The Gallery - Children

What an amazing theme for this weeks Gallery, I must have nearly 10,000 photographs cataloging my children's lives stored on my computer - so many that I wouldn't even know to begin.

Last year I met some amazing children, who despite living a poor existence without any of the home comforts that our children take for granted were so bright and alive.

This cheeky trio loved posing for me in Bangladesh.

And this cheeky trio.... well enough has been said about them already!

I'm sure the whole universe knows about The Gallery by now - but if you don't then stop by Tara's blog to find out all about it.

Stop press...
Two hours after posting I got an "I am offended' message from No1 son on Facebook... I'm guessing he's feeling left out despite no longer being a child, so here he is too. I could have chosen to be mean but I love this pic of him on Hunstanton beach. I think he was about14.

You all know I have a full on blogger family. Sonny has been a bit slack of late but that's because he's up to his eyeballs in construction kits (Lego & MegaBloks etc) but ModelGirl has her new Canon and she's not afraid to use it. Do stop by her Gallery post and please do leave her a comment. When you are 9 comments mean everything to you (hell they do when you are 38, so if you want to leave me a comment include your blog url and I'll stop by).

Vote Blogladesh!

Nominations are open for this years Mashable awards and this post is a shameless begging pitch to everyone who supported Eva, Josie and I throughout our Blogladesh trip. You cared enough to follow us and now we need just one more thing...

Please pop over to Mashable and nominate Blogladesh for a couple of their awards.... pretty please:)

The categories to nominate us in are.....

Most Creative Social good Campaign and Most Creative Social Media Campaign. 

Picture is of Yasmine, taken at the Ad-din hospital, Dhaka.

By voting for Blogladesh in the Mashable Awards you will be keeping our campaign alive. What we achieved with your help was amazing, your support gave us 'regular mums' a real voice and people stood up and listened to what we had to say. Save the Children is a unique charity and the work that they do around the world is nothing short of breathtaking. They educate, support and save the lives of children like Yasmine every single day.

You can vote for us in the Most Creative Social Media Campaign by clicking on the Mashable awards logo above.
And in the Most Creative Social Good Campaign by clicking the Mashable awards logo below. Simple!

You can vote every day... so if you have a spare 2 mins we would all appreciate it!

I speak to Nick Clegg

It's been a pretty amazing day here in New York. It's been hot, busy and the roads have been at gridlock as Obama hit town.

Yes that's him going into the UN in his motorcade!

So my big news today was my meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. I went over to the UK Mission to the UN offices along with representatives from a few other charities and drank lots of water whilst we waited for him to arrive.
I asked him how he felt as a father that 9 million children were needlessly dying each year. This is his response.

Back home

All week people have been asking me how my trip to Bangladesh has affected me, but in all honesty I've been too caught up in the whirl of family, media and work to come to any conclusions. I'm not sure that it's going to be as simple as saying I've learnt a, b & c because deep down I feel the change is more of a spiritual one. 

I feel different inside.

I'm angry about the injustice of it all. 

I'm ecstatic to be born here in the modern world. 

I'm shocked that millions of people are still living in such primitive conditions. 

I'm thankful for western medicine. 

I'm outraged by my own frivolous existence. 

I'm grateful that Save the Children gave me this opportunity - but do you know what?

It isn't about me.

The trip wasn't about me. Blogladesh was about connecting with children like Yasmine and Sanjita and Shanto. It was about seeing their lives through my maternal eyes. Feeling their mother's pain, concern, anger and helplessness and then sharing those feelings with people back home who have the power to make life saving changes.

It's very easy to think that the actions of a single person won't make a difference - but they can and they do. It take less than 5 mins to sign the Press for Change petition. 

Blogladesh... Yesterday's Radio interview

Here's a link to my interview on BBC Radio Northampton.... it's in two parts..
Part 1
Part 2 

If you haven't already done so - please sign the Press for Change petition on the Save the Children web site

The government hospital facility

Thanks for your comments on yesterday's post. Yes it is the government hospital. If you thought those images were shocking, perhaps you shouldn't watch this film.

Eva speaks to Dr Abdullah al Baki.



Visit Eva's blog for her view on what we saw.