This is me. This is my future.

Supporting Save the Children.

Charity meets Arts meets Competition

Oh my what a perfect “3 for 1″.. as you KNOW, I love crafts, I love art and I love everything related to it… what I love even more, is getting everyone to have a go – especially those who don’t normally like to draw or make or craft.

And today’s challenge is all about raising awareness for a fabulous charity and the amazing work they are doing. At the same time you get to teach your children a fantastic “life lesson”: how lucky they are to have been born in the “West”.

And Ikea have donated 5 colouring sets to encourage all that crafting!!! Sadly, for the UK only.. but we are brainstorming international ideas…

sign the petition

Josie over at Sleep Is For the Week is also blogging about this Meme Challenge!

Save The Children & “No Child Born to Die” Campaign

In January Save the Children launched it’s most ambitious campaign to date, No Child Born to Die. Every year 8 million children under five die from illnesses we know how to treat or prevent, such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Save The Children is focusing on the provision of vaccinations and healthcare workers. In June there is a meeting in London hosted by David Cameron and attended by other world leaders. Save The Children aims to make as much noise as possible to ensure the funding shortfall for vaccinations (4.7 billion) is met by all the donor countries.

If this funding gap is met the vaccines that could then be provided would save the lives of millions of children.

This week 3 bloggers/ vloggers are going to Mozambique to follow the journey of a vaccine from the coldstore in the city right down to a rural community. They will write, make films and tweet about their experiences, the children and families they meet and the challenges of “cold” vaccinations in hot countries.

The bloggers going are diverse, Lindsay Atkin (@Liliesarelike) is a hugely popular YouTuber, Chris Mosler (@christinemosler) is an influential parenting blogger and Tracey Cheetham (@tchee) is a popular political blogger and recently elected councilor.

The Challenge

Today’s crafty challenge is designed to support their work – to spread the word about their No Child Born to Die campaign and to highlight the funding shortfall for vaccines.

We are lucky that our children have a future. They can dream about becoming policemen, doctors, teachers or artist. The children in Mozambique dream about survival…

**Not been tagged??? Take part ANYWAY… do the below and you are away***

**Don’t want to craft, but do want to help? Go straight to point 3 & sign the petition**

So our challenge is simple:

1) Get your child to either draw or craft a self portrait of themselves now or in the future. Check out our self portrait on some tips to get the littlies interested! even a simple circle with dots and lines is sufficient for us!!!

3) Sign the Save the Children petition and then pass it onto your friends

4) Write a blog post about it as soon as possible, including info about Save the Children and the petition. We want as many people linked up AND signed up the petition by Sunday 29th May 2011

5) Tag 8 fellow blogger friends

6) Come back and link up your posts, so we can all share your craftiness

7) If you have time, visit each other posts and say hello!

I know we are not always fans of “Meme”s and Tags… but don’t forget – memes are a wonderful way to discover new and wonderful blogs. They are a wonderful way to help you build some links and to network with other bloggers… so go on, don’t knock them and take part!

And don’t forget to follow all the action in Mozambique on Twitter using the hastag #PassItOn.

To get things going, I have tagged more than 8:

1. Liz from  Me and My Shadow
2. Tracy from White Lily Green
3. Cathy from Nuturestore
4. Anna from The Imagination Tree
5. Kelly from Domestic Goddesque
6. Chrissie from Mediocre Mum (Chrissie, this is your craft coach setting you a challenge!)
7. Jen from Mum In The Madhouse
8. Michelle from Best Toddler Toys
9. Michelle from Mummy From The Heart
10. Mirka from All Baby Advice
11. Judith from Spudballoo
12. Cass at The Diary of a Frugal Family
13. Ruth from Lemonade Life

And now… Tagging my International Friends:

1. Shafeena from Shafeena.me
2. Rachel from Quirky Momma
3. Bernadette from Momsto 2 Posh Divas
4. Jamie from Hands On As We Grow
5. Candance from Naturally Educational
6. Melissa from the Chocolate Muffin Tree
7. And Habeebee Home Schooling

COME LINK UP: