World Moms Blog

Demonstrations in Morocco after the suicide of Amina Filali

Amina Filali was only 16 years old when she took her own life by swallowing rat poison.  Her story has caused an outpouring of outrage and support from far beyond her small town in northern Morocco.  According to reports, Amina was raped last year at the age of 15 by an older man.  Instead of seeing her rapist punished for his crime, Amina was forced to marry him. A few months into an unconscionable marriage, her rapist/ husband was beating her, she told her mother. Her mother counseled her to try and bear it, according to the Moroccan daily al-Massa.  Amina must have seen no way out, no future worth living. Read more…

Fifth grade class in Chuchoquesera, Peru

When I visited the classroom pictured above in the Peruvian highlands back in 2004, I noticed that slightly more than half of the students were girls. I remarked on this fact to the human rights activist who was giving us the tour of this Quechua-speaking indigenous community.  He smiled sadly and said, “Yes, but this is fifth grade.  In sixth grade, children go to a lower secondary school that is farther away.  Most of the girls won’t go.  It takes too long to walk there and they are needed to help at home, so the parents won’t let them go.  Besides, most of them will be married soon.” Unfortunately, this is a situation that is repeated throughout the world.

In the United States, where education is both compulsory and free, we often forget that the right to education is not meaningfully available in many parts of the world – especially for girls.  The UN estimates that there were more than 67 million primary school-age and 73 million lower secondary school-age children out of school worldwide in 2009.  In addition, an estimated 793 million adults lack basic literacy skills. The majority of them are women.

Since then, I have visited classrooms and asked questions about girls’ access to education in countries on several continents.  This is a photo I took at Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana. Read more…

Make your own human rights tapestry!

Human Rights Day is December 10! The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly‘s adoption on 10 December 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global statement of international human rights principles.  Here are some ideas for simple yet meaningful ways for your family to celebrate the rights and responsibilities that we all share as human beings.

1.  Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Check out the UDHR plain language version  or the Amnesty International UK book We Are All Born Free (15 of the illustrated pages of the book can be found on The Guardian’s website if you want to look at them online or print them out). You can also watch  a short video together and talk about it with your kids. My kids loved this animated video version of the UDHR even back when they couldn’t understand what the words meant. For a more historical view, check out The Story of Human Rights.

2.  Exercise your right to freedom of expression! Draw pictures together of the rights and freedoms that are important to you. Read more…

Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I live with my husband and three kids in Minneapolis, MN, USA.  The headwaters of the Mississippi River are in Minnesota, but I’m from the delta – Baton Rouge, LA.  Growing up in south Louisiana was great, but it did not adequately prepare me for being the hockey mom that I am today. (My two sons play and I am still trying to learn the rules!) I have also lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Norway and Switzerland.

What language(s) do you speak?

My native language is English, but I also speak Norwegian.  I also studied French and Russian.

When did you first become a mother?

October 9, 1999.  Nine days past the due date, I might add.

Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?

Since my oldest son was born, I have worked everything from 10 to 100% time at a fabulous non-profit called The Advocates for Human Rights. Currently, I am working 90% time as the Deputy Director.  It’s a good balance for me.  I took extended parenting leaves with each of my kids and, I have to say, being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest work I have ever done. As my husband says, we “go to work to rest.”

Why do you blog/write?

I started blogging as a New Years Resolution in January 2011. I realized that I had many stories from my experiences in fifteen years of human rights work, but most of them had never been shared. Some of these stories are about the worst aspects of Read more…