MEET ANDI GITOW: Senior Television Producer for the United Nations

MEET ANDI GITOW: Senior Television Producer for the United Nations

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 P'an (Portugal)

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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SINGAPORE: What’s Urgent? What’s Important?

SINGAPORE: What’s Urgent? What’s Important?

I read this recently from the Storyline blog.

Don’t let urgency keep you from your spouse, your kids, creation or the God who made them all. You may find, like me, you get more done when your soul is fed first.

– Donald Miller

Life has been busier than normal for us. I’ve slumped into survival mode: I place as priority all things “urgent,” and everything else falls into second place. In other words: Anything that doesn’t threaten to blow up in my face if I don’t resolve it now, well…takes second place.

Things that are labelled “urgent” have this ability to force themselves upon you, and make you wriggle from the priorities that you have set for your life. To me, there are only a few things in life that are truly urgent. Family and children comprise the foremost of these. (It is pretty obvious, right? I am a mummy blogger, after all.)

Why would family be urgent? There are no deadlines to meet, no clock is ticking (except your biological one, and even then that’s only if you’re planning to have more kids).

Family is urgent, because in this day and age, many other things have usurped its position in society. Wealth, career, fame, beauty, you name it. (Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying these are necessarily bad in themselves, but when they take first place in our hearts, then well, something’s gotta give.) (more…)

Mamawearpapashirt (Singapore)

June, born and bred on the sunny and sometimes rainy shores of Singapore, is a mother of two - a chatty 4 y.o. girl and a toddler boy who babbles. She works part-time as a communication consultant, and she is deeply passionate about family, writing, faith, and good old-fashioned love. She can be found on her blog, Mamawearpapashirt.

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Saturday Sidebar: How many children did you want and how many do you have?

 

World Mom, MomPhotographer with her 2 daughters

World Mom, MomPhotographer with her 2 daughters

This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Susie Newday.  She asked our writers,How many kids did you want before you were married and how many do you want now, now that you have kids and know what it is like?”

Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…

Carol @ If By Yes of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“I wanted two, now still want two, but sort of also want three! My husband is sticking at two, though.”

EcoZiva of Brazil writes:
“I did not want any, but now I am pregnant of baby number 3! 🙂                         For me that number is perfect now, but my husband wants to convince me of more!!”

Elizabeth Atalay of Massachusetts, USA writes:

“I come from a small family so always idealized big families. When I was little I wanted 6 kids, but at some point I decided four would be a good number. Despite the chaos I am grateful every day for our four kids and our full house.”

Jenna Farelyn of North Carolina, USA writes:
“I wanted a big family. I have four kids. I would like to have a few more.” (more…)

World Moms Blog

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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PHILIPPINES: School is What You Make It

PHILIPPINES: School is What You Make It

We started informally homeschooling our son, Vito, this September. It’s nothing structured, nor do I have lesson plans or anything written in a schedule. We basically play, explore, ask questions, converse, and repeat the process. Every time I observe my son learning something new these days (or gaining new insight from a previous experience), I am amazed and grateful that he is a curious, always-inquisitive little boy.

These past few months, my son has been enamored with animals. Today’s “lesson” involved making animal words using play dough. We made out words like “lion”, “cow”, “tiger” and more using red, green, purple and brown play dough. If I were to document today’s experience, I would say we focused on developing his fine motor skills, vocabulary and spelling, as well as a handful of other concepts, such as colors, matching, left-to-right order, etc. Pretty neat, huh?

(Tomorrow, it’s likely to run the same way, but perhaps I need to get out my encyclopedia so that I don’t run out of animal names to spell out. I don’t mind; I’m just glad as long as he’s engaged, excited and eager.)

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Martine de Luna (Philippines)

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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NIGERIA: Just Ask

NIGERIA: Just Ask

Asking for help has always been a problem for me. Even when I knew I didn’t really know how to do something, I never wanted people to think I didn’t know something. I know I am not perfect but to let others see it was one of my worst fears.

Before I moved to Nigeria, I tried to be one of those super moms.  My children were 3 and 15 months, and I felt like I could do it all: grocery shopping, house cleaning, taking care of our dogs, cooking, play time, mother, sister, wife, friend.  And, I could do all of those things, but I was exhausted all the time.  At the end of each day, I could barely read one page of a great book because my eyes just would not stay open no matter how much I willed them to do so!

When my husband told me about the possibility of moving to Nigeria, a flood of anxiety and fear swept over me:  What would the medical care be like over there?  What was the time difference?  Would it be safe? Where would my son go to school? Would we die of malaria?  It never occurred to me that there would be such a pleasant surprise in store for me amid all the negativity and fears I had of going there.

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Meredith (USA)

Meredith finds it difficult to tell anyone where she is from exactly! She grew up in several states, but mainly Illinois. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana which is also where she met her husband. She taught kindergarten for seven years before she adopted her son from Guatemala and then gave birth to her daughter two years leter. She moved to Lagos, Nigeria with her husband and two children in July 2009 for her husband's work. She and her family moved back to the U.S.this summer(August 2012) and are adjusting to life back in the U.S. You can read more about her life in Lagos and her adjustment to being back on her blog: We Found Happiness.

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