If you have been following what my team and I been up to as of late, you probably know, it’s a lot in the year 2015. Here’s updates for you, OneMama family, on my trip to Uganda, the United Nations, New York Fashion Week, and Fighting For Your JOY!
United Nations 59th Commission on the Status of Women
March of 2015, I attended the United Nation’s 59th Commission on the Status of Women as a delegate. The aim of this year’s event was to enact social change in equality for women all over the world by giving women a voice on a global stage. I went to the UN excited for the opportunity for our tiny village in rural Uganda, to have its voice heard. The women of our OneMama Community, for the first time ever, had a channel to voice their frustrations as females in a paternalist society. In Uganda, women are an underrepresented group of the population and their voices oftentimes silenced. I asked the women of our village to choose one issue they would like to highlight at the United Nations. The issue they chose was land rights for women and child custody. In Uganda, it is nearly impossible for women to own property, forming a base of female dependency on males in society.
During regional discussions to select the top issues the United Nations would highlight for the Declaration of the Rights of Women this following year, I voiced the OneMama community’s issue… and it was chosen as the top three issues to be included in the amendment!
OneMama’s voice was heard on a global stage!
To focus our programs on the issue of women’s land rights, OneMama is thrilled to announce a partnership with Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN)! With WIN’s support, OneMama will advocate for women as land-owning participants in a special WIN project in Uganda.
February and September New York Fashion Week
OneMama.org and natural cosmetics partner, ShaBoom Products, participated in not one but TWO fashion weeks this year! Most recently, The OneMama Couture Collection premiered this September at New York Fashion Week. Our striking, bold, designs strutted the runway, showing how socially conscious fashion can literally save lives! Each look featured in our fashion shows saved anywhere from 200 to 500 lives.
Since the whirlwind of New York Fashion Week, we are in talks with top buyers in the industry for collaborations to bring fashions that support OneMama.org to international markets! Interested in our new designs? Read more about The OneMama Couture Collection at New York Fashion Week and pre-order our collection.
One component of this upcoming trip to Uganda will be building out the Economic Sustainability branch of The OneMama Model. We want to polish the core designs for The OneMama Collection, providing sustainable employment for the women of our community.
IMPACT Award, Flight 2 Freedom Summit 3.0,
This year has been all about overcoming the challenges–no matter how big or small–that seem to arise at the most inconvenient times… and celebrating that! I was was honored this July to be awarded the F2F3 IMPACT Award by my dear friend, Adryenn Ashley at the Blossom Wealth Management Flight 2 Freedom Summit 3.0 of outstanding female entrepreneurs. This award symbolizes what believing in our own joy and the joy of others can accomplish… and will continue to accomplish in this world.
A Lab for the OneMama Clinic
In addition to my normal meetings with the OneMama community, partners, government officials, and staff, we will also be kicking off development of a new initiative: a lab for The OneMama Clinic.
Currently, our clinic offers some of the only medical care and maternal health services in an expansive, rural region. While we do have access to rapid testing methods for HIV, we do not have access to a full lab to perform more advanced, accurate testing. Building a lab in for The OneMama Clinic can transform the way we assess and treat patients while simultaneously expand the number of patients our clinic treats each year. As a medical center that supports other clinics in the region, we want to expand our testing services to best serve our communities!
Another Trip to Uganda
Another flight out of San Francisco International to Entebbe International in Uganda with my ten bags! I’ll brought clothes and shoes donated by Resoled, yoga mats from friend Darin, and medical supplies for The OneMama Clinic and OneMama Birthing Center. Although it is exhausting to get ten bags from my doorstep to The OneMama Community, bringing life-saving equipment and resources to those surviving on less than $1.00 a day is 100% worth it.
How can you support us?
OneMama.org has grown leaps and bounds in the last year, not only in our programs on the ground, but also in our network of incredible OneMama Action Heroes across the world who help us fight for the joy of others! We cannot thank you enough for supporting us, and believing in the OneMama vision: a world in which every baby can be born into this world knowing they are loved and they matter. To bring this goal into fruition, we still need your help. Volunteer your time through working with us, donate to building a lab for the OneMama Clinic, or spread awareness of OneMama by sharing our posts through Facebook or Instagram with your network!
In addition to these channels for supporting OneMama.org, I am excited to announce that you can now support OneMama and fight for joy… with me! I will be launching the Fighting For Your Joy movement, that cultivates practices to fight for your own joy and the joy of others within our online community. Get a glimpse here of the NEW #FFYJ community. Community.FightingForYourJoy.com
Now… Let’s Fight For JOY!
The annual OneMama trip to Uganda was an emotional, reflective time for me. I look back on what we’ve accomplished in the last year and cannot help but smile. Each trip reunites me with my OneMama Community and my purpose to serve the mamas and babies of the world! Back to my healthy, energetic self, new partnerships in development, and with the love of my OneMama family…I could not be more ready for the next chapter! Now, let’s go fight for your joy!
This week the New OneMama Couture Collection ( made thru OneMama Africa Social Entrepneur Programs) hits the September New York Fashion Week runway with iCu Network & VH1!
We could not be more excited to spread love and light through our unique designs with heart behind them.The OneMama Collection was birthed out of tragedy, beginning with the loss of our founder Siobhan Neilland’s baby.
However, from this tragedy OneMama.org was born. It started out as a project Siobhan felt a calling to fulfill, giving every baby the opportunity to come into this world under safe and sanitary conditions. She began gathering medical supplies to send to the community of midwife, Mama Jamira, Siobhan’s hero. Jamira is the only traditional midwife in the region, known for her expertise and pure love of life.
Mama Jamira working with a patient
When Siobhan and Jamira were first introduced, Jamira was struggling to do what she could to deliver babies safely, despite the deplorable conditions that surrounded her. Pregnant women, sometimes while in labor, would walk miles alone to reach Mama Jamira’s mud hut and deliver their babies on a blood-soaked pad on the floor with no access to medication. While maternal health services in developed countries involve thorough prenatal and postnatal care, Jamira would have women she had never met show up on her doorstep and utilize what she could to safely perform the delivery. “I thought, maybe if I can just get her gloves, it could really make a difference; lives would be saved” said Siobhan. It was this spark that soon ignited into a global vision: That every baby—including the 1.8 billion living in communities surviving on under $1.25 a day—will be born safely, knowing they are loved and matter in this world.
There is something mystical—even magical—about OneMama.org, and the momentous voice “one little charity,” as Siobhan fondly calls it, can have. Siobhan never intended to start a charity, and maybe it was this factor that has brought OneMama.org into fruition in such a unique way. While donations provide funding for OneMama.org programs, much of this “little charity’s” funding is generated through The OneMama Collection and partner company, ShaBoom Products. The OneMama Collection was founded to provide long-term economic sustainability in impoverished communities, like the OneMama Community in rural Uganda. All designs donate 100% of proceeds to OneMama.org programs, including the new couture designs that will premiere at this year’s New York Fashion Week.
Since its founding in 2008, OneMama.org has been the featured charity of celebrity events, including The Golden Globes and The Grammys, as well as OneMama’s Bead Necklace photographed on Steven Tyler when he graced the cover of Rolling Stone. The OneMama Collection also appeared during February New York Fashion Week this year. However, walking the catwalk at September New York Fashion Week marks a new chapter in the OneMama story. For the first time, OneMama has collaborated with Guest Artist, Rose Harden of Rosehip Designs, to create a striking couture collection that embodies the heart and soul of the charity, with designs inspired by a global mission. Also complimenting the designs will be ShaBoom Products, the makeup and skincare line Siobhan created that donates 20% to 40% of proceeds to provide long-term funding for the organization.
On Tuesday, Siobhan Neilland, OneMama.org, and ShaBoom Products will make their appearance at September New York Fashion Week, with a slightly different message in mind. OneMama will not only make a fashion statement, but also a statement of how pairing giving back with innovation can transform lives.
Get Involved if you are inspired by the OneMama Mission.
Can’t make it to the show? Save 13 lives this month by donating!
t’s that time of year again! Siobhan Neilland is headed to the OneMama.org project site in rural Uganda, bringing medical supplies (including birthing kits), and other resources. Last year, we built out the Community Center facilities, updated the OneMama Clinic, and expanded our Economic Sustainability programs. Additionally, our Uganda-based OneMama team developed partnerships with other organizations in our region, maximizing the reach of our programs.
Another focus of this year’s OneMama trip will be designing and producing our couture-inspired OneMama Collection line for September New York Fashion Week. We will be featured as the official charity of September New York Fashion Week, displaying both the OneMama Collection and ShaBoom Products collections on fashion’s biggest stage!
To get involved with OneMama.org and contribute to our annual Uganda trip
To work or partner with us, please email info@onemama.org
http://blog.fightingforyourjoy.com/annual-uganda-trip/
Links:
A note from our Founder Siobhan Neilland as a UN Woman WIN CSW Global delegation partner representing Uganda and the OneMama community at the United Nations Commision on the Status of Woman 2015:
" The voice of OneMama Community women was selected! One of the proudest moments of my life was representing so many women who never had a voice on a global stage for my community." Siobhan Neilland - Founder of OneMama.org
.......
Game changing, eye opening, groundbreaking: this was my experience at the United Nations.
Seeing through the eyes of nine thousand women from across the world in the United Nations, was profound to say the least. It shook me to my core to hear the level of sexual violence, inequalities, and unspeakable acts that still exist today around the world. I had the rare opportunity to meet the women who are on the front lines trying to create social change so that all beings—women and men—have equal rights.
What is CSW?
CSW is the Commission on the Status of Women, an event in which thousands of activists from civil society organizations around the world come to the United Nations headquarters in New York. This is the global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
I had the honor to attend and speak at three separate panels and forums at the UN CSW 59 in March 2015. My role as a UN Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN) Delegate was as a Global Partner on behalf of the OneMama Organization representing Uganda. The three forums were
The African Cacus
WIN CEDAW Panel
Bella Abzug Reception
African Caucus
My first opportunity to share the voice of OneMama.org was at the African Caucus. The objective of this meeting was to highlight the top three issues facing each region in Africa, and add them to the United Nations Declaration.
Before attending the United Nations, I asked our coordinators in Uganda to hold a meeting with women of the OneMama Community. There, I asked that they discuss and determine a list of the most important issues for women in their village. I wanted these women to express their voices, which I could then authentically carry to the United Nations. Their response: inequality when distributing family land, wealth, children, and decision-making infringement on women’s rights. I spoke up in the East African Delegation about this specific concern from with the hopes of giving my village a voice.
Our East Africa contention started with about eight major issues that delegates had highlighted as being of concern in the region. We narrowed these eight issues down to the top three issues for the United Nations Declaration. Of those selected was the issue of women’s property rights that was put forth by none other than the OneMama Community!
The voice of OneMama Community women was selected! One of the proudest moments of my life was representing so many women who never had a voice on a global stage.
WIN CEDAW Panel
CEDAW, commonly referred to as the women’s bill of rights, is the second most ratified UN human rights convention after the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By the way, I came to find out that the United States is the only industrialized nation that has not yet signed the ratified treaty. I had the honor of speaking alongside a panel of game-changing women who are bringing true social change for woman of all ages—especially as it concerns the ratification of CEDAW.
On this particular panel, I was the last speaker on a panel of seven women, most of whom have been creating social change for over 20 years. However, the speaker right before me was an inspiring 17-year old who in her short life had already accomplished more than most will ever accomplish. The stories she shared triggered an unexpected emotional response. As I reached the podium for my speech, tears ran down my face and I had a moment. I broke down and looked at her, the room in front of me, and said, “when I was her age at 17 I was homeless and was sleeping in Grand Central Station—only a short distance away from here. Most girls like me who have my past and upbringing don’t make it to a podium at the UN… I am truly blessed by this miracle to stand before you.”
I wiped away the tears and then made a joke that, “this is not what I am here to tell you. So let me tell you about the work we do here at the OneMama Organization, the creative ways we are empowering our communities, and funding our projects.” I discussed all the social entrepreneurial programs in both the non-profit sector as well as the for-profit sectors. I also discussed how as women, we need to bring our authentic voices forth to participate in the discussions that sculpt our futures.
When you only focus on the overwhelming and horrific facts that are impacting woman, men, and children around the globe it can feel defeating. We must focus on our solutions and our ability to create connection as a united authentic voice for all to be treated with dignity.
Bella Abzug Reception
The third and final speaking event was at the historic Roosevelt House to honor the late Bella Abzug and her contribution to women’s rights. I came to this event not knowing as much as I probably should have about the amazing Bella Abzug. This woman, who passed many years ago, was the fire of the movement that entitles so many of us in the US and around the world the rights that we appreciate each and everyday. She did it with a fire, flare, and a very loud voice in a time when women still did not have much experience with using their voice.
It was powerful to be in a room filled with the most influential voices on the path for equality. Hearing perspectives from women leaders over the last 20-years, and the behind-the-scenes stories of how far we’ve come, lit a fire inside of me.
OneMama was one of the partners for this event, and I was asked to say a few words in Bella’s honor. Of course in normal fashion, tears came to my eyes as I reflected on how lucky I am to have people like Bella who pave a path for woman like me to do the work we do with our own unique voice.
To say I stood out at the UN is a bit of an understatement. Apparently, I have a unique way of doing this kind of work that is not like the majority of these policy circles. It made me question if I could really hold my own in this arena. However, after seeing the work that Bella accomplished and those like her, I know I can do it. Bella was eccentric like me and gave me hope that people like me could not merely operate in these policy circles… but rock it!
I may make people uncomfortable with my unconventional authentic ways of creating social change… but because of her I know I’m not alone. This evening infused me with a the intention that I will take my unique, authentic voice and stand up for as many disempowered communities as I possibly can!
Lasting Impacts
My overall experience, speaking on these three forums, as well as participating in the Untied Nations events, left me in awe. We have accomplished so much as women in the last fifty years, and yet we still have so far to go. I realize I need to step up and do even more to ensure the stories told at future United Nations events are more impactful—with solutions we discussed being put into action. I need us to fight for all people on this planet to feel like they are loved and they matter—that’s why I’m here–and that’s what I’m here to make happen.
Lets all make this happen together give each person we connect with a voice and empowerment to do what they are here to do.
Siobhan Neilland - Founder of OneMama
Links:
We are growing and expanding in ways that truly are miraculous! We really are all ONE Mama to each other and this is our living example.
Take a look at our NEW Pictures showing our progress. We are no longer working out of mud hut conditions! We now have separated clinic buildings from staff and family buildings, improving overall community sanitation.
NEW clinic buildings and clinic rooms with a NEW paint job.
New Community Center area in use until our more robust Community Center buildings are constructed in next few years
New Clinic Status
New OneMama Signs
New Paint Job for all OneMama buildings
Electricity -
Ebola Prevention Program is in place:
We mostly fund the OneMama.org programs from our economic sustainability programs on our website donor page at onemama.org. The OneMama Collection that many of you purchase all year round and your monthly donations are what pay for our medical supplies, medical staff, and even many of our building upgrades on the ground in Uganda. We make very little go a long way, and I could not be prouder of the community, directors, and all those who have stepped up and started to take action to BE the change in the world.
We want to THANK each and every one of you in the OneMama World Community for helping us grow and evolve thru each of these stages of growth. We look forward to all that we can accompish together in the years to come not only for this clinic but the future 250 clinics that we will build together.
Sending each of you the gift of Light and LOVE in your lives and hearts.
Siobhan Neilland – Founder of OneMama.org
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