This week, ONE is joining 10 bloggers who are making their way through Kenya to see what life is really like for moms in the developing world. Follow along and check their progress at http://one.org/us/actnow/moms.

“We believe this is a place of light and hope. We believe there is hope in perseverance,“ declared the pastor and headmaster of Mwangaza Tumaini.

Today the ONE Moms visited a school in Makuru, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. This place of light and hope is also a place that reeks of raw sewage. The restrooms or latrines are built over, and empty into, the small stream that runs through the schoolyard. Rickety boards create a walkway over the flowing, filthy water.

The school’s compound consists of a small yard, a chapel, and two small classrooms built with dirt floors and aluminum walls. It was started in 2003 by the slum community. The people saw an educational need for their children and so they began a school.

Since that time it has continued to grow and now educates students through grade eight. This has been accomplished by what the teachers and administrators call “well-wishers” — those who give time and money to assist their community.

As ONE Moms we learned about a program that ONE supports through USAID. USAID has a program called Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya. As a mother, a former school teacher, and a member of ONE, I find it very satisfying that USAID and ONE are Mwangaza Tumanini’s well-wishers.

I may not be able to ever make it back to the slums of Makuru and help build a classroom or read with a child, but I can continue to be a well-wisher of this small school that creates hope and light in a very difficult place.

As a ONE Mom, my currency is my voice. I can continue to tell the stories of families who need basic things such as learning to read. I can continue to spread the word that what we do at ONE is about real people in a real place. I am grateful and full of of joy that I got the immense pleasure of laughing, holding and talking with some of these real little people in Makuru today!

Daily Action: Today the ONE Moms met with teachers and students in Nairobi. Watch our video “Chieftainess” about a remarkable woman who is teaching her community about the importance of education. Then share the video with your friends and leave a comment.

Living Proof | Chieftainess from ONE Campaign on Vimeo.

-Shayne Moore, Global Soccer Mom

Meet Joyce. And her baby, Gift.

Joyce lives in rural Kenya and her story is the story of HIV/AIDS and malaria in this part of the world. Gift is Joyce’s fourth child. She gave birth to three other children, three beautiful girls. The first born, Faith, because Joyce had a hard time conceiving but had faith it would happen. The second born, Gloria, because Joyce loves God and wanted to give him the glory. Her third born, Victoria, because she was feeling victorious at this birth.

Faith died as an infant. She was six months old. Gloria made it until she was 1 1/2 before she also passed away. At the time, Joyce did not know what disease was taking her babies. This was in the late nineties. Joyce married a man much older than she. He became very very sick and decided to get tested for HIV. He was indeed positive and he broke this news to Joyce. Suddenly, Joyce suspected what had taken her daughters and went to get tested herself. Joyce was pregnant with baby number three.

Many things changed in Kenya between when Joyce had her first baby and being pregnant with her third. For starters, people had a name and a diagnosis to go with what was killing their families. In the five years things like PEPFAR and The Global Fund had started pumping money into the hardest hit global communities and started to provide the ARV’s — the life saving medicine for those who are HIV positive.

Joyce was HIV positive and pregnant. But now she had options and hope. Joyce went on medication and also took the pills that prevent mother to child transmission of the HIV virus. Her third baby girl was born HIV free. No wonder Joyce was feeling victorious! Victoria is living proof that HIV does not need to consume and destroy.

Gift is Joyce’s fourth baby and she is four months old. She is also HIV free and healthy. Joyce continues to take her medicine and her HIV viral counts remain low. She is a healthy and happy new mom.

Without the support of the global community and compassionate voices around the world, Joyce’s story might have been much different.

Today the bloggers will be meeting with couples and mothers living with HIV, Tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. Using the hashtag #ONEMoms, tweet a message (or messages) you’d like us to deliver to mothers in Kenya.

Join the movement. ONEMoms.

The red clay road final gives out and narrows. We park and finish our journey on foot. Today, I joined Ivan, a home-based HIV/AIDS caregiver, visiting a family in rural Kenya. As we hike the road narrows to a path. We are carrying a back pack with the HIV tests and a basket with gifts of sugar, soap and mosquito nets. Today I am in Kenya with ONE. Learning about what life is like for families just like my own.

We enter the compound. A small plot of land with two clay structures. Beatrice, the wife, is sweeping the dirt floor of one of homes preparing for our arrival. We are invited into the darkness of the clay hut with a grass roof. It is small, clean, and cool. Chairs line the walls and fill the sparce space which smells of a campfire.

Ivan begins the visit like a pro. He is nurturing, kind, and stoic. He reviews the basic facts of HIV/AIDS prevention and then reaches in his back pack for the HIV test which include small needles to prick the fingers of the husband and wife. In fifteen minutes we will know if they are HIV positive or HIV negative.

We wait. We sit in the dark, clean room. Flies buzz around as we quietly murmur to one another. Ivan continues to teach and council. I ask questions. The interpreter goes back and forth as we share smiles and conversation.

Ivan says it is time. Both of the tests come out positive. Joseph and his wife have HIV. We are quiet and serious. Ivan reminds them of the clinic in the nearby village and urges them to come down for treatment. I find out later the odds of this are 50/50.

The test is finished and so we step out into the bright Kenyan sunshine and into Ivans compound. He is smiling and calling to his dog, “Qaddafi! Tsst. Qaddafi!”

I look at him and we both laugh. I say, “So funny you named your dog Qaddafi!”

Joseph proudly walks me around his compound showing off his banana plants and maze field. We chat. Abruptly Joseph turns to me, the recent event catching up with him, and asks point blank, “Who will take care of my children when I die?”

Two strangers, two very different people, suddenly caught in a real moment of life. We stand on the hill in Kenya with the sun shining, the breeze cooling, the birds chirping and the school children laughing as they come up the path from school. I smile at Joseph as other real things take over the scene. Joseph grabs a small boy and says over and over, showing him to me, “This is my son. This is my son. This is my son.”

I hug the mother, Beatice, as I leave.

I don’t know what will happen to Beatrice and Joseph but they are no longer simply numbers or a statistic. I am in Kenya with ONE learning about what life is like for families who struggle with disease and poverty. I am only one mom from the midwest of America. I don’t have all the answers, but I can learn, raise awareness and raise my voice.

You can too. Join us by signing up to be a member of ONE and follow our action points.

We are happy to announce that ABC News’ anchor David Muir will be reporting on the trip from Kenya for World News and Good Morning Amerca as part of the network’s global health series.

Our Itinerary for the Week Includes:

Day 1: Kisumu, Kenya

• Travel with Home-Based Testing Community Health Workers (HIV/AIDS)
• See vaccines at work and meet moms-to-be at Siaya Clinical Research Center (Vaccines/Maternal and Child Health)

Daily Action: Today we will visit health clinics that receive direct funding from the United States. Sign ONE’s petition asking Congress not to cut funding for these effective programs that are saving lives. Then ask 5 friends to do the same.
Day 2: Kisumu, Kenya

• Meet with women undergoing pregnancy monitoring and birth attendants at the Lwak Nutritional Center (Maternal and Child Health)
• Visit the women of the fishing industry at Dunga Beach (Trade)
• Meet community health workers who work with tuberculosis patients (Infectious Disease)

Daily Action: Today we will be meeting with couples and mothers living with HIV, Tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. Using the hashtag #ONEMoms, tweet a message (or messages) you’d like us to deliver to mothers in Kenya.

Day 3: Nairobi, Kenya

• Visit an early learning program at a USAID Education Site Visit (Education)

Daily Action: Today we are meeting with teachers and students in Nairobi. WatchONE’s video “Chieftainess” about a remarkable woman who is teaching her community about the importance of education. Then share the video with your friends and leave a comment:

Day 4: Karen and Nairobi, Kenya

• Speak with Kenyan women entrepreneurs and how the US Government plays a role in their business (Trade)
• Meet with members of Carolina for Kibera and learn about their programs (Development)

Daily Action: Today the bloggers are meeting with women entrepreneurs in Karen, Kenya who are leading in building their communities’ economies and providing opportunities to others. Check out ONE’s report “Africa’s Future is Female” to learn more about how women are leading a revolution on the continent. Then, using hashtag #ONEMoms tell ONE (@ONECampaign) one thing that surprised you. Or leave a comment on ONE’s Facebook page (http://facebook.com/ONE)

Day 5: Lake Naivasha, Kenya

• Visit a horticulture and daily sites run by small female farmers working with Feed the Future (Agriculture)

Daily Action: Today the bloggers are meeting with a group of women farmers near Lake Naivasha, Kenya. As you’re probably aware, the Horn of Africa is currently enduring a horrible famine. Educate yourself about what’s happening on the ground.

My average day involves throwing on my go-to pair of jeans and quickly putting my hair up in a pony tail. My time revolves around my three children’s school schedule, sports practices and instrument lessons. You can find me hollering at the kids to gather their sports gear as I hastily transfer a load of laundry, leaving clothes unfolded on the table. It is my job to make sure everyone has clean clothes, food to eat, and is at their respective practices on time.

In short, I’m a soccer mom. Despite my best efforts, I am leaving an enormous carbon footprint as I live out my life in the suburbs. With my babies grown it seems I now spend most of my time in the car shuttling kiddos from one activity to the next. I help with homework, supervise computer sessions, and consider it pure joy when I have time to visit with a friend.

However, as with most women who find this is what the structure of their lives looks like, there is much more to me than this. To be honest, after about a decade of being a stay-at-home mom, I found a deep dissatisfaction lurking inside me. I started to want more.

In 2003, Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2, came through my town on the Heart of America tour educating churches and faith communities about global AIDS and extreme poverty. While it was undoubtedly Bono’s star power that drew me in that night, it was the presentations by the World Health Organization on the ravishing effects of extreme poverty and the future projections of the spread of HIV and AIDS which changed the trajectory of my life.

The next day I was sobered and even angered. Today, these issues have been pushed to the front, but when I heard Bono and The Heart of America tour it was the first time I had heard the extent of the AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. I could not help but wonder why aren’t we hearing about this every night on the news? Why aren’t our pastors talking about it every Sunday from the pulpit? After hearing the sobering realities of extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS, particularly the effect on women and children something happened to me.

While standing at the sink doing the breakfast dishes I woke up from my suburbia stupor. I woke up to realities that every three seconds a child dies from extreme poverty and that today one billion people live on less than two dollars a day. I woke up to the realities of gender-based violence against women and girls, that women and girls are marginalized and exploited in situations of extreme poverty. And I woke up to the reality that I can make a difference and I started educating myself and others.

My journey into understanding global social justice started in my own community, in my own kitchen. This journey has taken me to Africa and Honduras and to international G8 Summits. I have met high-profile people like Bono and George Clooney and I even filmed a commercial with Julia Roberts. On my journey I got involved with local grassroots advocacy groups, with my church, with large humanitarian organizations like World Vision, and I joined ONE.

My learning curve was huge and I was embarrassed at my ignorance on many of the global issues. Yet I decided to jump in despite feeling overwhelmed. I am not a policy expert nor do I ever expect to be one, but by jumping in exactly where I was I entered the conversation.

I believe today women are thoughtful and deeply concerned about issues of extreme poverty and preventable disease. The millions of AIDS orphans and the children who needlessly die from lack of clean water and from malaria tug at every woman’s heart. I also believe in today’s world with 24 hour news on our TV’s, computers and phones it can feel as if we have a front row seat to the world’s problems but do not know how to connect and get involved in a meaningful way.

I leave for Africa in less than a week with ONE. I am humbled and looking forward to meeting the mothers and families just like my own but who struggle under the weight of extreme poverty and disease. I am looking forward to building bridges of understanding and bringing their stories home so together we can make a difference for moms and families everywhere. Much work still needs to be done, but their are many success stories and real hope.

Follow my journey, along with nine other “mommy bloggers.” Go to our ONEMom page and sign up!

On July 23rd I will be traveling to Kenya with a team of Mom world-changers. I have been a member of ONE since it’s inception and I am thrilled at our new initiative to engage everyday moms around the global needs of other moms and families just like our own.

African women are leading a movement. They are the driving force behind Africa’s economy, and mothers in particular have an enormous impact on the future of Africa. ONE Week is a weeklong social media event following 10 bloggers, including myself, as we make our way through Kenya with ONE from July 23rd-30th to see what life is really like for moms in the developing world.

We know not everyone can go to Africa, but through daily email updates straight from myself and the other women on the trip you will see firsthand what we are seeing. Meet the Kenyan moms and families and follow our journey. And share the information with your community and friends – for ONE week.

Together we can shine a spotlight on the success and challenges that accompany the fight to end extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world. Get educated, engaged, and activated. Use your voice on behalf of the world’s poorest. It just takes ONE mom.

Go to ONE Moms and on the top right sign up to be a ONE Mom and join me!

There is a slogan in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” How often do I find myself at point A with the goal of getting to point B but feel paralyzed?

Many summers ago I went hiking. At the time my youngest child was an infant and my family was on vacation in Colorado. Road tripping across the country with three small children had been full of laughter, chaos, and, well. . .work. In fact, the whole thing was beginning to not feel like a vacation.

One afternoon I got away. I took the chair lift to the top of the mountainside and followed the rocky path, trekking on foot to the bottom. I am from the Midwest. The Colorado vistas, the clean air, the wild flowers perfected placed are all pure joy to this suburban girl. With each step the inner room in my soul settled down and expanded. Internal things seemed to be tidying up – certain issues put on their proper shelf, others slid back out of sight until they could be attended to, some items which had been pushed behind clutter put back on the top of the pile.

Halfway down the mountain something unexpected surfaced. A thought suddenly demanded full attention. I tried to ignore it. I took several more steps and deep breaths pushing it back where it belonged. Buried.

Was it a stubborn thought or a divine command? Whatever it was, it was determined and I heard audibly, “Write.”

Involuntary tears came to my eyes making the path blurry. I was irritated at this directive interrupting my peaceful walk. This was my only alone time. I was not going to spend it crying. I wanted peace and serenity.

“Write.” It said again.

More tears and I was breathing hard as crushing thoughts of self-pity raced through my mind. “Yeah, okay,” I complained out loud. “My world is tiny children, ABC books, diapers, laundry and chores. I have no influence.”

“Write.” It persistently said again.

Now I was just angry. “Write to who?!” I yelled with disdain.

“Write to Me.” It replied.

This conversation happened eight years ago. I can’t say I got off that mountain and immediately started writing. Rather, I got off the mountain and continued changing diapers, grocery shopping and poddy training. But something happened to me when I paid attention to my inner room – to my deepest self. I let myself be heard. Or perhaps I created space for the Divine purposes for my life to be heard.

I was at point A, and even if it was intimidating I now knew I had a point B. I had no idea how to get there. I didn’t know any writers. I had never written for an audience and I had no idea how to find that community, skills or opportunity. Over the years that experience would replay in my mind and it kept my heart and eyes open to going down new paths, nurturing new relationships, and taking risks.

Today I somehow have arrived at point B. It seems I intentionally got here — and yet if feels nothing short of a miracle.

A good friend of mine always points out, “Women are the caretakers of the world.” As a mother of three children I have a heart for moms and families everywhere, particularly in Africa, where too often poverty and disease make raising a family difficult.

Recently I was asked to join a group of world-changing moms at ONE.org. These ONE Moms are committed to getting the word out about what life is like for our counterparts in other parts of the world.

Even Laura Bush is getting in on the movement. Click the link below to watch this short Mother’s Day video from the former first lady — urging all of us to do what we can to make every day a happy mother’s day.

Make Every Day a Happy Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a time when moms usually receive flowers, a nice meal, and cards with heartfelt sentiments. Those are all sweet gifts, and I certainly hope to receive some or all of those things this Sunday! But what do mothers really need in their lives? How about a sense of calling and purpose? Inspiration to be all that God has created her to be? Practical examples and ideas to live in a more Christ-honoring way? If these sounds like gifts you’d like to receive this Mother’s Day, I have just the giveaway for you: a copy of Global Soccer Mom PLUS three other amazing books written by and for moms: The Missional Mom by Helen Lee, Green Mama by Tracey Bianchi, and Mama’s Got a Fake I.D. by Caryn Rivadeneira.

Flowers and memories of nice dinners will fade away, but these books will challenge and encourage you for years to come! Or join the giveaway and provide a mother in your life with a unique gift of a small library of “do it yourself” world-changing ideas.

To enter into this giveaway, you can do one or more of the following (one entry per action: please let me know below which one of these actions you’ve taken!):

• Comment below about what you’d like to receive this Mother’s Day
• Share with us the story of a world-changing mother you know and love.
• Follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShayneMoore
• Tweet or tell your FB friends about the giveaway, linking to this page
• 

As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.

John 15: 9-12, Common English Bible

The season of Lent is traditionally used as a time for sacrifice and contemplation, a time to delve deeper into our own inner workings with the goal of finding God. In Global Soccer Mom I tell a story of wrestling with finding God in suburbia.  I stumble on to a convent where I meet a nun who has profound words about God, my life, and the need around me.

Nuns fascinate me. Not only do they live a life of contemplation and prayer devoted to finding God, nuns are women of action. They serve. Henri Nouwen explains how these two things go together, “Here we are touching the profound spiritual truth that service is an expression of the search for God.”

As I search for God in my own Lenten practices of contemplation, reflection and service I am struck by the verses in John. It seems somewhat full circle. If service toward those in need in my world is an act of searching for God, and I find a loving God, I respond joyfully and love others.

Arloa Sutter, a woman I respect and who founded Breakthrough Urban Ministries in Chicago, says it this way, “Scripture sheds light on the why of poverty by addressing issues of greed, disobedience, isolation, and discrimination, but ultimately the power to overcome poverty and disease lies not to much in assigning blame as in learning to live the Jesus way; to follow him in how he interacted with the poor and suffering, to take up our cross of loving generously, kindness, and tenacious advocacy for the poor and oppressed.”

Sometimes tenacious advocacy for the poor and oppressed is not easy work and can be very discouraging. The world screams for our attention about a million other things. It seems as though we are doing nothing. The need is too great and I am so small.

Results are important. Changing lives is important. But the reason for remaining tenacious is equally important. Because the Father loved me, I am to remain in His love and I am to love others. Somehow this bargain, this full circle, seems to be the recipe for joy–even with setbacks, roadblocks, and times of confusion in life and in service.

Sometimes, lofty ideas come down to a simple truth, a simple thought of relief and thanksgiving, which brings meaning to the depth of God’s love and how I am to treat others. This is the sentence going through my head this Lent: God is very kind.

www.commonenglishbible.com