FRANCE: I am a Dreamer…

FRANCE: I am a Dreamer…

Last week a family member answered one of my questions by « you are such a dreamer! ». This was not a compliment. This was a statement saying something like this “you are so naïve” – “you’re 36, wake up”. I heard this before. I’ve heard it since I took the first step into adulthood.

It made me think.

What’s wrong about being a dreamer? What’s right about not being one?
Should I stop dreaming now? Why? Why should I stop being who I am? Why should I follow the crowd?

Big things happened in this world because at some stage people thought these things were possible.

Everything starts with an idea. Everything is set into motion because people have a dream and believe in it. They make it happen. They have faith.

Do narrow-minded people have dreams?

They don’t. They accept things as they are. Even if these things don’t please them. And if they have some, they don’t follow them, surely thinking it’s not worth it.

Back to the conversation we were having. The family member who said that is old enough to be a grand-dad. Maybe he’s just fed up with life. I am sure he had dreams at some stage (all kids have dreams!) but these dreams vanished. And he’s now left with nothing else but regrets and resentment towards life.

I don’t want to become like him. I hold on tight to my dreams. I dream of a better world. I see life as a wonderful opportunity to share love and light, to learn tolerance and respect, to help one another and to build step by step, all together, a peaceful planet.

If people stop dreaming, what our world is going to be like? What will we get if we don’t imagine tomorrow’s world? What will happen is we stop creating and just accept violence, greed, injustice?

I am a Dreamer and I am proud of it. I’d like to dream till the end and pass it on to my son. I am a Dreamer and I invite you to dream with me. The toughest battles and the most wonderful victories have been achieved by people with, what others thought were, “impossible” dreams!

Are you a dreamer or a realist?

This is an original post written fro World Moms Network by MarieV in France.

Marie Kléber

Marie is from France and is living near Paris, after spending 6 years in Irlande. She is a single mum of one, sharing her time between work, family life and writing, her passion. She already wrote 6 books in her native langage. She loves reading, photography, meeting friends and sharing life experiences. She blogs about domestic abuse, parenting and poetry @https://mahshiandmarshmallow.wordpress.com

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Shop Our #HopeBag Black Friday Sale on Cyber Monday!

Shop Our #HopeBag Black Friday Sale on Cyber Monday!

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We’ve extended the sale! Today’s the last day to receive $5 off each Hope Bag (the grey one with the sari braided handles) when you shop today, Monday, November 28th, 2016, while supplies last! The Hope Bag, along with all of the products in our mini-shop are sourced from women’s cooperatives that provide jobs for sex trade survivors. Proceeds from the shop benefit World Moms Network and help us keep our site running! We think providing voices for women around the world is important. If you do, too, please consider purchasing from our shop to support our work!

Gorgeous Braided Repurposed Sari Handles -- each bag is unique!

Gorgeous Braided Repurposed Sari Handles — each bag is unique!

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Happy Shopping!

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World Moms Network

World Moms Network is an award winning website whose mission statement is "Connecting mothers; empowering women around the globe." With over 70 contributors who write from over 30 countries, the site covered the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Most recently, our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan was awarded "Best Reporting on the UN" form the UNCA. The site has also been named a "Top Website for Women" by FORBES Woman and recommended by the NY Times Motherlode and the Times of India. Follow our hashtags: #worldmom and #worldmoms Formerly, our site was known as World Moms Blog.

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BIG NEWS!!: Our Mini-Shop is OPEN! #worldmom #worldmoms

BIG NEWS!!: Our Mini-Shop is OPEN! #worldmom #worldmoms

It is with tons of enthusiasm from around the world that we announce that our mini-shop is live and taking orders!

 

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The World Moms have been talking about this for years, and we finally launched our mini-shop! The first products are sourced from women’s cooperatives in India and Cambodia that provide jobs for sex trade survivors.

From covering the stories that affect women and children around the world for over 6 years, we’ve come to know how our decisions can impact change. Sourcing our first socially responsible products with our friends at To The Market danced beautifully with our mission statement: “Connecting mothers; empowering women around the globe.”

We hooked up with Jane Knowles from To the Market at the ONE Campaign’s AYA Summit a few years back!

Proceeds from our first products will go towards our expenses to run the site and fund our World Moms Network Ambassador Training Program, which our contributors will be participating in online in 2017!

FEATURED PRODUCT: #HOPEBAG

With no further hesitation, I must introduce you to the Hope Bag! The story behind it goes like this: I called on my English friend from university, Hannah Ashton, who always had her nose in a fashion magazine and dragged me to shop after shop! I told her that we needed to source responsibly, but I needed help with the fashion part. She dove in and said that we must feature the bag with the gorgeous, repurposed sari handles. So, here we are months later!

World Mom, Hannah, chose a grey jute, which is confident enough to turn all eyes to the main show stopper of this bag: the handles. We were nervous when we sent the first payment for the shipment, but many of us screamed with enthusiasm when the shipment arrived!! They are exactly how we imagined, if not better! We hope you love them, too.

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Multicolored with a punch of varying shades of pink and purple, the braided handles on the Hope Bag are a show stopper! The handles are made from washed, repurposed saris.  Some handles are lighter, others darker, some brighter, and others more muted. Different colors. All gorgeous.

 

Gorgeous Braided Repurposed Sari Handles -- each bag is unique!

Example of the sari handles — each bag is unique!

Inside, the bag is lined with a charcoal cotton lining and has a zippered inner pocket.

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Lined in charcoal cotton with a zippered inside pocket!

The handles were so much fun to photograph!

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And here is one on the rack…

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The Hope Bag in grey sells for $35 plus tax and shipping. Merchandise ships from the USA. Click on over to our mini-shop to purchase this bag or see what other finds we are featuring — a mini, yet thoughtful, selection of bags and bracelets…it’s a start!

 

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This is an original post to World Moms Network from founder and CEO, Jennifer Burden in the USA. 

Photo credits to Jennifer Burden. 

 

 

Jennifer Burden

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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How to join our Heartfulness Meditation today 12pm EST!

How to join our Heartfulness Meditation today 12pm EST!

WMN Launch Meditation 500

Join us — moms, dads, friends, and all humans welcome! — on Wednesday, June 22nd, at 12pm EST for a Heartfulness Meditation session for world peace to celebrate our launch to World Moms Network! World Mom, Judith will be our meditative guide.

First, she will have us close our eyes and talk us through a simple relaxation (the relaxation includes taking some deep breaths, focusing on relaxing the body parts she names, etc.). Next, we will meditate in silence, focusing on a white light in our hearts for about 15 minutes.  Once the time is up, Judith will gently ask us to open our eyes.

If your mind roams, gently bring it back to the white light at your heart’s center. You can focus on your heart organ to the left of your chest or your body’s heart center in the middle of your chest.

During the meditation, Judith will mute everyone’s line to prevent disturbances (think planes overhead, doorbells and phones ringing, bosses walking in, kids fighting, etc.)

If you happen to join the session while it is already in progress, just get yourself into a comfortable, seated position and close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. If you are joining while Judith is silent, then please focus on your heart in silence and mute your line.

We will be using Zoom for the session. You can join in by video with the following link from your computer or mobile phone or call in by telephone (phone charges may apply).

**You will need to download Zoom — if you click on the link, it will take you through it — it only takes a few minutes to download, so hop on a few minutes beforehand, if possible!

 

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/5520725621

Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): 16465588656,5520725621# or 14086380968,5520725621#

Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll) or +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 552 072 5621
International numbers available

We hope you can join us in this very special event that incorporates World Moms Network’s vision statement:

  • We envision a world of peace and equality, born through our common ground of motherhood.

Space is limited to the first 50 attendees! (We have yet to fill up a session though!) See you at 12pm EST!

Jennifer Burden

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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NIGERIA: Another Christmas in Captivity for #ChibokGirls, World Forgets

NIGERIA: Another Christmas in Captivity for #ChibokGirls, World Forgets

Bring Back Our Girls Now

Time 100 Woman of the Year, Oby Obiageli (Oby) Kathryn Ezekwesili, looks and remembers the #ChibokGirls on Christmas Day.

Chibok Girls Remain in Captivity

Hmmmmm…today is Christmas, as I write this, and for many all over the world it’s time for félicitation, a time for merriment and sharing. But for our Chibok girls and their families, it’s time to wail and cry silently, while putting up a brave face for the whole world.

Freedom of worship is what a lot of us take for granted. A confirmed right, but for our #ChibokGirls, alas, it is not so. Most of them we heard have been converted to Islam. Islam doesn’t need forced converts. There is no compulsion in religion says God in Qur’an Chapter 2 verse 256.

Why, then, would someone take girls, who, even in the rules of war islamically, are never to be attacked? And forcefully convert them to Islam?

 

World Mom, Aisha Yesufu, speaks as activists gather in Abuja continuing to demand the rescue of the 219 Chibok Girls captured in April 2013 in Nigeria.

World Mom, Aisha Yesufu, speaks as activists gather in Abuja continuing to demand the rescue of the 219 Chibok Girls captured in April 2013 in Nigeria.

While others enjoy Christmas, our Chibok girls are weeping silently in their hearts. They probably do not even know that today is Christmas. That would be the worst.

For 620 days our Chibok girls have been in captivity. Mocked by their captors that no one would come, and, indeed, no one did.

Our Chibok girls have had to spend another Christmas in captivity, while the world moved on and forgets that 620 days ago the lives of 219 Chibok girls were frozen in a nightmare they never envisioned. They were captured by Boko Haram when they set out to get an education. Young, educated girls, whose empowered voice the terrorists found threatening.

For daring to have a mind of their own by getting an education, they have been put in bondage for 620 days.

How are Chibok parents faring during this day of festivities knowing that their precious daughters are with monsters who have no drop of humanity in them?

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How do they cope thinking of all the atrocities their daughters have had to endure this past 620 days? Ahhhhh…they must die a thousand deaths everyday imagining what their daughters have had to go through.

While many in the world are waking up today after celebrating Christmas with their family and friends, please remember the 219 #ChibokGirls who spent their second Christmas away from their loved ones and in captivity.

Please remember #ChibokParents who have had to celebrate a second Christmas without their daughters and struggle to put on a brave face for the other children. All so that the terrorists would not steal the joy of the season from their children the way in which they stole their daughters.

#BringBackOurGirls NOW & ALIVE

This is an original post to World Moms Blog by World Mom, Aisha Yesufu in Nigeria. 

Photo credits to the author.