Logging Miles

“Do You Think They’re Ok?”- Kids Recover from Superstorm Sandy

By Carolyn | Published November 5, 2012

The shelter in the Atlantic City Convention Center shelter is a huge sprawling hall with a constant wave of people arriving and leaving in a regular ebb and flow each day. Some families have just arrived from other shelters, some go back to devastated houses, and some come back to stay for what might be weeks.

Many of those who come to shelters in New Jersey—like this one run by the Red Cross—are families who can least afford to lose a week’s wages, a refrigerator of food, or a room full of furniture, much less a house or apartment. They are working class or poor families, usually with kids. As is the case here in Atlantic City, kids make up at least 25% of the population in shelters in affected areas. continue reading »

Our Response to Stephen Colbert’s Offer to Donald Trump

By Carolyn | Published October 25, 2012

Hi All,

Much to our surprise, Save the Children made fake headline news yesterday when we were mentioned on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” In case you missed it, check out the video here.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Posted in General | 3 Comments

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action

By Carolyn | Published October 5, 2012

I spent last week at the Clinton Global Initiative and the UN General Assembly meetings in New York. There was much talking about issues of international development, about the rights of children to an education, about stopping children dying from preventable things like pneumonia, about making sure that the world is free from hunger. But in the midst of all this talking, I noticed that there was simply not enough of one thing—not enough shouting. We need louder voices to make changes on what really needs to be done for poor children and families around the world. Simply put, we need more people to care and speak out. Loudly. continue reading »

Posted in Advocacy, Panels and Speaking Engagements | Tagged CGI, children, clinton global initiative, foreign assistance, Health, Malnutrition, poverty, save the children, UNGA | Comments Off

Ultimate Growth Stock

By Carolyn | Published October 3, 2012

Together with a group of experts, I spoke at last week’s Clinton Global Initiative on something I have become more and more convinced of the longer I do this work with Save the Children. The best investments we can make for children are those that are made early. The overwhelming evidence shows that if you want to spend money wisely on development, invest in early education and healthcare. The return on those investments will far surpass those you make later in children’s lives. continue reading »

Posted in Panels and Speaking Engagements | Tagged clinton global initiative, Lancet, Mozambique, Nepal, World Bank | Comments Off

How Can We Build Hope for America’s Kids?

By Carolyn | Published September 25, 2012

Traveling in rural Arkansas, you can sometimes forget where you are. The long stretch of bumpy highway, surrounded by cotton fields and rice paddies, could be in one of a dozen countries I’ve traveled to recently. And, unfortunately, the poor families I met could have been from any of those countries too—rather than living in the richest country on earth. The kind of poverty you find these days in America is shocking, and it makes me wonder what’s happened to cause so many families to be left behind.

Posted in Education, On the Road, United States | Tagged Arkansas, education, Head Start, poverty, save the children, school, United States | Comments Off

Harnessing the power of Technology and New Media to Save Children’s Lives

By Carolyn | Published September 23, 2012

An open response to The Global Conversation Question posed by Mashable and the UN Foundation at the Social Good Summit 2012: How can new technology and new media create solutions for the biggest problems facing my community?

New York, NY — If you had asked me even a few years back if the heartbeats of children in Malawi and Guatemala—recorded with a special stethoscope—would inspire a song with the potential to help save millions of lives, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s exactly what happened, and now those very heartbeats are powering our new Every Beat Matters campaign as part of our Every One global movement to save children’s lives.

Posted in General | 1 Comment

How to ‘Beat’ Child Mortality

By Carolyn | Published September 14, 2012

The following blog first appeared on The Huffington Post.

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Can the sound of a child’s heartbeat inspire the world to save children’s lives? Can it inspire you? Children’s heartbeats recorded in Malawi and Guatemala inspired the band OneRepublic to write a song with a beat like no other. If “Feel Again” grabs you enough to download it, you can help save children’s lives.

The song provides the soundtrack to Save the Children’s new Every Beat Matters campaign. The aim is to raise awareness about the millions of children around the world who die needlessly before their 5^thbirthday, and what can be done to save them. The timing is right for this campaign launch, and not just because it’s Infant Mortality Awareness month. Yesterday, the United Nations released their latest child mortality estimates, which show — for the first time — that child deaths have fallen below 7 million per year. While this figure is still far too high, it reflects the tremendous progress the world has made in reducing preventable child deaths. We can and must now finish the job. continue reading »

Posted in Health | Tagged children, Every Beat Matters, Health, Infant Mortality, newborn child survival, OneRepublic, save the children, UNICEF | Comments Off

Moussa’s story

By Carolyn | Published August 28, 2012

When they brought Moussa over and laid him in my arms, my heart stopped for a minute. He was barely breathing and was so frail, I was afraid he might die as I held him. Though he was more than two months old, his arms and legs were tiny and frail and his breathing was labored. Here in a small village outside Diema in the West African nation of Mali, I saw what the face of hunger in the latest food crisis in Africa really looks like. It is the face of Moussa.

Moussa’s mother, just 18, brought him over to us when she saw the Save the Children car drive up. He had been identified that day by a health worker trained by Save the Children and now we needed to get him to the town for help. Moussa and his mom were bundled into the car and they sped away to the center in Diema, about 10 kilometers away, where Save the Children-trained staff were there to help him and food and medicine was available from other partners like UNICEF. continue reading »

Posted in Emergency Response, Foreign Travel, On the Road, Photos & Videos | Tagged Burkina Faso, children, disaster preparedness, Emergency response, Fastathon, Fastathon 2012, Food Crisis, foreign assistance, hunger crisis, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sahel, save the children, UNICEF | Comments Off

Getting Ready for BlogHer ‘12

By Carolyn | Published August 2, 2012

I am incredibly excited to connect with all of the amazing women at BlogHer ‘12, an annual conference that brings women in social media together. One of the most powerful ways to deliver a message in social media is through video. That’s why I want to share this video with you, which we’ll screen at BlogHer ’12. It includes shots of multiple health workers from all over the world. I met one of them, Madalitso Masa, along with her son Patience, who lives and works in a rocky and mountainous part of Malawi where she helps prepare women for a healthy pregnancy. continue reading »

Posted in Health, Panels and Speaking Engagements, Photos & Videos | Tagged blogher, blogher12, children, frontline health workers, Health, Malawi, save the children | Comments Off

Are Kids of the World Doing Better? Not When it Comes to Hunger

By Carolyn | Published July 23, 2012

This week, we released our Child Development Index and the bottom line is: kids deserve a lot better. The Index ranks the best and worst places in the world to be a child based on education, health, and nutrition statistics.

While there is some good news in terms of education and child survival rates—33% more kids are in school now than in the 1990s and almost 5 million more kids surviving to age 5 per year—there is one part of the report that is really shocking. In the 21st century, we still have children in the world without enough to eat every day—and it’s gotten worse over the last decade, not better. The number of acutely malnourished children across the globe has actually risen since 2000. The situation is particularly

Posted in Health, Nutrition | Tagged Child Development Index, children, Feed the Future, Mali, Malnutrition, Niger, Sahel, save the children, USAID | Comments Off