The Sunflower Effect: Project Launch

There are many things I take for granted. The fact that I have food to feed my children – I take that for granted. When I am pregnant, I assume there will be quality health care available to me and my baby. If my children are sick, I know I can pop out to the doctor or chemist for advice and medicine. Without realizing it, our family is kept alive and well by the infrastructure of our country.

The thought that my children would miss out on food for hours, days, even weeks.. until their tiny bodies can no longer function – that’s a thought I’ve never had to ponder, let alone fear. Unfortunately, a large portion of the mothers in our world do have to think through this scenario, fear it and all too often – experience it.

I’m a busy mum. My husband has a business and we have three young children. Like everyone, life is full. But I can’t shake that small still voice inside me which whispers, “No mother should have to watch their child die from hunger..” When I’m going about my day, loving my kids, feeling frustrated by my kids, dropping into bed exhausted by the end of the day – every now and then the thought enters my mind, “Why do some mums miss out on the opportunity to care for their kids like I do?”

Amidst the busyness and fullness of life, I’ve decided to start a project which, I hope can help change and save lives. There’s no doubt about it – we’re all stirred when we hear of child and maternal mortality. The statistics are alarming (I’ll post about that tomorrow) and the stories tear our heart out.

The reality is, right now in the western world, as we raise our children and establish our lives, the large majority of us mums are unable to actually go overseas and help – in a hands on way. We can give though, and if we give together, we can make a real difference. It actually doesn’t cost as much as you’d think. Organisations like Mercy House Kenya do amazing things on a tiny budget. They have perfected the art of doing a lot of good, for a small amount of money. The money we give allows the people at The Mercy House Kenya to do what they do best – give life, hope and a future to mothers who are otherwise without all these.

Here’s my idea:

I want to raise $1000 to support The Mercy House. I don’t want to (and can’t!) do it alone. I want to do it with you – the readers – if you’re keen and agree with me; that other mums deserve just as much opportunity as we do.

These precious ladies have just moved into The Mercy House Kenya (left to right, Violet, Elizabeth and Lucy)

What’s with the name?

The project is called The Sunflower Effect. The idea behind this is two-fold:

Sunflower: flower of the sun (latin translation)

The Butterfly Effect: where a small change at one place can result in large differences to a later state.

The idea behind The Sunflower Effect is that we can all do something to help – big things and small things. If we put all our actions together, we will cause a re-action or, a butterfly effect.

We all live under the same sun, the mums in Kenya struggling to survive and raise children, us over here in Australia.. we are all connected.

How’s it going to work?

Donations. No matter how small (or big!).. every donation will allow Mercy House Kenya to help women and their babies. If we all give the bit we can afford, together we can make a large donation to help the people at Mercy House Kenya do what we can’t do right now. The Sunflower Effect is signed up at Razoo (kinda like the EverydayHero site). You can donate at Razoo by clicking here and the money will go directly to Mercy House while we watch the $1000 target get closer and closer!

Sponsorship. Further down the track I am hoping to have sponsorship/advertising spaces available on the blog. If you or your business is interested in sponsoring The Sunflower Effect, please contact me for more information.

What is Mercy House Kenya?

Mercy House Kenya was started by Kristen Welch from We Are That Family (blog) last year as a safe haven for women who are pregnant and in danger. Annually, 21,000 women are hospitalized from having an illegal, unsafe abortion in Kenya (Center for Reproductive Rights). With rape being incredibly common and 1500 women dying in childbirth everyday in Africa (WHO), Kristen and her family decided to do what they knew God wanted them to do and opened a home in Kenya. The home is run by Maureen, a Compassion International Leadership Graduate and provides medical care, counselling, safety, bible teaching, education, opportunities for future self-employment and more.

Our residents are invited to stay in the program for a minimum of two to four years, but our desire is to support each mom and baby throughout their lives. Each girl earns money through our Sustainable Skills Program and it will be dispersed over a long-term period to continue their education and even start a business as a part of our Graduate Program. Since our residents are at-risk- abused and even orphaned, we will assist them for as long as needed. We want to be their forever family and will tailor our help to each girl’s situation. Our goal is quality, not quantity – and total discipleship.

It is the desire of The Mercy House team to fulfill Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good: And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and love mercy, to walk humbly with your God.”

These beautiful women (and their babies) also live at Mercy House (left to right, Charity, Maureen, Cindy, Quinter, Sarah (and Felistas who has now moved on))

There are three aims of The Sunflower Effect.

1. Support mums in developing countries by raising $1000 for The Mercy House Kenya.

2. Raise awareness of the fact that there is a huge difference between our lives and that of others, especially those in third world nations.

3. Encourage action. There are some massive social issues but the tide is turning. Our small, individual acts are compounding and (this is the butterfly effect in action!) together, we are making a difference (I’ll post more on these exciting developments soon).

So, are you with me on this? Will you work with me to raise $1000? It doesn’t seem like much money but it will make a massive difference to the mums and babies who are able to receive care because of it.

What can you do?

There are three things you can do right now which would really help kick start the project.

1. Tell your friends. Every (1) Matters is on facebook (Joni’s Jottings) and twitter (@jonisjottings). If you like what you have read, please share this post wherever you can. Feel free to use information on this blog to inform others. You could also email your friends and family about The Sunflower Effect!

2. Pray. I really believe that God is supporting this little project and that He will be right behind us as we raise these funds and talk about these issues. If you feel that way inclined, I’d love to have your support in prayer. Things always work better when God is on board

3. Donate. I know, everyone is after your money. If you don’t want to donate, that’s cool. If you do, thanks! Any amount, even $10 is wonderful! If we all gave at $10 we’d be there in no time.

Thanks for reading this launch post. I’m really excited about doing this – I hope you are too Let’s do this thing together.

If you have any ideas on how we can make this project work even better, please email me – I’d love to hear from you! I’m also open to guest posts on the issue. Again, flick me an email and start the conversation.

Bye for now!

Joni x

PS – The Mercy House also has a cool store. Check it out if you’re interested.. more info to come!

Indian Girls No Longer ‘Unwanted’

When I read about the 285 precious Indian girls who recently changed their given name from ‘unwanted’, my heart was stirred by their simple act of rebellion against the rejection of their family and their culture.

As Grazia Magazine (www.grazia.com.au) reported in last week’s edition, a heartbreaking tradition is marking girls as unwanted to everyone they will ever meet. Many Indian baby girls are named Nakusa or Nakushi, meaning ‘unwanted’ in Hindi.

The article goes on to explain that according to medical journal The Lancet, half a million baby girls are aborted in India every year because parents were hoping for boys instead.

India’s district health department came up with the plan of helping girls change their name from ‘unwanted’ to a name of their own choice after the heartbreaking tradition of naming their daughters this way was banned in 1961 but is still followed by some.

“In Satara, where this first renaming ceremony took place,” reports Grazia, “there are only 881 girls (aged under 6) for every 1000 boys.”

Grazia goes on to explain that the government is also offering incentives to parents whose daughters graduate from high school. These incentives include free meals, education and cash bonuses.

It’s such a sad, sad situation when certain cultures choose to reject the gender to whom their own lives are owed but it’s also very encouraging to see people doing something about it. I love it!!

In fact, I choose to be encouraged by these stories rather than disheartened by the terrible situations facing our world and those living in it. Surely we’re more useful to others when we’re inspired and full of hope?

For more info on Plan International’s campaign Let Girls Be Born, visit www.planindia.org

The parents didn’t want a female child…but we did this to help the girls. They are good now. They are happy with their new names.

– Dr. Bhagwan Pawar, leader of the ‘renaming’ initiative.

On the Art of Not Missing Out

Sometimes I feel like I’m missing out.. Please don’t misunderstand me when I say this but I spend so much time and energy being a mum and a wife that there rarely seems much left to put towards my future, dreams and hopes as a woman, a person, as Joni. I am absolutely in love with my kids and think I’m the luckiest girl on the planet to have snagged the man I did but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

MOPs has a new magazine!

Everyone needs support when they have young kids. It’s a difficult, fulfilling, frustrating, exciting, exhausting time of life and we all need support. I had three kids in three and a half years. Those years were busy, exhausting and honestly – hard. I was 1000 km away from my family (and their amazing support) and my husband worked shifts.

I really needed support and I found it in huge, generous, lovely portions at my local MOPs (Mothers of PreSchoolers) at Red Cliffs in Victoria. Every fortnight we were greeted by friendly smiles and the smell of coffee. My children were cared for and had loads of fun doing craft, playing games and making friends. All the while, us mums were enjoying a lavish morning tea, inspirational talks and fun craft activities. The MOPS ladies always remembered my birthday with a card and beautifully wrapped gift I made many, many friends there and felt loved and supported. I used to arrive home after MOPs, feeling like I’d been encouraged and refreshed – ready to face the next fortnight of nappies and baby food. MOPs was a bit of a beacon during a time which can get a little monotonous… (anyone with me?)

This Is The Power Of The Girl Effect.

I first discovered The Girl Effect a few months ago when I watched the clip below. I loved it to much that I blogged about it back then too! The clip explains the positive effects education and delayed marriage have on girls in many third world countries. Take a look for yourself:

If you didn’t watch the clip, here’s what it says (although it’s much better when it’s watched on the clip!)

We have a situation on our hands.. and the clock is ticking..

When a girl turns 12 and lives in poverty.. her future is out of her control..

In the eyes of many, she’s a woman now.. No, really. She is.

She faces the reality of being married by the age of 14..

pregnant by the time she’s 15..

and if she survives childbirth she might have to sell her body to support her family..

which puts her at risk of contracting and spreading HIV.

Not the life you imagined for a 12-year-old. Right?

But… the good news is, there’s a solution.

Let’s rewind to her at 12..

Healthy and happy..

She visits a doctor regularly..

She stays in a school where she’s safe..

At 18 she uses her education to make a living..

Now she’s calling the shots and it looks something like this..

She can avoid HIV..

She can marry and have children when she’s ready..

and her children are healthy like she is.

Now imagine this continuing for generation after generation.

You get the picture right?

50 million 12-year-old girls in poverty equals 50 million solutions.

This is the power of the girl effect.. An effect that starts with a 12-year-old girl.. and impacts the world.

The clock is ticking..

I’m usually wary of causes which support only one gender, especially if there’s a bit of a radical feminist twist – but The Girl Effect isn’t like that at all. Yes, it’s all about girls but they do have a point. Girls are suffering. They are getting married too young, having children too young. The consequences linked to these two events are huge. And with less than 2 cents of every international aid dollar going to support girls it’s important that we actively and deliberately get behind them.

Here’s an inspiring clip, sharing the story of a young woman who has grabbed her life and run with it. She exemplifies The Girl Effect in action.

This is The Ripple Effect..

When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more
years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2
fewer children.

An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages
by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school:
15 to 25 percent.
 
Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship
between better infant and child health and higher
levels of schooling among mothers.
 
When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent
of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 for a man.

The_Revolution_Poster

“The Girl Effect is about girls.

And boys.

And mums and dads and villages and towns and countries.”

The Girl Effect is about looking at what women are naturally gifted for and giving them what they need to do it.

If you’d like to blog about The Girl Effect this week, click here for more info.

Writer Jitters..

So this week a magazine arrived in my mail box with an article I wrote on the cover. What a buzz! That’s a first for me – writing a feature/cover story – and I’m a little nervous about it.. in fact, I’m very nervous.. feeling the pressure you could say.. it’s a little late to do anything about it, but still..

It was a wonderful experience interviewing Erica and sharing her amazing story with Enhance readers. I love writing for Enhance, almost as much as I love reading Enhance.. reading Enhance is much less nerve wracking!

Erica is beautifully honest about her journey, including her battle with an eating disorder, I really respect her for that. Not an easy subject to be open and honest about. Thanks for trusting me with your words and your story Erica!

Earlier this week, she shared her thoughts on her blog Girl With A Satchel about how she felt about being on the cover of a magazine (instead of being the one writing about the magazine).. definitely check it out!

Book: Big Porn Inc.

There’s quite a buzz around at the moment about a new book about porn. Big Porn Inc (edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray) is written to help combat the mainstreaming and normalisation of porn. It is a compilation of pieces written by women and men who are sick of watching pornography eat away at women, children and society.

Big Porn Inc is not an anti-sex book. As is written in the introduction: “Challenging the sexist and racist pornographic industrialisation of intimacy is not an anti-sex position. Pornography is a distortion of respect-based sexuality“.

Let’s Talk About Handbags

I used to feel a deep sense of satisfaction after a ‘bargain hunting’ trip to the shops; new handbag for $20, cool top for $5, cute necklace for $3.. but not anymore. The more I learn about child slavery the more I realise that while I may not be paying much for these items, others are  – dearly. And this is a fact I have chosen not to ignore any longer. In fact, often it’s not a conscious decision not to purchase products which are highly likely to have been produced through slave/child labour; I can practically ‘smell’ it in the store. It’s not necessarily a tangible smell (my nostrils aren’t flaring!) but there’s a definite sense that things just aren’t right (more on that later).

Poverty Halved… ?

I was so encouraged when I read this on the Compassion blog (read the complete article here)… thought you might be too!

***

“Official estimates of global poverty are compiled by the World Bank and stretch back 30 years. For most of that period, the trend has been one of slow, gradual reduction. By 2005, the year of the most recent official global poverty estimate, the number of people living under the international poverty line of $1.25 a day stood at 1.37 billion – an improvement of half a billion compared to the early 1980s, but a long way from the dream of a world free of poverty. …

Dear Reader…

Dear Reader

So this blogging thing is way harder than they make it look (well it is for me anyway!)

I know I made a commitment to delivering one post a week. And then I started going ballistic and posting 4-5 times a week. And then I went AWOL. It’s been nearly two months since a last posted (this is sounding a lot like a confessional!)

During that time I’ve realised that as much as I love blogging and all the amazing people I meet along the way, sometimes there just isn’t time. Blogging has had to shuffle down the priority list which means that the posts will be more sporadic from now on. Some months I might post four or five times, other months I might post once (or even not at all). It all depends on time and creative energy because I know you don’t want to read rubbish I’ve scribbled down when I’m nearly asleep and really don’t care about typos or interest levels of readers!

So there you have it; a plan without a plan, but it’s the only one I’ve got for now I hope you can still enjoy the blog and that together, we can learn more about the world and how we can help out.

As always, I love hearing from you so please say hi and tell me if you like something, don’t like something or just have something to say.

Cheers for now,

Joni x