STAND

We are gearing up for the annual Mothers Day celebration. This years focus is on Stand for the Worlds children, and here in Central Oregon we are collaborating with a national movement, funded by Oprah, Mothers Acting Up, and STAND to urge Obama to elect a international child advocate. The advocate would be the voice for all children in the world and would report directly to Senator Clinton.
Please stay tuned for more announcements, our local event is scheduled to kick off on Sunday, May 10th at 11:30am at the top of Drake Park. We will parade down, in costume, on stilts or tricycles, using your wildest imagination, and making joyful noises to Harmon Park. Free cake, original mothers day proclamation read by a MAU maven in costume to resememble our beloved Julia Ward Howe.
We need help spreading the word, please save the date, and go to www.MothersActingUp.org to support and learn more.

What moves you to change, and what new changes moving you?

Happy freaky Friday!

These are the MAMA GREEN POWER tips of the week:

Sara Berger of Richmond, VA is raising chickens. She wants to build a home for 6 pullet hens with recycled or "found" materials. She is blogging about her experiences at citizenmama.blogspot.com.

Robine Bots-Jeffrey's of Central Oregon and her sister, Anna Marie, are investing in worm bins. Robine said the worm bin was her birthday present to herself. Anna Marie, is a worm bin enthusiasts and also proudly sports only using her dryer once a week. She uses the dry heat of her pellet stove to save energy by hanging her clothes dry. Turn on the ceiling fan, and she gets the bonus of humidifing her home.

We chatted about simple tips to conserve like vacuuming the coils under the fridge and making sure the dryer tubes are cleaned out properly.

Get creative with lessening your consumption and have a great weekend!

Dear MAU Mavens and Change Agents,

America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America. The best way to advance America's interest in reducing global threats and seizing global opportunities is to design and implement global solutions. This isn't a philosophical point. This is our reality.
--Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her confirmation testimony


MAUs have long recognized our role as world citizens, but doesn't it feel good to hear it from our leaders?! We now have an opportunity to support Secretary of State Clinton in crafting global solutions that benefit the world's children. She will need the support of a powerful constituency to realize her vision. Luckily she has one waiting in the wings: mothers.

Envision 1 million mother leaders shifting policy to create a better world for all children. Why mothers*? Because mothers are the ones primarily raising children around the world, we are already committed and concerned and we recognize that our security depends on children thriving everywhere.

PLUS we have STELLAR negotiating, organizing and communication skills. As MAU begins our second 7-year cycle, we will be promoting campaigns that shift policy to benefit the world's children. Our first campaign is called Stand for the World's Children.

Without further ado, here is your invitation to be one of the 100 Mother Leaders (as sexy as it sounds):Join 100+ mothers who will STAND FOR THE WORLD'S CHILDREN in communities across the U.S. between now and Mother's Day. We are asking President Obama and Congress to fulfill old promises to fund programs benefiting AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children and to designate a Children's Ambassador that reports directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Imagine a high-level position in the State Department given the mandate to champion programs that serve children! This is NOT too good to be true.

It's too important to remain an idea.

Here's the glorious truth of Mother Leverage:100Mother Leadersdonate 1 hr/wkthroughMother's Day.Reach1,000,000mothers* through media, social networking and face to face.Shift policy affecting 132,000,000 orphans in the world!

Click here for more info on the invitation.p.s. This invitation comes with all the materials you need (including 100 postcards for your community to sign - no sweat!)We are living in a time of tremendous opportunity; a veritable plethora of possibility.
I invite you to join the 100 Mother Leaders and, as always, send news of your actions on behalf of the world's children and MAU will shout out your glorious news from pillar to post.

In excited partnership, Joellen, on behalf of the MAU Mavens

It begins with energy!

Mamas in support of Obama lets look at our energy consumption. Here in Bend, we can utilize free services to have someone inspect our home and point out areas to improve our energy conservation.
Lets vow to conserve when we can, walk and bike more, buy local to reduce our carbon footprints and stimlate our local economy.
This week I am going to get a worm bin from wonderwormer.com and finally make a rain barrel for out down spouts. Use the glorious spring cleaning energy to revamp our homestead into a sustainable sanctuary.

Obama

It comes in waves. Election Day, Inaugration Day, seeing the Obamas on people magazine when I am in the super market in Central Oregon...
The joy, the amazement, the enlightening belief that we did it, we the United States elected President Barack Obama. We want change, we want to change for our dreams.
I hear many of my friends talking about how happy they feel to be American, for the first time in a long time. We are onto something good. We are listening to mothers and children who want peace, a healthy planet, and a sustainable future. Wow, MAUmas, can we breathe in a collective sigh of thank goddess, that our global villiage is making headlines. We matter to our current administration.
There are so many levels of why this is glorious, who Obama is, what he stands for, his family, his global relationships...
I will work along side him, I will have hope, I will weave motherhood into my politics with new vigor and commitment. I will let this hope waterfall over my dreams.

Joellen's article on Global Citizenship

MAU Published in World Pulse MagazinePosted by Joellen Raderstorf
12:00 AM Dec 03, 2008
Raising Global Citizens
Featured in World Pulse Magazine Winter/Spring 09 (Subscribe)Easy things you can do to help any child get a better appreciation of the world she lives in Ask a class of fourth graders to check the labels in each other’s t-shirts, and you’ll find at least fifteen different countries listed after “Made in . . .” Our world’s children are inextricably linked: They breathe the same air, listen to the same music, sleep under the same stars, and wear t-shirts from each other’s countries. I was not raised in a family of world travellers, so my global experience as a child was limited to a trip with my high school a capella choir to the U.K. My own children have had the opposite experience; they’ve traveled literally around the world, meeting people of all faiths, cultures and economic circumstances. I am a mother committed to raising global citizens. The roots of Global Citizenship can be traced back as far as Ancient Greece. Two and a half millennia later, the definition of it, declared by Oxfam Education school curriculum, is:understanding the need to tackle injustice and inequality, and having the desire and ability to work actively to do so. It is about valuing the Earth as precious and unique, and safeguarding the future for those coming after us. Global Citizenship is a way of thinking and behaving. It is an outlook on life, a belief that we can make a difference. Over the years, I have accumulated a raising-global-citizens treasure-trove: books to read, games to play, and school activities to bring to the classroom. I’ve also discovered some golden rules to raising a global citizen. #1: Teach by example: If you are engaged in making the world a better place, your child will be too. #2: Learn from your children: They understand acceptance and diversity better than we ever will. #3: Expose children to many forms of action, but let them choose their causes for themselves. A few items from my trove:Start with reading. Children’s books hold life’s most precious secrets. Find books with the most beautiful messages, ones that highlight different cultures, faiths and lives (see sidebar). Expose your children to stories with powerful environmental messages and characters who undergo transformation from greedy antagonist to compassionate protagonist. As a brand new mama, I spent most of a 2,500 mile road trip in the back seat reading Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, by Verna Aardema. I can still recite the rhythmic verses and see Kipat standing on one leg, like a big stork bird. It made me yearn to visit Africa and I imagined the same hunger instilled in my sweet, gurgling son.Bring lessons into everyday activities. Integrating global awareness into everyday events makes it a natural part of life from the get-go. Watch movies that depict life in faraway lands. Host a lemonade stand to buy mosquito nets for children in malaria-prone countries. Start a giving-circle tradition, allowing each member of the family to gift money to non-profits. Help your child identify what they are passionate about. The best way is to listen. I recognized my middle son's passion for animal rights when he said, "Mom, we are all animals—humans are no better that any other animal."Role play. When we put ourselves in the shoes of others, our eyes begin to open. At my son’s school I organized an event called “The World Sits Down to Lunch”. Each child was randomly given a ticket determining what lunch they would receive. The number of tickets in each group proportionally represented the world’s population. That meant that the majority of children were sent to the “Not Enough Area”, with no table, used yogurt containers for bowls, a pot of rice and a large pan for collecting water. The “Just Enough” group were shown to a crowded table with rice, beans, one very small cookie per person and a Dixie cup of juice. And the “More Than Enough” children—only eight of the 54 students—were served by high school students gesturing to sit at a beautifully set table, urging: “Help yourself to all the burrito fixings and dessert you would like.” The classroom transformed into a microcosm of our world: scarcity, war, stereotyping, begging and plenty of emotion. But the children got it.In the following weeks they shared this experience over and over again. I witnessed the beginnings of an authentic sense of global family. Experience the world first hand. Step one: place a large map on a promenant wall in your house. Now ponder adventures your family might have and track where you’ve already been. Start a travel fund and check out travel books from the library. The options are vast—from a one week service trip to a round-the-world adventure. With our sons aged 12, 10 and 7— each carrying their own backpack—we embarked on the learning experience of a lifetime, visiting 14 different countries. Six weeks into our six month trip, we found ourselves running from a Tsunami. Travel as close to the ground as your appetite allows. My children preferred the temples of Angkor in Cambodia to the museums in Italy. Our time spent in orphanages in South Africa and befriending working children in Cambodia left a lasting global imprint.Whatever you do, acting as members of one global family will transform your children’s lives – and yours. SIDEBAR: Resources:Books:The Giving Tree, by Shel SilversteinA Life Like Mine, by UNICEF and Dorling KindersleyBringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, by Verna AardemaThe Quiltmaker’s Gift, by Jeff Brambeau and Gail De MarkenThe Wump World, by Bill PeetThe Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood Around the WorldGames: Games for Change highlights digital games for social change. www.gamesforchange.orgCurriculum: Oxfam's curriculum for Global Citizenship and more. www.oxfam.org.uk/education/gc/Philanthropy: YouthGive is building a community of giving, created and guided by young people. www.youthgive.orgTravel: Globe Aware offers volunteer vacations for families. www.globeaware.org
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Global Citizens

Dear MAU Mavens,
As children and families gather for holiday celebrations, it's a good time to discuss how we can collectively raise Global Citizens...Luckily, MAU's own Joellen Raderstorf has written an article on that very subject! How very prescient of her!Find the article in the magnificent new edition of the World Pulse Magazine or read it here. The article contains tips, golden rules, resources and quotes like this: "Acting as members of one global family will transform your children's lives - and yours." What's not to like?Yours in spirited partnership,The Mavens at MAU Central P.S. Give the gift of engagement this holiday with a 2009 Calendar and a subscription to World Pulse Magazine.
Mothers Acting Up (MAU) inspires and mobilizes mothers* to advocate on behalf of the world's children.*mothers and others, on stilts or off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller. You have received this email because you are on the Mothers Acting Up Action mailing list. If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, please visit this link.