As Mother’s Day approaches, our thoughts rightly turn to our own mums and how grateful we are for everything they do for us. For me, as I’ve gotten older its about the little things she does for me, like cutting articles out of the paper for me and making sure my favourite breakfast cereal is in the cupboard when I’m back at home for a visit. Just a couple of examples of a mother’s thoughtfulness and enduring support.
‘Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions my friends’ and colleagues’ intentions for 2011 made me realise that I hadn’t even considered mine. Lots of us know we should eat less and do more, but instead we dream of ‘miracle diets’ and ‘celebrity fitness regimes’ when we know they won’t work, and aren’t good for us. Ignoring the problem and hoping for a quick-fix is what we do – and this ostrich-with-head-in-sand approach is favoured the world over, not just by individuals, but governments too…
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. What’s that got to do with us I hear you ask?! Well, saving children isn’t easy. Where we can, through our programme work, we’ll save those lives one at a time. But we can and must save even more lives by changing the systems and societies that allow these deaths to happen. In the UK and all over the world, women and children do not receive the care they deserve.
Childbirth in Ethiopia is a risky business for mums. Statistics tell us that only 6% of women have access to a delivery by skilled medical staff. But there are no statistics that highlight the number of women who, because of complicated labour, have to travel for hours in order to reach the nearest hospital.
A new survey published this week tells us that eight out of ten among the middle-class in cities across India underestimate the levels of child mortality. But does it actually matter what the middle classes think?
Sitting on the banks of the Thames at Henley looking at families with babies enjoying their picnics I couldn’t help but reflect on the stark contrast this was to the mothers and babies I’d met in Niger. There’s no such thing as leisure time for mothers there and little in the way of children’s toys.
This year’s G8 summit is being described as a ‘zero waste’ event, designed to have minimal environmental impact. Yet there’s a concern that this is being taken a bit too literally by some G8 members when it comes to their pledges to the world’s poorest countries.
During the last eight weeks, while I’ve been in Niger, I’ve often been overwhelmed by the scale of the problems people face here. It’s not just the current food crisis and the number of people who are going hungry now but also the future and what this has in store.
The G8 summit has now drawn to a close and the Deerhurst resort in Muskoka will be getting back to normal. The world leaders flew back to Toronto by helicopter with Obama and Cameron flying together to start their bilateral meeting. Apparently Cameron and Merkel will be watching the England v Germany World Cup match together tomorrow and the press are invited can’t imagine he’ll look anything other than awkward!
I met Suhaibu, who lives in Northern Nigeria, on a recent trip. He is a respected religious leader in Jibia (a town in Katsina state in Northern Nigeria) and also a Koranic school teacher who teaches children how to read and write in Arabic through the study of the Quran. He lost his wife and baby due to complications during childbirth. This is his story about what happened.
