Today is World Water Day and it has been given this distinction so that for at least one day the world might consider just how many of its inhabitants do not have clean water at their disposal. The stats are actually pretty shocking and for those of us who have the luxury of simply walking a few feet to the nearest faucet and running as much water as we like, it needs to be a wake up call. For world water day I want to highlight three organizations doing something to address this global crisis and they are doing a wonderful job via social media to reach those of us who don’t actually realize just how much we should care about this issue. 10,000 people are dying each day (2000 of those are children) because they don’t have clean water and here in the west we like to wax poetic about not letting it run while we brush our teeth.

WaterAid is an organization I have written about before and which I have donated to before. WaterAid America will join leading experts in the fight against water poverty for a Google+ hangout today at at 1:30pm EST / 5:30pm GMT at http://ow.ly/iZCdj. They have some great info on their site as well as great articles with #20ways that water is just the beginning of the road out of poverty. You can also subscribe to their emails and stay up to date with what they are doing and any volunteer opportunities they have available.

According to One there are millions of people who walk an average of 3.7 miles to collect water each day. This results in over 200 million hours spent collecting water each day. Can you even imagine having to travel over three miles to get water to wash with or drink? Can you imagine not having a clean and safe place to go to the bathroom each day? I am horrified at the thought and yet this is reality for so many people around the world. It needs to be horrifying that we are not doing something more to remedy this. 2.5 million people in developing countries do not have access to improved sanitation, like toilets. 3.4 million die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene related causes. Every time we take a seat on the toilet we are experiencing a great luxury and we may not even realize it.

Another organization mobilizing today for water aid is Matt Damon’s charity Water.org. I am a big fan of his already but I especially love what he is doing to bring awareness to this particular issue. I loved his toilet protest video and he just released a new one that demonstrates this issue with clever animation. Seriously, kiss your toilet and donate a few bucks. It really is the least we can do.

If you want to donate some money today and/or help with their mission in some way to help improve water access for all, these three organizations are good places to start.

This post was written as a member of the Global Team of 200 a group of mom bloggers banding together to work for social good.

It has been quite awhile since I breastfed my little ones but even so it is one of those subjects that I am still deeply passionate and opinionated about. From the time my youngest was born I knew I would breastfeed and mostly that was because my own mother had. I recall her breastfeeding my younger brother well into his toddler years and she talked about the joy of breastfeeding so enthusiastically that I knew I had do the same when I became a mother. This made me the odd one out among my friends and peers but I also found that I truly enjoyed the whole breastfeeding experience and I fed my oldest child this way until I had to return to work, about four months after his birth.

Weaning him so early became a big regret for me when he developed health problems a short time later. His health problems were so severe that that I waited three years to have another child and I was determined from the get go that this child would be breastfed exclusively and for an extended period of time. I had plenty of time to research all the reasons why breast is best and I wasn’t going to let modern life get in the way of of feeding my child the absolute best food. Not this time, no way. I quit my job and really never looked back. That was nine years ago this week. I breastfed my daughter for 2.5 years with the last 6 months of that being done in tandem with her little brother. Every moment breastfeeding her was special and joyous just as my mother described. I like to think that all the time she spent at the breast gave her a great start in life. It makes me so sad that many mothers and babies do not experience this and that so so many cultures are not supportive of this all important aspect of raising children.

BREAST IS BEST. By now this should be a widely known fact and all women should be be educated about why breastfeeding  is not only 100% normal and natural but also extremely important for the health of their children. I will be honest that I get more than a little peeved by prevailing attitudes about breastfeeding in the US but I just have to hope that most of it is lack of education and that it can someday be remedied.

This is why a new report from Save the Children was of great interest to me and I want to share it here. Quite simply it highlights the fact that breastmilk is superfood for babies and that it saves lives. The report talks about the ‘power of the first hour’ and they estimate that 830,000 infant deaths could be avoided if every baby were breastfed within the first hour of life. Much of this has to do with colostrum, which is the first milk. It is the most potent natural immune system booster known to science.

Other stats from the report:

* An infant given breast milk within an hour of birth is up to three times more likely to survive than one breastfed a day later.

* Infants who are not breastfed are 15 times more likely to die from pneumonia and 11 times more likely to die of diarrhea than those who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

*An estimated 1.4 million child deaths in 2008 were as a result of ‘sub-optimal’ breastfeeding, where babies were not exclusively breastfed and where breastfeeding did not continue into the second year.

* The baby milk formula business is worth $25 billion (or £16 billion).

* Breastfeeding rates have actually stagnated around the world over the last 20 years – and remain below 40% globally.

* Four major barriers to breastfeeding around the world: 1) cultural and community pressures 2) the health worker shortage 3) lack of maternity legislation, and 4) aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes – or formula.

* Only 6.7% of U.S. births occur in designated 154 “Baby-Friendly” facilities that meet international recommendations for supporting breastfeeding, and the U.S. has the weakest levels of maternity legislation in the industrialized world.

This shows without a doubt how powerful the act of breastfeeding can be and how it impacts the health of our children. It also shows why we must get better about educating women about what it actually means when they choose NOT to breastfeed and how the formula industry is working against their interests and against the health of their children. Here in the US part of that education process needs to be about making breastfeeding culturally normal. When you live in a society where restaurant or store employees ask breastfeeding mothers to leave these places of business and imply they are doing something gross or socially unacceptable by feeding their children, then we have HUGE problems. We must also make the work environment more family friendly so that working moms do not have to choose between being able to work or being able to feed their infant the best food available.

Other cultures have other issues. In India they believe that colostrum should be expressed before any breastfeeding can occur. This is a cultural practice that goes against science and best practices for health. It needs to be addressed. Other areas are affected by a health worker shortage. Even if you believe in home birthing and few, if any interventions, you are still likely to have a midwife and/or doula. Having health and birth workers around is so beneficial and often times they help young moms get established with breastfeeding because it can be a bit tricky sometimes. In developing countries this is even more important.

On addition to distributing this wonderful report, Save the Children is calling on Secretary of State Kerry to recommit to the 1,000 Days Partnership that expires in June. Since 2010, this international partnership has already helped countries such as Indonesia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Tanzania develop strategies around fighting childhood malnutrition through supporting breastfeeding and other important steps. It is set to expire unless we speak out and demand that the breastfeeding support and education continue. I signed the petition and I hope you will to.

I would also love to hear form you. What do you think we need to do to increase breastfeeding rates worldwide? Comment below if you want to share. Also be sure to check out the video below of how Brazil has had tremendous success with a breastfeeding initiative. It is such a powerful message and brought to us by actress Isla Fisher. I knew I really liked her!!

Disclosure: I am a part of the Global Team of 200 and Social Good Moms‘ 24-Hour Blogathon spreading the word about Save the Children’s new breastfeeding report, Superfood for Babies. Sign the petition urging Secretary Kerry to help mothers around the world get more support around breastfeeding and lifesaving nutrition for their babies.

I know I take water for granted quite often. How about you? I just turn on the tap and out comes a seemingly limitless supply. We use it for drinking, cooking, flushing, and bathing daily and while we might be concerned and a little upset by what is added to our water supply (fluoride, chlorine) we still have relatively safe and clean water at our disposal each and every day. Many people around the world are not so fortunate. My first world problems do not compare to what is going on globally.

In many places water is scarce or contaminated and unsafe for use. According to the Mom Bloggers for Social Good web site, 800 million people do not have access to it and 2.5 billion have nowhere safe and clean to go to the toilet. Hundreds of children die each day from contaminants found in the water, others miss out on their education. Mothers are unable to work while they nurse seriously ill children back to some measure of health.  This is a travesty and something that we need to work to change as global citizens because as Americans we surely use more than our fair share of resources such as water. The LEAST we can do is help increase basic access for our bothers and sisters in other lands.

In January I encouraged you to donate to The World Food Programme and help with hunger. This month I ask you to consider donating to help with clean water access. In keeping with my New Year’s resolution #4 to do more for social good, I chose to donate this month to WaterAid (screen capture at the bottom of this post). WaterAid is a non-profit organization that is focused upon improving poor people’s access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. They work in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region and campaign globally to help realize their vision of a world where everyone has access to these basic human needs.

The organization works with partners local to the impacted zones and they provide them with the skills and support required to help communities set up and manage practical and sustainable projects. They also work internationally to change policy and believe that water and sanitation are basic human rights and that they are the building blocks to improving health, education and livelihoods in these areas.

There are several ways to help with their work and I like the the promotion they have going on right now to donate $25 in honor of your sweetie for Valentine’s Day. I love this idea because surely we don’t really need flowers, chocolates, or stuffed animals but others around the globe do need clean water. I would love for you to tweet the message below and help me spread the word:

WaterAid also has an amazing option to donate a portion of eBay proceeds. If you sell there it is super easy to set it up so that anywhere from 10% to 100% of the proceeds from your auctions go to them. So perhaps you feel you cannot afford to donate cash but perhaps you can list a few books or household items on eBay and donate that way?

Take a look at the video below to learn more about the issue and the organization trying to affect change. Also be sure to sign up to receive their monthly e-bulletin to learn more and stay in touch with their activities and breaking news in some of the 27 developing countries where they work.

This post was written as a member of the Global Team of 200 a group of mom bloggers banding together to work for social good.

The whole family was home for the long weekend of late. Other than an all day event on Saturday we had nothing much to do so we cuddled up during the cold snap with some NetFlix movies. One of the movies I selected was Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz. I kept seeing this title pop up as a suggestion I might be interested in based upon my previous viewing history and I love Rachel Weisz so I gave it a shot. I was not prepared for how angry this film made me. The movie itself is great, I highly recommend it. The subject matter is sure to infuriate you though.

It is essentially the story of one woman’s crusade against human trafficking in postwar Bosnia. She enlisted as a UN peacekeeper primarily for the money it would provide only to discover that many of her fellow peacekeepers had discovered the profit in the local sex trafficking rings and were using their resources to provide protection for these beastly enterprises. They knew full well that their diplomatic immunity made them untouchable. The very people sent to protect the innocents of a war torn country were actually there to help ravage them.

So other than recommending a powerful movie about an important topic…where am I going with this?? Well, January is  Human Trafficking Awareness Month and you may not even know it but this issue is not relegated to some corner of the world far, far away from you. It’s here. It’s in your backyard. We all need to raise awareness about it, educate ourselves about it, and DO something about it.

According to UNICEF there are 5.5 million children who are victims of forced labor and child trafficking. They are being sold into prostitution or being forced to work as slaves. Yes, much of this is happening beyond our borders but thousands of these children do live right here in the United States and I am sure you believe as UNICEF does that ZERO children should suffer this way. These kids are being lured away with promises of a better life, materials goods, fake marriage proposals. etc. Then they are quickly enslaved in pornography (a big $ industry here in the states), prostitution, sweat shop work, migrant farming, and begging rings. Other possibilities for slave labor in the US include traveling sales crews and domestic servitude.

It sickens me to think that a child who approaches me here or while visiting another country and begs for money may actually be forced to do this or risk punishment on top of the neglect, poor diet, and unsanitary conditions they must already live with. I have actually been approached by begging children while visiting another country and it never even occurred to me to think that child trafficking may be a possibility.

That is really what UNICEF’s initiative this month is all about…raising awareness and making people think about the issue and how it may be at play around them or how they may be inadvertently supporting enterprises that traffic children. I highly recommend downloading the Toolkit with 20+ ways to take action. It is a four page read and very important with 20+ tips for taking action. There are some tips there about changing your consumer behavior and how that can have a direct and important impact on human trafficking. There are also some events and organizations we can support that are doing amazing things to end the slavery. That’s your homework today…read the toolkit and think about what YOU can do because you CAN do something.

We could eradicate slavery. The laws are in place. The multi-nationals, the world trade organizations, the United Nations, they could end slavery, but they’re not going to do it until and unless we demand it. – Kevin Bales, Free the Slaves

This post was written as a member of the Global Team of 200 a group of mom bloggers banding together to work for social good.

The above drawing was done by my spunky little girl. I asked her if she would draw me a picture of the tooth fairy and she drew a picture of her “personal” tooth fairy… because there are many don’t ya know? There would have to be to make sure that tooth coverage is extended to every child on earth. Ginger here covers my daughter’s room apparently and I hear she pays pretty well too.

I am going to enter this lovely fairy in the Tom’s of Maine Be a Tooth Fairy Hero Sweepstakes. The idea behind this initiative is to help increase access to oral care for those families in your area who need it most. I worked for a couple years at a dental office that had a large pediatric customer base and I saw personally how much dental care is needed in my own community. While I personally believe that nutrition is not played up nearly enough (or at all) in regards to healing dental problems and avoiding dental problems in the first place there is only so much you can do where education is concerned. Access to the dental help you is of great importance and sadly there are many without means.

The Dental Health for All™ program is celebrating over 1 million dollars that has been donated to community dental clinics over the past 10 years. They are dedicated to providing more families with regular screenings and check-ups and to date the company’s funding has helped make more than 200,000 additional patient visits possible.

The Be a Tooth Fairy Hero sweepstakes is getting kids involved in the process. Just have the child(ren) in your life grab their crayons and some paper and have them draw the Tooth Fairy hero who needs to help those smiles in need. You can also use the coloring page provided at the link above. Then attach it to the entry form and you are entered into the sweepstakes. Ten entries will be randomly selected with Tom’s of Maine awarding a $10,000 donation on each winner’s behalf to a dental clinic, plus providing toothpaste for the child’s school.

The last day for entry is March 15, 2013 and the winner will be chosen in late March. Good luck!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tom’s of Maine. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.