Barbara Correa writes about work and family for the Los Angeles Daily News.Mothers' Helpers
Living in L.A., land of the $700 Peg Perego stroller and the $80 Ralph Lauren toddler separates, it's hard to imagine how little so many of the world's mothers have. Even if you live near the poverty line here, you can still probably afford an umbrella stroller from Target, you have running water and a way to cook food.
Not so in places like Darfur. A web site called Mothers Fighting for Others brings to life the gaping need of basic equipment to keep a family going. Today they are asking for $30 donations to buy solar cookers for women so they don't have to leave the safety of the refugee camps to go and look for firewood. Yesterday they were collecting underwear, which is apparently too expensive in Kenya for women to buy.
The site also has links to other important child-related sites, like Stop Child Slavery. These things are hard to contemplate, especially from where we sit. Believe me, I'm the first to say that worrying about third-world hunger isn't much fun compared to helping your kids decide on whether to be Ariel or Sleeping Beauty for Halloween.
But as mothers we are part of a global effort to protect our children, and the only way to improve things is to use the power that's in our numbers.