Eve in Christian biblical history was believed to be the mother of mankind. She was born from the rib of Adam, and gave life to the human race. She is an icon to Christianity but she also a symbol of global motherhood. Whether you believe in Christian faiths, the theory of Evolution, one God or many, and anything in between, we are all sons and daughters of an “Eve”. Life cascaded down generations, mothers gave life to our mothers, who gave life to us. I have spoken previously about a Global Society but we are also a global motherhood. It should be a tie that binds us to one another, we are all sons and daughters of a mother. We need to unite behind each other to celebrate mothers and motherhood around the world.

www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay

Johnson & Johnson in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plan to help the United Nations Foundation promote global motherhood though the Global Mom Relay. Starting March 8 which is International Women’s Day and running through May 6th which is Mother’s Day, they will be relay from one post to the next highlighting stories of global motherhood. The goal is to create a relay chain around the globe to share these stories and raise awareness, and in turn Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $5 for each shared Global Mom Relay post, tweet on twitter, or email share. Pinterest, Instagram, and blogs can also be great ways to share information, and if you use a service like Growthsilo then the reach of the message could mean more donations from the foundation. They are pledging to donate up to $8,000 per day to one of four United Nations Foundation causes so if that goal can be reached then all the better.


Girl Up @GirlUp

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves @cookstoves
3 billion people in developing countries rely on open flames for heating and cooking. The exposure to smoke and flames results in nearly 4 million premature deaths per year. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is an initiative to provide clean cookstoves to those populations, providing safer cooking and heating options.

Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action @mHealthAlliance
Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action is aimed at educating and informing low income mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and while caring for an infant. They hope to provide critical healthcare information to women living in poverty.

Shot@Life @shotatlife

Every 20 seconds a child somewhere in the World dies of a disease which could have been prevented with a simple vaccine. Shot@Life hopes to raise awareness for global vaccines access.

Most of us live in places which routinely have scheduled labor inductions, safe caesarian sections, pain medication to aid in childbirth, treatments for pre-mature labor, and clean hospitals. We often fail to realize that every 2 minutes a woman dies from pregnancy related complications and most of those deaths are in developing nations. The numbers are daunting and entirely unacceptable. I hope by now your thinking, “what can I do?”

Visit the United Nations Foundation Global Mom Relay

Follow the hashtag #globalmom on Twitter along with all of the Global Mom Relay partners:

United Nations @unfoundation
Johnson & Johnson @JNJCares
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation @gatesfoundation
Baby Center @BabyCenter
Huffington Post @HuffingtonPost

The first official Twitter Party will begin on March 1 at 1pm with 3 more dates to follow. Here are two sample tweets they suggest but you are more than welcome to create your own, just please make sure to link to the Global Mom Relay page and use the hashtag #globalmom

Take ur mark! Virtual #globalmom relay starts now! Everyone can participate. Share to unlock the potential http://ow.ly/i74r7 #womensday

Source: Jessica on Pinterest

These are simple actions which could have a profound impact on a woman in the world, either through promoting issues directly related to her or her children. We are a global society and we should address global motherhood. It doesn’t matter if your a man or a woman, you can honor the woman in your life by promoting the Global Mom Relay. Speak up for someone who can’t, this is your chance for your voice to be heard. I will be posting more about the Global Mom Relay but until then check out the first few posts:

I am especially excited about the post for day 2. I had the pleasure of hearing Elizabeth Gore from the United Nations Foundation speak at our Shot@Life Summit in Washington, D.C. She is an incredible innovator for many of the campaigns within the Global Mom Relay, and a wonderful speaker. I was lucky enough to be included in a photo with Elizabeth Gore, the photo was taken by the Shot@Life event photographer

Happy Fearless Friday and Happy International Women’s Day.

XOXO
~Jess