Saturday Sidebar: If you could turn back time and go back to just one day, which day would it be and why?

This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Alison Lee.  She asked our writers,

If you could turn back time and go back to just one day, which day would it be and why?”

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

The day of Roxanne Piskel's son's birth

The day, Roxanne Piskel of Nevada, USA gave birth to her son.

RoxIsBrilliant of Nevada, USA writes:
“As much turmoil as there was surrounding my son’s premature birth, there is still a part of me that would like to go back and do it again. Even if everything happened exactly the same way, maybe I could hold onto the memories a little snugger and not forget so much of the beginning.”

Carol @ If By Yes of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“Definitely I do not want to go back to the day my child was born. I want to go back to a day when my nether regions weren’t bleeding, like maybe my wedding day. I had a blast.”

Alison Lee of Malaysia writes:
“I’d go back to the day my husband proposed. Though, I will change it a little to make it to a less early start, since he burst into my apartment at 5am to do that!”

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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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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Doing the dirty work…or not

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Doing the dirty work…or not

A friend came to our apartment the other day and said “Wow, your place is always so clean!”

I looked at her. “Well, I pay someone,” I said. “Duh.”

Until we moved to Abu Dhabi, I’d never had someone clean my house. I didn’t grow up with “help,” although I imagine my mother sometimes felt like the underpaid scullery maid.  I went to a friend’s house for a holiday weekend once, in college, and when we got there, her mother said that if I needed something ironed, I should just leave it out “for the girl”. I was confused: the only other woman in the house was a middle-aged African American woman.  I wore a wrinkled shirt to the party.

All of which is to say, until I hit forty-seven  recently, I was my own domestic help.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to re-hash The Help; instead I’m writing about how strange — and dangerously seductive — it is to live suddenly in a world where “help” – and lots of it – is readily available, even to people like me, who in the scheme of things don’t make that much money. (more…)

Mannahattamamma (UAE)

After twenty-plus years in Manhattan, Deborah Quinn and her family moved to Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates), where she spends a great deal of time driving her sons back and forth to soccer practice. She writes about travel, politics, feminism, education, and the absurdities of living in a place where temperatures regularly go above 110F.
Deborah can also be found on her blog, Mannahattamamma.

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International Day of the Girl

International Day of the Girl

Today marks the first-ever International Day of the Girl, a day in which organizations and individuals around the world will collaborate to hold events and a global conversation in effort to raise awareness about the importance of educating girls. (Watch the official video here.)

Globally, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world and of that number, 77.6 million girls are currently not enrolled in either primary or secondary education. This is a huge problem which has significant repercussions on not only girls but the economy and well-being of society as a whole. (more…)

Nicole Melancon (USA)

Third Eye Mom is a stay-at-home mom living in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her two children Max (6) and Sophia (4). Her children keep her continually busy and she is constantly amazed by the imagination, energy and joy of life that they possess! A world wanderer at heart, she has also been fortunate to have visited over 30 countries by either traveling, working, studying or volunteering and she continues to keep on the traveling path. A graduate of French and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she met her husband Paul, she has always been a Midwest gal living in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Chicago. This adventurous mom loves to be outside doing anything athletic (hiking, running, biking, skiing, snowshoeing or simply enjoying nature), to travel and volunteer abroad, to write, and to spend time with her beloved family and friends. Her latest venture involves her dream to raise enough money on her own to build and open a brand-new school in rural Nepal, and to teach her children to live compassionately, open-minded lives that understand different cultures and the importance of giving back to those in need. Third Eye Mom believes strongly in the value of making a difference in the world, no matter how small it may be. If there is a will, there is a way, and that anything is possible (as long as you set your heart and mind to it!). Visit her on her blog, Thirdeyemom, where she writes about her travels and experiences in other lands!

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NORTH CAROLINA, USA: Year Round School

I live in a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, and my children attend year-round school. I have one daughter in a year round middle school, and two daughters in a year round elementary school. This kind of school system has been an option for families here since the early 1990s. Wake County decided to operate any newly build elementary school on a year-round schedule starting in 2007.

In a year-round school, students are organized into four groups, called “tracks”. The schedules for each track are staggered so that at any one time, three tracks are in school and one track is out on break. This system is called a “45/15 Schedule”: students are in school for 45 days, then they’re off for 15, in different cycles throughout the year.

The new school year begins begins the first Monday in July for students on tracks 1, 2 and 3. Students on track 4 start school 15 school days later as students on track 3 “track out” for their first 15 day break. Year-round students get the same holidays off as students in “traditional calendar schools”, and all students are in school for 180 days each year. It’s quite a feat to accomplish that, I think. I’m grateful I don’t have to make the schedules! (more…)

Frelle (USA)

Jenna grew up in the midwestern US, active in music and her church community from a young age. She developed a love of all things literary thanks to her mom, and a love of all things science fiction thanks to her dad. She left the midwest in her early twenties and has lived in the south ever since.

On her blog, she tries to write words that make a difference to people. Long before she attended college to major in Special Ed and Psychology, she became an advocate for special needs and invisible disabilities. She's always been perceptive of and encouraging to those who struggle to fit in. Having been through several dark seasons in her own life, she's found empowerment in being transparent and vulnerable about her emotions, making deep and lasting friendships, and finding courage to write from her heart. Her biggest wish is to raise her kids to be compassionate people who love well.

She's been online since 1993, with a total of 19 years of social media exposure. Having friends she doesn't know in real life has been normal for her since her junior year in college, and she's grateful every day for the ways technology helps her stay in touch with friends from all over the world.

Jenna lives in a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, and is a freelance writer and a stay at home single mom to 3 girls and a boy. She blogs at MadeMoreBeautiful.comMadeMoreBeautiful.com.

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Social Good: Following ONEMoms To Ethiopia!

Social Good: Following ONEMoms To Ethiopia!

 

We are in Ethiopia this week, virtually following along with the ONEMoms team as they traverse the country gathering material to share with the world.  “ONE.org is a non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Backed by more than 3 million members, ONE .org works with government leaders to support proven and cost efficient solutions to save lives and help build sustainable futures.”-ONE.org

Photo Credit: Rana DiOrio

World Moms Blog is excited recently to have become a community partner of ONEMoms and we’d like to bring you along as we  follow their trip of 12 ONE Moms traveling through Ethiopia from October 6th through October 13th.

The diverse group of ONEMoms includes a  Supermodel/Activist, a Book Publisher, a Pig Farmer, Mom Bloggers, Food Writers, a Lawyer, a Scientist and a designer.  Their goal is to meet up with Ethiopian women, agriculturalists and health care workers, and in doing so engage us in a global dialog on the important issues faced in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a fascinating country, and the only country in Africa that was never colonized.  The Italian government’s long ago attempt to do so apparently left hints of Italian influence behind.  It is the most populous land locked country in the world, and home to over 80 languages.

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Elizabeth Atalay

Elizabeth Atalay is a Digital Media Producer, Managing Editor at World Moms Network, and a Social Media Manager. She was a 2015 United Nations Foundation Social Good Fellow, and traveled to Ethiopia as an International Reporting Project New Media Fellow to report on newborn health in 2014. On her personal blog, Documama.org, she uses digital media as a new medium for her background as a documentarian. After having worked on Feature Films and Television series for FOX, NBC, MGM, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Castle Rock Pictures, she studied documentary filmmaking and anthropology earning a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School in New York. Since becoming a Digital Media Producer she has worked on social media campaigns for non-profits such as Save The Children, WaterAid, ONE.org, UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, Edesia, World Pulse, American Heart Association, and The Gates Foundation. Her writing has also been featured on ONE.org, Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter.com, EnoughProject.org, GaviAlliance.org, and Worldmomsnetwork.com. Elizabeth has traveled to 70 countries around the world, most recently to Haiti with Artisan Business Network to visit artisans in partnership with Macy’s Heart of Haiti line, which provides sustainable income to Haitian artisans. Elizabeth lives in New England with her husband and four children.

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