To Downing Street... surely not?

I could have been in any old meeting this morning as I shared the things I'd seen in Bangladesh, but I wasn't. I was sitting amongst a room full of fellow Save the Children Ambassadors, as a cabinet meeting took place in a room below us at 10 Downing Street.

What a whirl-wind of a year it's been. 

From blogger to conference organiser to campaigner to ambassador to being on the guest list at world's most famous address. 

If anyone ever questioned the validity or reach of the parent blogging community - here's the proof.

I'm so proud that Blogladesh reached out to so many people and that it was the inspiration for Save the Children's amazing new 'Born To' campaign. 

You see.... we really can change the world.

And get your pic taken by loads of tourists while you are at it!

CyberMummy, Social Media Week and WIN a Kodak Video Camera #smwldn

I've had a whirlwind of a week to say the least. From the UK to Germany and back again via a spot on a Social Media Week panel with my CyberMummy partners Susanna and Jen.

Our 'Meet the bloggers' session was hosted by social media guru Eva Koegan and we were joined on the panel by the brains behind #Blogladesh Liz Scarff and some of the guys from the boutique blogger channel that I am part of, Handpicked Media.

It was really interesting to hear the views of my contemporaries and our comments threw back lots of reactions from the audience so it was a job well done.

To celebrate Social Media Week #smwldn, Kodak have given me one of their new PLAYTOUCH video cameras to give away to one of my readers.

This is an great camera with easy to use functions like edit, tag and uploads directly to all your top social media sites like Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is;
1. Leave a comment on this post with your with  your answer to the below question.
2. Subscribe to my blog (if you don't already do so), using the form below. If you don't subscribe I won't be able to contact you if you win.

The new Kodak Camera is called PLAY........what?
(A little clue to the answer can be found in the next sentence and in BOLD CAPITAL letters!

The Kodak PLAY TOUCH camera retails at £169.99. Full spec is available from the Kodak site. Good luck!

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Competition terms and conditions can be found here.

Were you Born To Write?

Are you a blogger looking to improved your writing skills? If the answer is yes, pop over to the Save the Children site to register for their free Born To Write blogging conference that's taking place on 26th February in London.

The day is in celebration of their new Born To campaign that launched earlier this week and will be packed full of workshops that are relevant to bloggers from all walks of life. 

I'll be speaking at one of the sessions along with my fellow Blogladesh bloggers Eva and Josie and the highlight of the day is an exclusive writing masterclass by best selling author Melivin Burgess.

The class will be an amazing opportunity to pick up tips from one of the UK's best selling authors but places are limited so you need to register now!

What : Save the Children Born To Write blogging conference.

When : Saturday 26th February 2011.

Where : Save the Children head office, St Johns Lane, London

Time : 9.30am to 4pm

How : Register here - it's free.

What you can do to help

• Spread the word by getting a Twibbon for Twitter, Facebook.
• Follow the campaign on Twitter using the #BornTo hashtag.
• Display the BornTo badge on your blog 

See you there!

Born To What?

I'm fresh out of the press launch for Save the Children's new campaign. I was honoured to be invited but even more honoured to hear CEO Justin Forsyth say that Blogladesh was the inspiration for what is set to be their biggest campaign to date.

It's quite simple really. We believe that 'No Child is Born to Die' yet statistically one child under the age of 5 does die every 4 seconds.

We were supposed to be interviewing celebrity ambassadors Amanda Mealing, who has traveled to Bangladesh herself and Natasha Kaplinsky who has just returned from a trip to India but instead we slipped into natural conversation about our shared experiences out in the field. We were united by the things that we've seen. Each one of us has looked into the eyes of a mother who is trying to come to terms with the loss of her child and had that look etched into our hearts. It's not something that I'm in a hurry to see again but as I've pledged to continue to support Save the Children it's only a matter of time.

Every child deserves a chance to live and every child deserves the chance to realise their potential. With your help - we can make that happen.

Show your support by adding a Twibbon to your Facebook and Twitter profiles, donate a little (£25 can buy enough medicine to treat 82 children with pneumonia), follow the campaign page on Facebook and realise your own dreams.

What were you Born To Do?

Me... I was born to challenge.

My 2010 in Pictures - win a CyberMummy11 ticket

It's been quite a year for me, first CyberMummy10 and then Blogladesh and the UN with Save the Children. I wanted to say thank you for all of the help and support from you, my friends and fellow bloggers. There were some dark times - especially in Bangladesh but what we achieved is set to change the face of charity campaigning for good. You were all a part of that.

To say thank you, I'm giving away a ticket to CyberMummy11 - but you do have to work for it!

To be in with a chance of winning you need to join in the 'Your 2010 in Pictures' meme. Your entry can be a single picture that sums up 2010 for you or a montage like mine. Do your post then come back and add it to the Linky below.

Here is my 2010.....

Entry closes at midnight (GMT) on 10/01/11 and a winner will be chosen by my trusty assistant and me over a packet of biscuits and a pot of tea.
The prize is a ticket to CyberMummy11.

How to make your iPhone battery last all day!

Yesterday I was in London at the British Mummy Bloggers Christmas lunch. I'd planned to go straight back home afterwards but sometimes plans change. An amazing opportunity presented itself to me and off I went to join a truly inspirational group of women at TEDxLondon to share the success of our Blogladesh campaign with them.

One problem..... 

I wasn't planning to be out all day / night - so I didn't have my iPhone charger with me. It riles me that I put up with the fact that my battery doesn't last all day. It's like I've been totally and utterly brainwashed by the God of Apple and I'm taken back about eighteen years to mobile phones of old. But this isn't 1992, it's 2010 and your phone battery should last all day. FACT.

So there I was - unable to tweet or text from this amazing event. My phone had been as dead as a Do Do for hours. But on the train on the way home I chanced upon a gentleman with an iphone charger (I'd seriously been asking everyone I spoke to all evening). He gave me my life line but also shared the best tip I've ever heard on how to make your battery last as long as possible. I've had an iPhone since launch - yet I'd never heard this - I guess that's one of the side effects of a product that comes without a user guide....

So here it is.....

Did you know that unless you manually close the apps on your phone they remain open and so draining your battery?

When I say close the app - I don't mean hitting the home button because that doesn't actually close the app. You'll know what I mean when you try it.

Dur... it all makes perfect sense now... this is why my phone pings, dings and vibrates with Facebook messages, ebay notifications and tweets all night long.

Try this and you'll totally get it too...

1. Double click the home button and it brings up a scrolling list of all the apps you have open on your phone.

2. Press one till it jiggles and you'll see a red minus icon appears. 

3. Click it to close the app down.

Don't worry - you aren't deleting. Just closing down. 

Every single app on my phone was open. This is just a few of them...Angry Birds, email, camera, Smack Talk, Twitter, Facebook, Tube Map, Super Yum Yum, Bejewelled, Camera Bag, hipstamatic, eBay, google and the Cat in the Hat. No wonder my battery life was having a hard time...

Today - my battery lasted till 10pm and I'm so happy I could squeal.

Small things.....

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!

With Tony Wadsworth on BBC Radio Leicester

For those that missed my interview on BBC Radio Leicester today with the lovely Tony Wadsworth. I was going well till my phone rang!! If you are interested it was the girls ballet teacher! Oops... sorry Tony!

If you haven't already bought Nicolas Kristof's book Half the Sky - here is the Amazon link. Do it now, you won't be sorry.

Around the world and back...

To say that I've been on a journey over the past few weeks would be an understatement. London, Dhaka, Barisal, Bhola, London, New York, London. The miles that I have travelled have not only been physical.

Six weeks ago I was oblivious to the intense suffering endured by women and children across the third world - then I visited Bangladesh.

There was no way I could have prepared myself for what I saw and experienced there and I returned home jaded and angry about the injustice that people were still living in such primitive, hopeless conditions in this modern world.

Then I read the most shocking book that I have ever read. It's called Half the Sky by the New York Times Journalist Nicholas Kristof. As a woman and a mother, I implore you to read it. I feel so passionately that Nicholas's writing simply has to be shared.

Seriously, I had NO idea that the things he writes about are common practices across the world and now that I do know I HAVE to do something to make a difference.

So off I went to the UN Millennium Development Goal Summit with Save the Children and politicians listened and I was featured in the Guardian and on the ITN News at 10 but that isn't enough. I know that I have to do something personally. So that is my challenge to myself. To make a difference. To offer a lifeline to another woman. To help save a child. It's really that simple. 

I just visited Global Giving.org and for $10 supported two girls in achieving their dreams to become educators themselves. It really is that simple.

I was lucky enough to meet my new hero Nicholas Kristoph, all be it briefly in New York this week. The man is amazing. His writing is gripping and I promise you that you will not regret reading his book.

Without our support women will continue to be sold, gang raped, violated, sexually mutilated, trafficked, beaten and left to die and their children the products of rape and torture will be born into this shocking cycle that HAS to be broken.

Thank you to Liz and everyone at Save the Children for giving me this life changing experience and for welcoming me into their team in New York this week. They worked me like a dog - but it was totally worth it.

Why are you still here? Get buying Half the Sky.....

The MDG Summit day 1

Today's the first day of the UN Summit and I've spent most of it at the Save the Children interactive art installation at Grand Central Station.

We've been stopping New Yorkers and asking them to add their thumb prints to this amazing piece of artwork created by the British artist Ian Wright.

I've spoken to the actress Claire Danes about her involvement with Save the Children and interviewed Andrew Mitchell the UK Secretary of State for International Development. The good news is that he has pledged to support Save the Children in training 400,000 community healthcare workers before 2015 and that the UK government will do all they can to ensure the Millennium Development Goals are reached. The gols are way off track and there is a lot to achieve in the next five years, so lets hope that he meant what he said.

Artwork created by Ian Wright

Actress Claire Danes gives her thumb print.

Children's food expert Annabel Karmel stopped by to show her support.

Speaking to Andrew Mitchell

Blogladesh... Behind the scenes at the BMB web chat

We were a bit rowdy due to the fact that we'd been able to take our first semi normal shower in three days but this is us  - as we were talking to you all courtesy of my CyberMummy partners Susanna and Jen of British Mummy Bloggers.
Don't know about you but I think their web chats are a million times better than mumsnet.

The Gallery... Celebration

Holy shmoly look at the time....... I nearly didn't make this weeks Gallery at all. 

I've been wracking my brain and trawling my photos for something to fit the Celebration theme and then it dawned on me. 

Quite simple really - I bring you some of the amazing children I met in Bangladesh - celebrating life.

As an extension to our trip to Bangladesh I'm heading off to the UN Summit in New York on Saturday. I'll be reporting back from the Mashable Digital lounge and flying the flag for #Blogladesh. Thank you for all the amazing support you have shown. 

Don't forget to sign up for Josie's web chat with Nick Clegg over on mumsnet tomorrow night and if you haven't already it's not too late to Press for Change.

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

MummyTips on BBC EMT

The BBC TV crew arrived first thing on Sunday morning, so I apologise for looking so jaded!

Mummytips on BBC Radio Leicester

My post #Blogladesh interview with @wadsworthBBC on BBC Radio Leicester this morning. Do tune in to BBC East Midlands today at 6.30pm tonight for another interview.

Sign the Press for Change petition here.

Blogladesh road trip

A glimpse of our road trip from Barisal back to Dhaka.

Day 2 - Barisal

This morning we took a sea plane to Babugani in the Barisal province of Bangladesh. We landed into a rain storm but were met by a dozen or so children jumping around in the river with excitement at our arrival. It set the tone for the day.
We were visiting some of the successful projects implemented by Save the Children and what we saw today was truly inspirational.

It's all about education here. About teaching families how to properly care for their children. How to offer a balanced diet and the importance of regular growth monitoring in order to catch health problems early.

Save the Children has 1616 health volunteers across this district. These women are astounding. The support they offer to the community is second to none.

We met Afia Afroze who has been a health worker for six years. She's responsible for around 200 households in her area.

She has an amazing blog on the Save the Children site where you can follow her work and stay up to date with the mums and babies that she is assisting. You can even see how many steps she walks each day as she visits the children in her care.

Our next stop was to meet Mr Mamun and his family. He's something of a rarity here in Bangladesh as he shares the care of his three children with his wife. He bathes them, plays with them, feeds them and helps his wife out in their home. He's what we would call a new man. There are not many new men in Bangladesh.

He has three beautiful children, his girls pictured below aged six and two months. His baby liked me, she was cooing away and giggling. She stole my heart.

When we arrived back at the field office we were all dishevelled but full of admiration for Save the Children and the community health workers they have trained. What they are doing out here really does make a difference to the children whose lives they touch.

Seeing those close knit families living without electricity and sleeping on hard wooden beds has made me homesick tonight especially as the sporadic web connection has robbed me of a skype call to my supportive family back home. 

I'm perched on top of the fridge in my room, it's the only place my dongle has a connection. I'm hot, unable to sleep and uncomfortable with my own need to fill my life with material objects. I want to be in my husbands arms after a steaming hot bath to wash the mud from my feet and the sweat and dirt from my body. It's so wrong that we have so much in our lives when so many people in the world have little more than a roof over their heads.

Please do sign the Press for Change petition.

Don't forget you can follow our trip from three perspectives; Josie's blog is Sleepisfortheweak and Eva's is NixdMin

#Blogladesh on the BBC

I've had lots of messages today asking about my interview on BBC Radio Leicester this morning. So here it is!

Blogladesh

If you follow me on Twitter you will probably have seen my stream kick in with mentions of #Blogladesh this afternoon. But what's it all about?

Along with two other bloggers Eva (@nixdminx) and Josie (@porridgebrain) I will be travelling to Bangladesh with Save the Children Fund to highlight the work they are doing in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

In Bangladesh, 36% of the population live on less than US$1 (64p) a day and 83% live on less than US$2 (£1.28) a day. Extremely poor households are often dependent on income from their young children and around 7.4 million children are engaged in child labour.

These children miss out on the basics that we couldn't imagine not being a part of our own lives, such as food, education, access to medicine and security.

Almost 50% of Bangladeshi children under five years old are underweight or too small for their age. Approximately 2.4 million children aged 6-10, are not enrolled in primary school and the number of street children is estimated to be over 7, 00,000.

Every year around 250,000 children die in Bangladesh before reaching their fifth birthday. They die from things that can be easily prevented or treated like diarrhea, pneumonia and infections and from lack of proper maternity care. Things we take for granted.

We are going to be reporting from the field, tears and all and all we ask of you is to get behind us. Follow us all so that you can feel our trip from every angle. We are all very different bloggers and we will all have a different take on things. RT using our #Blogladesh hashtag, follow our pics on our Flickr stream (details to follow) and make as much noise as possible - because you know what? We can make a difference.

I already linked at the start of this post but if you are not already following Josie and Eva, here is where you can find them.

Josie, Sleep is for the Weak or on twitter @porridgebrain

Eva, Nixdminx or on twitter @nixdminx

If you really, really want to show your support please do use our badge on your site. Your can get the code here.

I will be sure to follow everyone who follows, RT's or shows support for this amazing project and if you do mention our trip on your blog please do add it to the Linky below.