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Kitchen Chat interview with Marc Klaas

On Friday, February 19th, at 11:00 am CST, Margaret McSweeney will interview Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas who was kidnapped and murdered in 1993.  As a legacy to his daughter, Marc founded KlaasKids Foundation to help stop crimes against children. Please tune in to Kitchen Chat with Margaret McSweeney.

Margaret is a dear friend of mine.  The profits from her books go to provide clean water in Uganda and help battered women in the US.

February 2010 | Blog Comments
Categories: Women

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Searching for "She-roes" in Nicaragua

Our trip to Nicaragua, through Darcy's eyes:

Yesterday was life-changing. I could write a book about this one part of my visit to Nicaragua, so describing it in a few paragraphs is going to be a challenge. I'll start at the beginning. The main reason for our visit to Nicaragua: to interview a woman for the book my mom and I are writing together. The book, "How Strong Women Lead," which will come out in 2011, will feature women of all backgrounds - famous, unheard of, and everything in-between- who are leaders of their community or even the known world! We have already interviewed the President of Liberia and are setting up interviews with the Chairman of Deloitte and the CEO of Eileen Fisher Clothing (namely, Eileen Fisher).

The woman we wanted to interview in Nicaragua is Noemi Vivas Ocana who promised to be a shining example of how women lead everywhere, at all levels.  She had received a micro-finance loan through Opportunity International when her life was on the edge and now she worked full time empowering other women to improve their lives.  Opportunity International had graciously agreed to introduce us and help us meet and interview her co-workers and family to get the full story.

We took a taxi from Granada (where we were staying) to Managua where we met up with the rest of gang before heading down to Masachapa. The cast of characters:

Veronique - our professional photographer, with beautiful, curly black hair as thick as her French accent.

Raquel - our Spanish translator. We would have been completely lost not only without her translations, but her warmth and wisdom, as well. Ruth - an Opportunity International employee from Chicago who took far more notes as we went along than even I did.

Although most of us were complete strangers to one another at the start, by the end of the day we were closer than some become in a lifetime.

December 2009 | Blog Comments
Categories: Women

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One Leg, Two Babies!

Dear Bonnie,
My name is Amy. I'm an above knee amputee and will be adopting twins in January.  My husband and I are thinking through how to carry babies on crutches, how to manage late night feedings without my limb, etc.  We wondered if you devised any "systems" for caring for her daughter that might help me.

Dear New Mom,
What a blessing!  Not sure what to say.
I guess two legged people should get up in the middle of the night for feedings?!!? (that means you , Dad!)
He can bring you the babies and bottles though, and you can share the duty.
It is pretty common to keep babies in a portable bassinet right next to the bed (they like to be in something smaller than a crib when newborn).  I assume you aren't breast feeding...so the only problem is going to the kitchen for bottles.  Maybe you can buy a mini fridge to keep in your bedroom with pre-made formula?  Keeping the babies and the formula in your room until they can sleep through the night is not too bad.  It is only a few months.
Re: crutches, I don't know.  I wore my leg most of the time. I used a sling where you keep the baby near you, don't know if crutches would work with that.  Backpacks come later when they can hold their heads up.
Let me know how things go!
My daughter loves having an amputee for a mom.  She is very kind and accepting of all people with differences!
Blessings on your journey.
Bonnie

May 2008 | Blog Comments
Categories: Women

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Healthy Female Friendships = Healthy Lifestyle

We filmed several segments for our web TV show today.  I learned so many things.  Here’s a good one:  Having healthy female friendships has been shown in a Harvard Medical School study to have dramatic, positive impacts on your health.  It is equivalent to stopping smoking, getting more exercise, or losing weight! (But more fun, eh?)  Of course the trick is that they have to be healthy friendships, not energy-sucking, cat-fighting, toxic relationships!  Joy Carol, psychologist, spiritual director and author of  The Fabric of Friendship, shared with us tips to help us maintain good friendships and insights into what typically goes wrong.  Great stuff—look in the video gallery, articles and radio archives to find more life-giving information from Joy Carol!

October 2007 | Blog Comments
Categories: Women

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