One of the things I have to write about the Pampers Mommy Blogger Event was meeting the CEO of Unicef Caryl Stern.  Pampers and Unicef have teamed together to rid the world of tetanus. When we got to talk with her, there was not a dry eye in the room.  Let me show you why:

First, to get a better understanding, you need to watch this video.  I need to warn you though, it will break your heart.  I watched it again today, and it still brings tears to my eyes:

This is not some marketing piece that Pampers did. This is an inhouse video that we begged them to let us show the world. I’ll admit, before this, I didn’t see the big deal. We all get vaccinated, so you don’t even think about tetanus. However, after watching these poor babies, how can your heart not go out to them? Let me give you some basic facts and statistics:

*Tetanus spores are found in soil, animal excretion, and can be airborne
*It acts through a production of a a toxin that effects your nervous system
*This disease rages through newborns within days of their exposure to the bacteria
*140,000 newborns and 30,000 moms die from this
*The fatality rate is 70%-100%
*Symptoms include muscle rigidity, painful muscle spasms, inability to eat, and seizures triggered by light or touch

If you didn’t watch the video, let me explain how these babies and moms are getting this. In Africa, there is no way to sanitize your hands before you deliver a baby. They use sharpened sugar cane to cut the umbilical cord, and they pack your wounds with dirt. Do you see a problem here since tetanus lives in the very dirt that they are using to stop bleeding?

Here is the crazy part of all of this; it costs 5 cents per vaccine. Yes, I repeat 5 cents.

I know my next question was “What can we do about this?”  There are so many things you can do to help get rid of this terrible disease.

1.  Buy specially marked Pampers with the sticker up above.  You are buying diapers anyway, now you are helping a child. By the end of the year, they will have more Pampers products with the sticker.  Make sure you watch for that.

2.  Clean out your change.  If you can get one vaccine for a nickel, can you imagine how many vaccines you could provide with the change in your house.

3.  Donate.  You will notice in my sidebar that I have this widget:




If you donate, make sure you use this. Then your donation will be earmarked for this vaccination program.
4. Blog about this. If you want to include this widget on your blog, let me know in a comment or by email. I will send you the code. We seriously need to raise awareness on this. The more of us who carry this on our blogs, the more people who know, the more people who donate, and the more children who are saved.
5. Talk to people you know about it. Again, get the word out. I have told everyone I know about this since I have gotten home.
6. Give with your kids. In my house, we are going to take the loose change we have and make a donation in my kids names. They are never too young to teach them about charity, and what better of a cause than one that helps children.

Pampers has sponsored 45 million vaccines already since they started this campaign. They also gave 1,000 vaccinations in my name, and gave 1,000 vaccinations for each blogger that was there (there was 15 in total).  In a rough economy, I know it is hard to give, but truly, a little can go a long way.

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We have remodeled one bathroom and completed designed the one downstairs. When we did so, we were in the market for a bathroom sink vanity. There are so many choices out there from contemporary bathroom vanities to double vanities. In the upstairs, we went with a a single sink vanity with a custom made granite sink. It looks awesome.  Bill is actually the one who picked it out — I would have been okay with a cheap sink.  However, I know when we go to resell our home, that will definitely be a piece that is noticed.  When people come to my house, they often mention how nice our sink and vanity are.  Downstairs, since it is such a small bathroom, we went with a very simple contemporary vanity that is very kid friendly.  However, I just came across a site called Bathroom Vanities that we should have taken a look at during these remodel projects.  They offer free shipping and are pretty competitive on their pricing.

They have some really cool vanities to pick from like this one:

Granted, with two little ones, that would not work for me, but it is cool looking.  Do not like that?  Then they 150 different kinds of bathroom vanities and linen cabinets.  Something that is a tad more kid friendly would be something like this:

Still very classy yet somewhat contemporary.  Wouldn’t you like something like this in your house?  I know I do (however,  my bathroom is way too small for this).  However, this would fit, I think:

Small, yet very pretty.  It will still a talking point too for your house!  The next time we are in the market for a sink vanity, I know one place we will defintely be checking out:  Bathroom Vanities.  How about you?  Which ones do you like?

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.