our contributors or employ them. Click on over to see why they are worthy of your #GivingTuesday love!
- Mom2Mom Africa helps to educate and provide a better life for children in Tanzania. What started as a penpal project of a mom in Canada, turned into an education sponsorship program, a school being built, class trips provided and much more!
- Cleanbirth.org, which helps to provide a safer birth experience for mothers in Laos through clean birth kits and nurse midwife training. Started by an American mom who pledged to single-handedly take on poor maternal health statistics.
- The Advocates for Human Rights is the workplace of our resident contributor and human rights lawyer. The organization provides opportunities to volunteer, donate and/or advocate for their life saving and life changing work to help people worldwide.
- Edesia makes Plumpy’Nut which helps provide nutrition for children who need it most in the developing world. And did you know that our Managing Editor works there in digital media?
Tell us what you’re doing for Giving Tuesday…
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by contributor, Alison Fraser, in Canada.
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 World Moms Blog | Dec 2, 2014 | 2014, World Voice
World Mom, Aisha in Nigeria, gets her temperature taken at a stop to check for Ebola while driving her daughter to school in northern Nigeria.
This Giving Tuesday, World Moms Blog contributors from 5 continents are on the ONE Campaign blog speaking out in support to help end Ebola. From Nigeria to Indonesia to Belgium to New Zealand to the USA mothers support donating to help end the Ebola outbreak and provide needed healthcare to those affected.
Check out the full post over at ONE!
Also, the advocacy to #ENDEbola continues on World Moms Blog with the WGirls, an international nonprofit who reach out to the girls and women in their communities in need. In times of global crisis, they also rally to help. Today, WGirls President, Amy Heller, is on the blog talking about the importance of supporting efforts to end Ebola and her organization’s support of Doctors Without Borders to do just that this #GivingTuesday.
We are grateful to support these partnerships to help support the organizations who need our help to contain Ebola this #GivingTuesday!
Photo credit to Aisha Yesufu.
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 26, 2014 | 2014, Poverty, World Moms Blog, World Voice
A few months ago, the Live Below the Line of Poverty Challenge contacted World Moms Blog to ask if any of our contributors would like to take their challenge — 5 days of living on $1.50 per day.
According to the World Bank, there are over 1.2 billion people living below the line of extreme poverty in the world, which is defined as living on below $1.25 per day. The Global Poverty Project is challenging everyone to live on $1.50 per day to advocate for the world’s poorest. They state,
“We run Live Below the Line because we believe to really fight poverty, we’ve got to better understand it.”
Well, I had no idea what I was getting into. When the request came around cheerleaded by World Moms Blog Senior Editor, Elizabeth Atalay of Documama, I joined in because some of our contributors REALLY wanted to do this. I remember my friend, Holly Pavlika of MOMentum Nation, completing the challenge several years ago before she left for Tanzania with Shot@Life. We were at a lunch for a Shot@Life Champion event in NYC, and she declined her lunch and chose to eat 2 boiled eggs instead. I, on the other hand, chose the salmon and asked if I could sneak her some. She explained that she wasn’t allowed to take hand outs on the challenge. I was intrigued…
So when the request to live on $1.50 a day came around, I said, “I’ll do it, but just for one day, not five.” Well, here I am on Day 3…
World Moms Blog Editor, Hannah Ashton, suggested that we pool our resources, my $7.50 for 5 days and her $7.50 for 5 days. The plan was that amount would buy enough food for 5 days, and then for the one day of our challenge we would eat a fifth of the food.
My rations included 1 bag of beans, 2 cups of white rice, 2 cups of flour, 1 small bag of carrots, 3 bananas, 5 packs of instant oatmeal with dried apples and cinnamon, 1 jar of tomato sauce, some green tea bags and two onions. We had 12 cents left over each, so we justified a pinch of salt and a tiny bit of oil from our kitchens.
I’ve been sharing my experience on my personal Facebook Page, and I’m going to show you what happened:
Live Below the Line Day 1
I had two portions of the beans and onions over rice, thinking that I could “anchor” my stomach by filling it. That evening, I had tea and a banana for dinner. But, I was so hungry when I went to bed.
Live Below the Line Day 2
The next morning I woke up, and realized that there is actually a lot of things I do for my kids in the morning, including making their breakfast, before I had mine. I was feeling really hungry while running around and getting the laundry started. When I finally made my way to the kitchen, I realized that my oldest daughter had eaten one of my banana rations. I stopped short.
“Noooooooo!!”, I thought.
But, that’s the point where the transformation began for me. It wasn’t just about feeling hungry, I began to think differently.
“So, this is how it feels for a mom living in poverty?” Her child is hungry, and so is she. I left the banana out within reach, so there was no time to cut and share it.
Next, I made my instant oats with boiled water. My children both wanted to try it. At home, they are used to oatmeal that we mix with flax-seed and a little mini chocolate chips to sweeten the deal with some milk. (For me on the challenge, the flax-seed, chocolate chips and milk were too luxurious today.) So, they were curious. I shared, although my stomach was growling, and since they weren’t doing the challenge, I thought I could direct them to their lovely 5 grain bread and melon. But, I thought, “Ok, keep it real. What would a mother in this situation have to do?” I let them try the oatmeal. They didn’t like it. Relief. I gobbled it up.
Ok, so I was joking. I really didn’t want to punch Steve, but you know what I mean! He actually wanted to join the challenge at the last-minute, but I told him that I only had rations for one. Maybe the idea was in my head that this could continue? In the meantime, I had to deal with him eating gourmet pizza, while I was chomping on beans.
So, at this point, I thought, “I’ll do it up through dinner. I’m hosting book club tonight, and there’s noooo way, I will be able to get through not snacking with my friends. Book Club is more like “Eat Club”. I was pretty sure that’s where my journey ended. Hey, that’s nearly a full day past what I said I’d do, right? But, I guess something in me didn’t want to stop, so I put the request out, “Do you think I should continue?”
One of my friends suggested that she thought I could do it, but why would I want to?? Her question was a pivotal part in my journey. The challenge was taking a new role. I spent the morning reflecting:
“I’m understanding in more detail things I have already learned, such as how during a trip to Uganda with the Shot@Life campaign, we learned that if a father bought a soft drink, that expense meant the family may go hungry. Last night I was just annoyed that my husband mentioned food. How would I have reacted if I was a mother in the situation with the soft drink in places in Uganda?? I’m understanding by feeling instead of just reading and seeing. The places this experience is taking my mind and my senses is what is keeping me going to want to learn more. I may never know what it’s like to live in extreme poverty, but this challenge is reminding me on another level of why eradicating extreme poverty should be a human priority.
Right now, it’s getting through it and feeling everything, then it will be, “What can I do about it?”.
Live Below the Line Day 3…
So, last night, I made it through Book Club. I had beans with onions and tomato sauce over rice for lunch and dinner. I was too hungry to snap a picture beforehand. I had my dinner later in the day, so I wasn’t hungry in the evening when all of the food was out. My friends were really supportive, nobody held me down and pushed guacamole down my mouth. They had a lot of questions, too.
It wasn’t until my friends left that I began to feel the hunger pangs. I quickly put everything away and left the dishes for the morning. I went to bed last night thinking, “How do people who make very little money in food service get through their day among all the food?”
The ability to understand advocacy on another level — feeling — is what has brought me to day 3 of what was supposed to be only a 1 day project.
I plan to continue to Friday for the full 5 day challenge, and also look out for an article about all the World Moms Blog contributors who are taking the challenge with Deborah Quinn from MannaHattaMamma in the UAE; Hannah Ashton, Elizabeth Atalay of Documama, and Polish Mom Photographer in the USA; Alison Fraser of Mom2Mom Africa in Canada; and Purnima Ramakrishnan of The Alchemist’s Blog in India. I’m curious to hear how the challenge went for them!
World Moms Blog wasn’t expecting to fundraise for the challenge, but after requests from friends on Facebook, we have created a World Moms Blog donation page on the Live Below the Line site. Donations made to our page there will benefit UNICEF, an organization whose great work I observed in Uganda with the Shot@Life campaign.
Want to have an in-body experience to help the world’s 1.2 billion living below the poverty line? How about joining the Live Below the Line challenge, too? Plan now to start between April 28th and May 2nd. There are site challenges in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Colombia.
You can help the World Moms Blog contributors with their challenge. Share this post to help us spread the word about our Live Below the Line challenge!
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by founder, Jennifer Burden in NJ, USA.
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 | Feb 4, 2014 | 2014, Clean Birth Kits, Social Good, World Moms Blog, World Voice
Over a year ago, World Mom, Nicole Melancon of Thirdeyemom, introduced me to Kristyn Zalota, an American mom who was dedicating her time to help save the lives of mothers in Laos. I’m embarassed to admit, I wasn’t exactly sure where Laos was. (It’s next to Vietnam.) I also didn’t know that the country has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality on the globe.
Kristyn has introduced our staff and community to both, the mothers who she has met in Laos and the nurse midwives who she has trained through the organization she founded, Cleanbirth.org. Last year, World Moms Blog helped her raise over $700 to provide clean birth kits to the moms who needed them most. It was such a fun, fantastic global moment for our contributors. We changed our Facebook profile pictures to the Cleanbirth logo, and we Facebooked and tweeted our hearts out! But that’s not all…
Since that time, World Moms Blog was the conduit that brought Kristyn Zalota and Dee Harlow, our contributor in Laos, together. Dee started volunteering for Cleanbirth.org and helped the organization secure a $2000 loan, and she also wrote about maternal health in Laos during our #Moms4MDGs campaign on the Every Mother Counts website. In fact, here is a photo of Dee and Kristyn in Laos advocating for maternal health with the US Ambassador to Vientiane!
This year we are back and excited as ever, to lend Cleanbirth.org our hearts and our social media voices to help kick off their 1st month of fundraising in 2014! But, we also have fantastic news — we are not alone!
Two equally awesome organizations — Multicultural Kid Blogs and Girls Globe — will be joining us! Together, our three sites will be synergizing our social media power together and rallying our communities and readers to help Cleanbirth.org in their campaign to raise $7500 this February, which is earmarked for the much-needed training of 10 nurses, 25 volunteers and 500 birth kits.
Inspired by World Mom, Kristyn Zalota’s, enthusiasm to do more than her fair share to help our fellow moms on the planet, World Moms Blog is happy to join Multicultural Kid Blogs, Girls Globe and all of our combined contributors participating in making some noise for safe births for the mothers in Laos.
How can you join in? Share this post. Donate. Join the Twitter Party on Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 1pm EST! Hashtag is #Cleanbirth.
Just $5 USD goes a long way — it buys a birth kit which includes sanitized necessities and the cost of travel for the nurse midwife to attend a birth. Kristyn has launched something amazing that saves lives and empowers women.
- For just $5 you can provide a life saving Clean Birth Kit
- For $100 you can train a Village Volunteer who serves her village
- For $250 you can sponsor a nurse who serves as many as 10 villages
See more at: http://startsomegood.com/cleanbirth#sthash.gp7YuaeW.dpuf
If everyone who reads this post just donated $5, we could make a very large difference in the life of our fellow World Moms in Laos. For almost the equivalent of a cup of fancy coffee, we can have a feel good, mother earth kind of day together.
I hope you will join us and help us spread the word!
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Founder, Jennifer Burden in New Jersey, USA.
Photo credits to Cleanbirth.org and Dee Harlow.
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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