Sunday 18 September 2011

This Has To Stop Now!

Yesterday was just an ordinary Saturday for most people - but not for some big hearted friends and bloggers who attended the Save The Children conference in London, giving up their precious weekends in the name of charity.

I should have been there and I was totally gutted I couldn't make it.

Regular readers of my blog will know that the Save The Children charity is a big part of my life as I give up my spare time to volunteer in my local shop. I can honestly say hand on heart I absolutely love it. I was ill this week so I couldn't go in and I hated not being able to work.

Unless you've been living underground recently you will have heard about the tragic situation in East Africa. Thousands of innocent children are dying each day and it has to stop! A severe lack of health workers in the area means that children die needlessly - one every 6 minutes in fact. Read more about the East Africa Appeal here.

Next week, a fellow blogger, Chris, is attending the UN General Assembly in New York. She is going there with Liz from Save The Children to put pressure on David Cameron to play his part in solving the health worker crisis. There's a target of 60k signatures to collect by this Tuesday so PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION NOW IF IT'S THE ONLY THING YOU DO.

Please don't ignore this post, don't pass it off as someone else asking for help. This is genuinely serious - innocent children's lives depend on it.

Two blogging friends of mine, Michelle and Gemma (who I've both met in person) are asking for 100 people to join this linky by Tuesday. It may seem impossible but I know just how strong and amazing the blogging community is.

Please visit Michelle's blog to read more but basically we want people to sign the petition, write 100 words about a health professional you have encountered in your life (tweet: #healthworkers), ask other bloggers to participate and spread the word in any which way you can - Twitter, Facebook, email, phone or accost people in the street if you have to!

Here are my 100 words:

"6 months ago, Mini Cheddar was struck with the dreaded norovirus and it hit her badly. I can easily say this was the worst moment of my life - watching her unable to hold even a thimble full of water down without vomitting. I was totally helpless. I remember leaving the doctors surgery after my doctor made a swift phonecall to the hospital, running in the house, packing a bag and rushing to the paediatric unit. Dehydration is horrible. Trying to hold my daughter down with a team of nurses whilst the doctor hooked her up to a drip was pure hell."

The thing is, Mini Cheddar had these medical professionals to help her. She had the latest drugs, the very best medical equipment and the knowledge of the professionals which meant she only spent 24 hours in the hospital and we were able to continue her care in a warm and safe home.

The children in East Africa don't have these things that we take for granted. They don't even have fresh water. The situation out there is awful - see for yourself below and don't ignore the crisis. These children need your help...now!



I'd love to see these bloggers take over the baton (apols if you've already been tagged as I'm not really on Twitter much lately):

Mari's World
Real Housewife Of Suffolk County
Reluctant HouseDad
A Matter Of Choice
Mañana Mama
Alysons Blog
Mummy And The Beastie
Doing It All For Aleyna
Looking For Blue Sky
The Syders
This Mid 30's Life

If you're not tagged yet then don't wait to be tagged - there isn't time...please take this as your invite to get signing, blogging and shouting about this. We need to spread this quickly.  I'm so busy at the moment, as you all know, but even I have managed to do this as it's SO important.

Thanks for reading x




10 comments:

Helloitsgemma said...

Perfect. Thank you. Thank you.

Mari said...

Thanks for the tag! My second, I"m just about to click Publish xx really wish I could have been there too - next time we will :)

Natasha said...

This post is great! So much important information and excellent points of interest xx

Michelle Twin Mum said...

Briliant Heather, thank you.  We missed you yesterday but will get to see you in a couple of weeks.

Mich x

geekmummy said...

Oh, didn't know you were supposed to be going, was a shame you couldn't make it as it was an excellent day. Great 100 words - it really brings home to you how dangerous those situations could have been, doesn't it?

Looking for Blue Sky said...

Hope you're feeling better now. My post is done and up :) (gorgeous pic of mini cheddar too btw xx)

Lady Estrogen said...

Good for you!! You're an awesome baton-holder.
I think it's good for all of us to have a cause that we are passionate about - or else who will be a voice for those who don't have one?

Chris said...

I'm sorry you weren't at the conference, it would've been lovely to meet you, thank you so much for adding your voice. x

tax deductible donations said...

Yes, charity programs are really work of kindness. I also request to the folks for giving a part of income in this donation. Donation is not the wastage of money. It is the way of use the money for social service. Most of the non profits organizations are contributing in this work.

Mañana Mama said...

Bless you. Glad Mini was okay in the end. Keep up the good work. 

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