Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
I woke up to the rising sun at the crack of dawn. It was hardly even five am yet I could no longer sleep. I kept peeking outside the closed wooden shades as the sun painted the world around me. I could hardly wait for the day ahead.
Today is World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. I was asked to write a post for the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life blog on how I have become inspired to be a global health advocate. Here is the post. To check it out on the Shot@Life blog, click here.
Photo credit: World Health Organization (WHO)
Never in a million years would I have pictured myself as a global health warrior. If you had asked me two years earlier if I’d be writing, volunteering and advocating on global heath issues, I would have certainly been surprised by the question. Yet in January 2012, I was selected to attend a three-day seminar hosted by the UN Foundation to be trained on global vaccines as a Shot@Life Champion. Little did I know, this summit would change my path and start my life-long journey as a global health advocate.
Waving at the school children in rural Nepal. A trip that opened my eyes to the beauty and poverty of the world.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
Not all of life is work and no play. Sometimes you have to reward yourself and celebrate the fruits of your labor. This is at least how I presented it to my loving husband as I booked myself two days at the Barefoot Cay in Roatan, Honduras.
I had just left the mainland after a week of volunteering and living like the locals. I had researched options on the internet and discovered the luxurious, secluded Barefoot Cay and knew I’d have to check it out. It was a bit more expensive than where I’d usually stay, however, it had a lot of fabulous amenities for a solo traveler. When I read the front page of Barefoot Caye’s website, I was enticed and realized I had to give it a try.
Otro mundo aparte – A world apart.The pace is unhurried… The beaches white… The water azure blue. |
I arrived just as the sun was setting on Friday night and was instantly welcomed with an icy cold local beer at check in. I couldn’t think of a better greeting than this after the bumpy rough ride on the ferry.
This Friday, March 22, is World Water Day – a day delegated by the United Nations to recognize the importance and need of safe water around the world. In honor of this important day, I am thrilled to be working with the Global Team of 200 and WaterAid to help raise awareness of the desperate need for safe drinking water and sanitation around the world. Safe water and sanitation transforms lives and is one of the keys to bringing people out of poverty.
Water is just the beginning because… it helps build a more prosperous future. For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, an average of $4 is returned in increased productivity, thanks to time saved and better health. Photo Credit: WaterAid.
Did you know that 783 million people do not have access to safe drinking water?
Step back and think about this statistic for a moment. What would you do if you were not able to simply turn on your faucet and fill up your glass or pot with clean, safe water?
Until recently, Ayelech, a 22-year-old mother of two living in Lehayte, Ethiopia spent over two hours a day searching for water and carrying it home in two large jerry cans on her back. She gave birth to her second child Oytiba while on the side of river filling her cans. Photo credit: WaterAid.
What would you do if you had to spend an hour or two each and every day fetching clean drinking water?
With a safe water source close to home, people in the world’s poorest countries have a lot more time and water to cultivate crops, saving money and improving their diets at the same time. Photo credit: WaterAid.
How would you manage? How would you live your life? And more importantly, how would you care for your family?
School-age children spent their days scrambling up narrow rocky trails, carrying home dirty water instead of going to school. Photo Credit: WaterAid.
To most of us in the Western world, the thought of not having instant access to clean, safe drinking water is literally unimaginable. However, for 11 % of the world’s population, this is a tragic reality. When you combine having unsafe drinking water with poor sanitation, it leads to diarrhea which kills 2,000 children every single day. Something completely unthinkable to many of us.
Every day, millions of women walk miles to fetch water, often carrying a child too. When the child gets too heavy to carry, they are left at home, often unsupervised. Photo credit: WaterAid.
Millions of people are trapped in a world in which clean, fresh and safe water is not even a remote option and has led to dire consequences. Preventable deaths and diseases, wasted time spent fetching water each day, lack of access for girls to education due to no adequate sanitation, and lower economic output for the nations without safe water and sanitation. Not having safe water or sanitation keeps people trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty with little chance of escape.
Water really is just the beginning…..these children are thrilled with their recently constructed toilet that provides them with good sanitation and privacy. Safe water really helps keep girls in school too. Photo credit: WaterAid.
But there is hope as the problem of unsafe drinking water is entirely solvable.
This Friday, join WaterAid and the Global Team of 200 to help spread the word about global water poverty. There are a variety of ways you can participate in this day and help spread awareness.
Please also watch WaterAid’s beautiful video “Water is Just the beginning” and share it.
Lives are transformed when hours spent carrying water are instead spent with family, tending crops, raising livestock or starting a business. Simple access to water, toilets, and hygiene education keeps families healthy, women and girls safe, and children in school. In communities around the world, WaterAid has helped 17.5 million people take the first steps out of poverty.
Together we can make the world a better place!
Photo credit: WaterAid.
Visit www.wateraidamerica.org/worldwaterday for all the latest World Water Day news. To learn more about WaterAid’s work and statistics, please click here.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
Jakesprinter’s Sunday post theme is “Bay“. I realized that most of my travels are to mountains or other locales that do not typically include bays. Then as I glanced over at my copy of Lonely Planet: Honduras, I realized the cover said “Honduras and The Bay Islands“. Silly me, Roatan could be included in this challenge and I spent an entire morning touring her lovely bays and remote villages, way off the beaten tourist path.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
I left the mainland of Honduras on the four o’clock ferry, just in time to catch the glorious sunset over the Caribbean Sea. Although the hour and a half ride was exceedingly rough (I noticed something was going on when the ferry employees handed out plastic vomit bags as soon as we set sail), I still was thrilled to be out at sea as the sun set and cast brilliant hues of saffron yellows, golds and pale pinks across the sky and water. It was utterly brilliant.
I stood the entire way as I was concerned I’d get seasick. Standing seemed to help as I was able to allow my body to sway and move with the motion of the waves. Many people were not so lucky so I was happy when the ferry finally pulled into the shore of Roatan right as I was starting to feel a little green.
Here are some of my favorite shots along the way, as the sun began to set and cast her magic upon all those who could see.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
I often find that a week is not enough time to experience a new country or volunteer abroad. There is way too much to learn, and the experience is often a bit overwhelming and intense. However, in my humble opinion a week is better than nothing so I normally do whatever I can to get as much out of my time abroad as possible, even if it means running myself rampant.
Friday came before I knew it. Just as my Spanish was beginning to pick up once again and I had finally began to feel comfortable in my surroundings, it was time to go. The hardest part leaving La Ceiba was leaving its people, both the children I had worked with at the day care center and my lovely host family. I felt really sad leaving the kids knowing how poorly they were treated and understanding that my presence as a volunteer at the center was the highlight of their day. I knew another volunteer was still there yet it wasn’t enough. In a center with over 60 young children and uninspiring employees, one volunteer could simply not make up for the lack of care, attention and love that the children required. It was heartbreaking to leave.
I also felt sad leaving my warm, caring host family. I was amazed how easily they welcomed me into their home with open arms, compassion, patience (with my lack of Spanish) and love. After only a few days I felt like an extended member of the family and it was hard to leave. It is rare to develop this kind of friendship with anyone in such a short period of time yet I came to understand that most Hondurans are incredibly warm and compassionate people. They may not have much, but they do have happiness and an overall acceptance of the hardship of their lives. Something many of us could learn from.
A five year old girl takes care of her one year old sister all day long at the day care center as there is no one else to help her.
Here are a few of my last photos that I took before I left. I purposely chose photos that depict the sharp contrast I felt in Honduras between beauty and poverty. I felt it so intensely during my trip.
“That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind”. – William Wordsworth
Spring time is still a ways off here in Minnesota where the landscape is still blanketed in snow. Depending on the year Spring can begin anywhere in early to mid April and usually is a confusing time of year when we can see literally four seasons in a week. It can one moment snow and a couple days later be shorts and t-shirt weather.
Minnesotans are hearty people, me included. You have to be in order to live in this kind of climate. You must embrace the bitter cold days of winter and cherish the hot and sticky dog days of summer. Otherwise it would be best to pack up your bags and leave now.
In honor of Jakesprinter’s Sunday Theme: Arrangement, I thought I’d bring you a sneak preview of spring flowers. In all their delicacy, beauty and vivid colors, they are bound to bring a smile on a cold winter day. Also in celebration of this month’s focus on phoneography, all these photos below were taken with my iPhone in Colonial Williamsburg last April. I do of course have many pictures of spring flowers in Minnesota but for some reason these photos are special to me as they were the first flowers of Spring I captured last year. Spring comes quite a bit earlier in Virginia! Enjoy!
“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
What could be more beautiful than spring flowers? Spring….I can hardly wait!
To see more interpretations of the theme “Arrangement” click here.
Today is not only International Women’s Day but also the launch of an amazing initiative put together by some of the most influential players in journalism, social good, business and the non profit world to create the Global Mom Relay, a 60 day relay connecting mother’s around the world.
Here is the press release on the event and what you can do to help. It is going to be an amazing 60 days so be sure to follow along!
“Global Mom Relay” Connects Moms Everywhere through the Power of Social Media to Help Women and Children
Arianna Huffington, Elizabeth Gore, Jennifer Lopez, Lynda Lopez and other leading voices join global “virtual relay” to help improve the health and well-being of mothers and children worldwide
Washington, D.C. (March 7, 2013) – Mothers around the globe are mobilizing their voices and their social networks as one of the most powerful forces for positive change for women and children in today’s world. Starting tomorrow, on International Women’s Day, moms and their friends will come together as part of a groundbreaking series of online conversations to share advice, stories, and inspiration about motherhood as part of the Global Mom Relay, a first-of-its-kind virtual relay with a goal of improving the lives of women and children around the globe.
Created by the United Nations Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, The Huffington Post, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Mom Relay combines the power of moms with the power of social media to raise awareness and raise funds to improve the health and well-being of mothers and children worldwide. This “virtual relay” brings together 60 days of online conversations, rallying networks of people around the world to join in the relay by commenting, sharing stories, making donations and taking action. It represents a movement of people who refuse to sit by in the face of startling statistics about women’s and children’s health: nearly 7 million children under the age of 5 will die from preventable diseases each year and every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy. The Global Mom Relay will connect people to take action and change these statistics.
According to BabyCenter.com, 75 percent of moms say they have used social media to promote a charitable cause, and 82 percent would be more likely to do so if they knew their contribution could result in a donation to support families in need.
The Global Mom Relay will take place from March 8 to May 8, 2013. Here is how it works:
The Global Mom Relay will include perspectives from its co-chairs, Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group; Elizabeth Gore, the United Nations Foundation’s Resident Entrepreneur; Jennifer Lopez, Actress, Singer, and Co-Founder of the Lopez Family Foundation; Lynda Lopez, Journalist and Co-Founder of the Lopez Family Foundation; and Sharon D’Agostino, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship for Johnson & Johnson.
“Moms are often the glue that holds humanity together. At home, in their neighborhoods, at work, and online, moms are working hard to support each other and our communities,” said Elizabeth Gore. “The Global Mom Relay will unleash this passion and help moms pay it forward to change lives around the world.”
“My sister Lynda and I had children around the same time and both feel strongly about helping other mothers who are in need so that they have the chance to experience a healthy start as a new mom,” said Jennifer Lopez. “It is an honor to be part of this important global conversation and I hope others will join us.”
“As a journalist, I know the power of the voice to inspire others and create change,” said Lynda Lopez. “As a mother, I also know the unique power of a mom and her voice to help her children, family, and community. The beauty of the Global Mom Relay is that a mother anywhere can use her voice to share these stories of motherhood to help improve the lives of women and children everywhere.”
“A mother’s love is the most powerful force on Earth and wherever she lives, a mom wants nothing more than the health and safety of her children,” said Sharon D’Agostino. “During this celebration of millions of moms around the world, we are excited to help unite and empower them to improve the lives of other women and their children.”
The Global Mom Relay is in support of Every Woman Every Child, a movement launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. Healthy families promote healthy communities and a healthier world. By learning and taking action online through the Global Mom Relay, moms and other participants will help mothers like them around the world.
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The United Nations Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, The Huffington Post, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the Global Mom Relay, a global conversation among mothers and their friends to create change. From March 8, International Women’s Day, to May 8, in honor of Mother’s Day, today’s leading global and local voices will discuss the importance of strengthening the health of mothers and children around the world. Each time a person shares a relay post on Facebook, Twitter or Email, or donates $5 or more as part of the relay, a $5 donation (up to $8,000 per day or $500,000 total) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to one of four initiatives that are helping women and children lead healthy and happy lives – Girl Up, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA), and the Shot@Life campaign. For more information, visit http://www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelahttp://www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay.
“Women hold up half the sky” – Chinese proverb
Exactly a year ago today I was in Xela, Guatemala on a week long volunteer and spanish immersion trip when I heard the noise off in the distance. It sounded like a parade. I asked my teacher Lilian if she knew what on earth was going on and she replied with a smile, “It’s International Women’s Day!” and asked if I’d like to go see the festivities. I had never heard of International Women’s Day before yet it sounded spectacular. I packed up my school work and Lilian and me were off in a flash to the main square.
There I watched in awe and joy how a community could come together as one and celebrate the rights and beauty of women. It was so incredibly touching that I rushed home and instantly wrote a post on the experience titled “El dia de la mujer in Xela, Guatemala“. Even a year later, the memory of that day will forever be engrained in my heart. It was beautiful so heartbreaking yet also so full of hope.
Violence against women is an enormous problem in Guatemala and sometimes women are victims of abuse and even murder. Lillian told me that this was the first time she remembered having so many men participate in International Women’s Day and was hopeful that it would lead to change.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
A young boy selling fruit on a Monday morning (Shouldn’t he be in school?).
In order to get a clear understanding of where Honduras is today, it is important to take a brief look at the history. Below is a brief historical summary that I have paraphrased from Lonely Planet’s Honduras and The Bay Islands, Written by Greg Benchwick, 2010):
Like many countries in Central America, Honduras has a difficult history of her share of coups, rebellions, power seizures, foreign invasion and darn right meddling in her internal affairs. Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Honduras (which means “depths” and was named by Columbus in reference to the deep water) on August 14, 1502. It was the first time a European had set foot on the American mainland, a historic landing that ended up being basically ignored for the next two decades until the discovery of gold and silver in 1530.
Author’s note: This post is part of my series on my recent trip to Honduras. To read past posts on Honduras, click here.
La Ceiba is not known as the most beautiful city in the world. In fact, it is known for being well, rather ugly. I had been warned about the unattractiveness of the city several times through my research in Lonely Planet and other noteworthy travel sites. But La Ceiba was where my volunteer project was based so I was going to make the best of it and be sure to use that good old “third-eye” (i.e. open-minded approach). Ugly or not, I would find the beauty of it.
Honduras is a diverse country with lots of jungle and mountains. La Ceiba is located on the Caribbean Sea not far from the famous Bay Islands. Photo credit: Wikipedia.