Support Water Aid's The Big Dig

One of the most piercing memories of my trip to Niger earlier this year was seeing gatherings of women and children disappearing into the deep holes they were digging in the dried up river bed, just to get a drink.

You don't forget that and every time I turn on a tap I'm grateful for my geography.

Because it is just geography.

It's easy to forget how lucky we are to be living here in the western world, where we don't have to walk for hours each day just to be able to drink a bowl of dirty water that we've spent hours digging for. Or to be kept awake each night by the haunting cries of our starving children as their life force ebbs away day by day.

Having seen the third world with my own eyes makes projects like Water Aid's Big Dig have really come to life for me.

All this week the campaign will be following 17 year old Howard who lives in rural Bokola in Malawi and documenting how his life is transformed as a borehole is dug in his village. And this is truly life changing as he will have easy access to fresh, safe, clean water for the very first time in his life.

Like the women I met in Niger, Howard treks to the river twice everyday to collect water for his family.  It's a long journey and water is heavy, even heavier when you are walking through blistering heat and have little or no food rattling around in your empty belly.

“I spend hours going to fetch water and I could be using that time for preparation for my studies,” he says. “Even when I pick up my exercise books to read I don’t have much concentration.”

The hours Howard spends collecting water means that he has little time for study and he is missing out on the precious education that he needs. Thanks to Water Aid's Big Dig Appeal, Howard's life is about to change.

We take sanitation and clean, drinking water for granted and having visited projects in Bangladesh and Niger I can tell you that even the most basic intervention from charities like Water Aid is essential.

The Big Dig aims to make a difference to the lives of 134,000 people in Malawi and they really need your help.

You can follow the project through Water Aid's innovative use of Instagram and see for yourself how Howard's life is transformed. You can also donate to The Big Dig Campaign, every donation, no matter how small it may seem to you really does help. All donations received by 18th September will be matched pound for pound from the UK governments aid budget, so even more people's lives can be changed.

The Big Dig Appeal will allow Water Aid to dig 34 new boreholes, 43 shallow wells, train 2160 hygiene educators and build 20,500 latrines in schools and homes. That's a lot of lives changed.

Follow Howard's journey on Instagram @TheBigDig

Find out more about The Big Dig : www.thebigdig.org

Donate to The Big Dig Appeal : www.thebigdig.org/donate

Poor sanitation around the world kills around 2,000 children EVERY single day and in Malawi 1 in 8 children will die before their fifth birthday.

Panda Awareness Week hits London

Betty LOVES pandas, she has around 100 soft and cuddly ones in her personal collection so when the invitation to the launch of international Panda Awareness Week (PAW) landed in my inbox, I couldn't really turn it down.

PAW highlights the work of the Chengdu Panda Base in China, a not-for-profit organisation that plays a leading role in fostering continued growth of the giant panda population, as well as rescuing and rehabilitating pandas so they can return to the wild.

Chengdu, in southwest China is the hometown of the giant panda - pandas have lived there for more than 8 million years and the Chengdu Panda Base has become a world-renowned breeding and research centre, dedicated to panda conservation.

Opened in 1987, with just six giant pandas that had been rescued from the wild, Chengdu now has the largest controlled breeding panda population in the world with 108 pandas living across more than 100 hectares of natural habitat.

But this weeks it's all about the awareness in London and what better way to get people talking than watching 108 giant pandas indulging in a spot of Tai Chi in Covent Garden Market?

The pandas were pretty awesome but Betty also got to meet fellow panda fan and PAW ambassador, Nigel Marvin!

She got right into the spirit of the occasion and hugged as many pandas as she could.

But then its not everyday that you get invited to something quite so awesome.

The pandas will be hitting the London streets for the rest of this week. You can follow them @ChengduPAW on Twitter and by the #Hugapanda hashtag.

Short of a slice of cute? The Chengdu YouTube channel will fill the gap.

Why the conservation of the giant panda is an urgent priority

• The giant panda is an endangered species and without help from conservation projects like the Chengdu Panda Base its future is uncertain.
• The giant panda is the rarest member of the bear family and among the world’s most threatened animals. 
• Panda survival is threatened by loss of habitat and poaching.
• There are less than 1,600 pandas left in the wild.

If you are interested in panda conservation, take a look at the Chengdu Panda Base site for more information.

Help us to sponsor a child

I've been back from Niger for a couple of weeks now and I've been blown away by the support for #ShareNiger from my fellow bloggers and the national media. 

One lady in particular, Merry from Patch of Puddles has made it her personal mission to help some of the children of Niger and I'm asking you to help too.

We are asking you to donate £1 to our World Vision sponsor a child appeal. £1 that you probably won't miss but will change the life of a child in Niger.

Please read Merry's post for information on how you can donate and you will be included in all updates from the child / children that we help out in Niger.

Children like Fatima...

How World Vision child sponsorship works...

World Vision believe the best way to change a child's life is to change the world in which they live. And the best way to change their world is to help their community to become self-sustaining. This is what World Vision Child Sponsorship does.

By sponsoring a child you will help to bring about long-term benefits to the child, their family and community. Child sponsorship funds are used with the co-operation and direction of the community to benefit vulnerable children, families and community members, including sponsored children. This work ensures that the community will be able to provide the children with the basics they need, which helps them to grow up in a healthy environment and have the chance for a better future. Child sponsorship enables you to make a positive and real difference to the life of the child you sponsor within their family and community, and gain an insight into the reality of life in developing countries.

Don't think that saving these children is someone else's problem because it isn't. 

You will find more #ShareNiger posts on my other blog Geekisnewchic.com

Half the Sky

I have spoken many times of how reading Half the Sky changed my life. I've lost count of the number of copies of the book that I've bought and given to people to read but it is that kind of book. You can't read it and carry on like before, it shows you things that you could never imagine happen in the world today. Things that we should know because we have the power to make them stop.

In October Half the Sky will be shown as a documentary on US TV and I had to share the trailer with you. I am assured that we will get it in the UK sometime in 2013 but I will keep you up to date.

I was lucky enough to meet Nickolas Kristof when I was at the UN summit with Save the Children, only briefly but it sure beat interviewing Nick Clegg for ITN.

I've said it before but if you only read one book this year, make it Half the Sky.

You can find Half the Sky on Facebook and Twitter. Follow them and make a difference.

What is Going on??

I've spent loads of time over the last few weeks researching which charities I want to include as partners at Cybher next year. I've spent hours watching heart wrenching movies and presentations- each one chipping away at me bit by bit. Then today I saw this.

And it took my breath away to see the hundreds of nasty, hateful comments it has sparked. People have accused it of being fake - a made up video performed by an actor. 

Does it matter if it is? 

I really hope that this boy is an actor and that he isn't suffering alone but either way bullying exists and if it isn't this boy there really is someone somewhere cutting themselves to pieces right now as you read this.

bullying.co.uk/

Charity help request

Are you interested in helping UNISEF to road test a couple of fundraising ideas ahead of the campaign release dates?

The ideas are based around parents involving their kids in the lives of children in other cultures in a fun way, whilst also raising money - hopefully it's good for everyone; the charity raises money and the parents get to expose their children to the lives of other children in Africa. If you are a parent with children aged between 3 and 12, I would love to hear from you.

We're looking for people to test these in October half time and on Halloween (Oct 31st).  Please leave a comment with your details or email me for more information. mummytips [at] gmail [dot] com

Coasting Along for Water Aid

On Saturday, accompanied by group of intrepid bloggers (and their children) I took to the South Downs as an ambassador for Water Aid's Coast Along project. 

Our five mile circular route around the stunningly beautiful coastline had it all.
Excitement, fresh air, drama, sunshine and a little light rain but we completed our task with vigour and pride despite the challenges we met on the way.

My team mates Rosie Scribble, Nixdminx, Bumpwear Claire and Mummy in Manolos and all of their beautiful children aged from 3 to 11 were pretty amazing. Lots of new friendships were made and no one wanted to say their goodbyes when it was time to leave.

A very big thank you to Premier Inn for our accommodation. The staff at the Eastbourne hotel were lovely (they even packed us off with a bag full of emergency Haribo to keep our energy up on the walk) and to the Rabbits, you guys rock.

It isn't too late to support us. Our Just Giving page will remain active for a while longer and every single pound donated makes a difference.

Here's a few pics from our adventure and some info on Water Aid and why they need your support.

Leaving home...

Team Bunny...

Eva, Claire & Biba with Lo in stroller...

The beautiful view...

A bit tired....

 But a weekend by the sea needs a bag of shells...

About Water Aid

Water is essential for life, yet one in eight of the world’s population do not have access to it and almost 40% of the world’s population do not have adequate sanitation.

WaterAid is a leading independent organisation which, with its partners, uses practical, sustainable solutions to enable the world’s poorest people to gain access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.

We work in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region and campaign globally with our partners to realise our vision of a world where everyone has access to these basic human rights.

We believe that the provision of safe water and sanitation is an essential first step in the climb out of poverty

Women and children walk on average 6km to often unprotected water sources, such as rivers or muddy dugouts.

In urban areas people have no choice but to collect water from polluted waterways or pay sky high prices to buy it from vendors. The average weight of water carried is 20 kg.

Carrying the heavy water containers back home is an exhausting task, taking up valuable time and energy.

This lack of access to clean water and safe sanitation impacts severely upon health, education, and income:

• 4000 children die needlessly every single day – more than Malaria, AIDS and Measles combined.
• Over half the hospital beds in Africa are filled with people suffering from preventable diarrhoeal diseases.
• Women have less time for productive activities because of time spent collecting water or caring for sick family members.
• Illness and lack of sanitation facilities in the classroom mean children are unable to go to school and miss out on an education.

Inadequate sanitation and water keeps people living in poverty. You can change this by joining Coast Along for WaterAid and help transform lives:

• £50 could pay for a handpump in Nepal, providing a community with life – changing clean water
• £100 could supply a village in Madagascar with the tools needed to maintain its water point long-term
• £150 could provide people in Ethiopia with a safe and hygienic composting latrine

Walking for Water Aid

Just over fifteen years ago as I lay in intensive care, I was told that I'd never walk again. I've been on a pretty amazing journey since then but this Saturday 10th September I'll be well and truly stepping outside of my comfort zone as I join a group of friends as we take part in Water Aid's Coast Along.

What we're doing, really is no big deal.... a five mile walk around the beautiful scenery of The South Downs, but I haven't actually told anyone (my own children included) that in reality I'm not sure if I can make it, that I haven't walked five miles since 1993. 

I'm pretty good at masking how much it hurts to just put one foot in front of the other but I am determined to make every single step of those five miles. 

I will be tweeting and Instagraming along the way and any support you can give us will be greatly appreciated.

NB.

Especially if you live around the South Downs and I need rescuing.
You can donate here.

Are you interested in working with a charity?

And are you free for a couple of hours in London on Wednesday evening?

I'm looking for four London based bloggers to give their honest opinions and feedback on the creative for a forthcoming campaign.

The creative will be presented by the charity themselves and your input could directly impact the entire campaign strategy ahead of it's launch later this year.

There aren't any expenses on offer but I'm assured that there will be plenty of tea, cake and wine.

If you'd like to get involved, please pop me an email with your details including your blog url and I'll be in touch later today.

If you are interested in reviewing products or working with brands and charities please add your details to my database.

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To be or not to be....

I'm talking CyberMummy here of course...

Earlier this year (in the run up to CyberMummy10),  I was approached by a lovely community minded blogger who was desperate to help others raise the money they needed to get to CyberMummy.

We had a few long discussions about what we would like to achieve - we set up a donation link - we both blogged - and tweeted - like crazy.

The response was dreadful. Five people donated to the fund. I was one, she was one and we had three others.

We were both shocked and disheartened I have to say. We put a lot of time and effort into our little plan because we wanted as many bloggers as possible to have the chance to be at CyberMummy. All you had to do to be in with a chance of winning our prize fund ticket was post a comment and donate (if you wanted to.)

We had lots of people wanting to win - but only three people willing to put their hands in their pockets.

We were both sad that we only managed to scrape two blogger places to the conference - we both looked like this :(  :(

We didn't get it. It seems we are all too ready to ask, ask, ask but we're not willing to give anything in return.

So this year we are determined to make our 'mission' work and we need your feedback. Please be honest  - that is all we ask.

If we ran a 100 club would you be willing to pay £10 for a number? 

Obviously we would need to get 100 bloggers on board - but that's easy peasy.... right? We know enough bloggers to make a 200 or a 300 club ....

100 bloggers paying £10 each would enable 12 winners to go to CyberMummy. 

This is our little trial - if we don't get any takers we are both ready to skulk back to our corners of the blogosphere and retire from trying to help others.

Yes it's Christmas - but you really do have to give and take.

Comments please.....