BlogHer - Poverty - Comments

Maybe What I mean to say is...

CanCan — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:05:08 -0500

I feel myself having the urge to "help" others by giving them "stuff";
it is just ingrained in our culture I guess as Americans. I try to
resist though and use my head to try to get to the root of their
problems, and see if there is something really life changing I can do.
It isn't easy, and it isn't fast, but you can change someone's life
forever.

I don't have the answers, and some times I get discouraged by all of the need.

I wasn't knocking giving cheap notebooks to poor people; it is hard
for me to explain but I was trying to make a point that the notebook
didn't really meet their needs. In fact you can buy soap, notebooks,
cheap plastic toys in just about any country and it would save the
cost of shipping them from the US if people could just donate $5 to be
spent in the local economy in the area the impoverished community is
in. I also have had a lot of people mail me Jello from the US in order
to give to people. I don't really know what to make of that, and why
is Jello such an important thing to donate? Why do they need Jello?
How about vitamins? How about donate the $3 to some one who can buy
them 6lbs of rice with it? The inefficiency of charity bothers me. Too
much waste.

CanCan

Mom Most Traveled

www.MomMostTraveled.com

Midwives, for the good of all

Ingaborg — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:02:32 -0500

Ruth Lubic is a heroine. Birth is a natural process, not an illness needing hospitalization. Giving birth in a birthing center or at home allows mother and baby to bond as soon after birth as possible. This gives the baby the best chance for physical, emotional, and mental health.

For the woman without any serious medical complications during pregnancy, home birth, is perfectly safe, and the same can be said for the licensed, midwife-operated birthing center. Most importantly, the mother will be in control, assisted by someone she knows. [Essay 10, in my book, MOTHER EARTH AND THE GENE MACHINES, says much about the advantages of midwifery in countries around the world.]

poor sweet mamas + babies

modmom — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:41:36 -0500

great post amy!

reminds me how lucky i am to survive cancer + enjoy mothering my daughter

Link Textmod*mom

modmom.blogspot.com

WOW! no words~I wish Matt

lilmommythatcould — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:55:31 -0500

WOW! no words~I wish Matt and his beautiful baby all the love in the world.

~Susan

http://lilmomthatcould.com/

The My Kids, My World Mindset

Diana — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:04:17 -0500

I think one of the main keys to unlocking this issue is the mindset so many mothers get sucked into; the mindset that our children must be our one, our only, our world. We go to work (whether outside the home or not - it's all work), we come home (or change modes), we do dinner and playtime (if we can squeeze it in), bathtime and bedtime and by that time we fall into bed ourselves (after cleaning the house, of course) and if we take time out for anything else the guilt quickly sets in.

I'm certainly not advocating leaving our children to fend for themselves or ignoring them entirely but we must let other mothers know that it's OK to take time for themselves. It's perfectly acceptable to take time to read or watch the news, relax, take a shower, talk to other mothers (or non-mothers!) and most importantly maintain a sense of themselves. We get so wrapped up in our kids and their needs that we lose ourselves and when we lose ourselves we've lost our voice, because how can one advocate for causes they're not even sure they support.

I know I'm not the only mom who has looked in the mirror and thought "Who is that? What happened to me?" I just hope that I can help this generation of moms be some of the last to do it. Because that day? Is a hard day to face.

When are we going to get it together?!

froggemom — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:58:26 -0500

Why don't mothers have a larger role in our political process, as a group? Why don't we organize to secure paid maternity leave, paid sick days, good and affordable child care, etc.? I guess because we're too busy and tired. But I also think that its because we are told by the media that we are in the midst of "Mommy Wars" and couldn't possibly understand and like each other. Another reason might be that we are too concerned with what our own children have and need, and don't think too much about other children and other women. Our culture and society is me-centered. We don't really think about people other than ourselves, except when they are on tv.

My Own Kids

AudreyO — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:15:07 -0500

When my daughter was about 5, she got the flu. It was one of the worst cases ever. She become dehydrated and couldn't rehydrate herself because she couldn't even keep water down. A call to the doctor followed by a trip to E.R. and an overnight stay had her back to herself in no time at all. I think we do sometimes take this care for granted. While I was thankful, I'm not sure I ever considered that moms in some of these other countries would not have had access to this care.

What a wonderful thought provoking post.

Audrey :)
http://audreyshomebiz.blogspot.com

More relevant than ever

AnissaMayhew — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:53:34 -0500

My youngest daughter, now 4, was diagnosed with cancer at 2 years old. Can I tell you how thankful I was for the ability to take my child to a pediatrician just because she isn't "right"? We were blessed beyond belief to have an outstanding children's hospital within easy driving distance, so Peyton could be treated with the best by the best.

I've met and talked to too many families who are forced to go to less than wonderful facilities, had their treatment options limited by insurance issues and faced the fact that a piece of paper handed over by some corporate bigwig kept their child from a potentially live-saving procedure...deemed experimental, therefore uncoverable. I've seen the pain of a family fundraising to find the money to give their child a chance, denied by insurances and hospitals that won't touch them.

I will definitely be giving to one of the projects because being a parent faced with no options is truly a devastation beyond words.

Anissa Mayhew

www.hope4peyton.org

www.twitter.com/anissamayhew

The Good & Bad

JennaHatfield — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:01:08 -0500

My older son recently had croup. My Husband chose to take him to our local ER (three minutes as well) as opposed to the 20 minute drive to our "preferred" hospital. Husband is a Fire/Medic and knew that his breathing warranted a quick trip. He got better quickly. And I was grateful.

But what I could do without? Is the drama caused by insurance companies. Our current company has decided to place a cap on Well Baby visits. $500.00 for the first year to be exact. ($150 for other years.) Do you know what that pays for? One full visit and 2/3 of another. We wiggled our way out of paying for a six month Well Baby because he actually had a health concern at the same time. But the rest will be out of pocket.

Our country may offer some great emergency medical services but when it comes to prevention? Pfft.

FireMom from Stop, Drop and Blog

I first found out about this

fyi-for-women — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:32:21 -0500

I first found out about this condition while watching Oprah who was showing portions of the Walk to Beautiful film. After that show I started researching Urinary Incontinence.

It's surprising how many people find themselves incontinent
at some point in their lives. Whether it
is a temporary issue during an illness, or the effects of giving birth, it is
said that 1 in 4 women encounter this problem at some point in their lives.

Hopefully the stigma of incontinence can be erased and more
women can seek help or not feel uncomfortable about doing those activities that
they love.

I was moved so much by the stigma assoctiated with Urinary Incontience that I started a blog about getting more awareness out there. I myself have it, as well as more than half of the other women on my soccer team. I'm hoping to have it help others as well.

http://www.fyiforwomen.com/blog/

Thanks Uptownflavor!

Lisa Stone — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:27:38 -0500

The election is sneaking up on me in little ways too.

My 12-year-old has been an Obama supporter since the day after the Senator announced and he heard him speak in Springfield. A new chant he and his friends do, where they lower their breaking voices and stomp and clap:

oh-oh-BAHM-ah

oh-oh-oh-BAHM-ah

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Thanks!

Trisha — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:11:20 -0500

Thank you very much for linking to my post!

I've felt a little discouraged lately because it seems not many people are reading my blog. I put a lot of time into that post especially, so I really mean it when I say that I appreciate your linking to it. I wasn't sure if anyone had actually read it or not!

And yes, it is a horrible problems isn't it?

My blog is lonely and cries itself to sleep at night, please come visit and say hello: Ideas For Women blog

Thanks for the links - Added them to my personal blog

Amy Gates — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:55:40 -0500

Thank you all for posting the links to your Bloggers Unite posts. I added them to a post on my personal blog yesterday.

I finally got my own Bloggers Unite post up late last night: Women, children resort to eating dirt cookies in Haiti: Global Food Crisis

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

mine's up

laurie — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:06:34 -0500

Nothing like the last minute.

It's kind of fuzzy on the details but it's more about a commitment to actually do something.

And examples.

With links, of course.

Here it is.

Laurie

www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com

No problem...It's a great cause.

Catherine Morgan — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:44:22 -0500

I turn on the news first thing when I wake up every morning, and today this was the first thing I saw. And ever since I learned how to make my own video clips, I've been going video clip crazy. :-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election Blog