Inspire your children about the world around them and change the lives of children in the slums of Kampala... by growing sunflowers!

This April Awamu, an N16 based social enterprise set up by Hackney born Emma Scullion, have launched an International Sunflower Growing Challenge. Awamu (meaning 'together' in L'uganda) works with women in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, to ensure that orphaned and vulnerable children in their communities are cared for and can go to school.

Lack of food means that many of the children they work with go to school hungry, but you can you help them breakdown the barriers that stand in the way children getting the education that is vital to their future by growing sunflowers.

Inspire your children about the world around them

Awamu have created a free Sunflower activity pack that you can download and share with your children to support their learning and inspire them about the world around them. This is a global sunflower challenge with families and children of all ages, from all around the world joining in including the children you'll be helping in Kampala. You take part by claiming your awamu sunflower seeds when you make a contribution to their ‘Vegetable garden project’.

All the money they raise will buy soil, seeds, tools and training so the women Awamu work with can build gardens and learn how to grow healthy, nutritious food for the children in their care.

But hold on a minute (I hear you say), I thought awamu was about education for children... why are vegetable gardens so vital? 

The simple fact is, hungry children can't learn. Sadly, many of the families Awamu work with live on less than 50p a day, most of the children are lucky if they get one meal a day. Typically that meal will be a bowl of maize porridge, which contains little nutritional value.

Lack of food means most of the children they work with go to school hungry, so they're trying to break down the barriers that stand in the way of children getting an education.

As the kids live in an urban slum area there is little very little space available for growing food, no good topsoil and a lot of contamination from open drains. They've already piloted the first phase of gardening project in November 2014. They built 60 raised-bed vegetable gardens with mum's like Grace and it's having a huge impact on their health, education and income.

They were so impressed at the impact the gardens have had that we want to roll them out to other families in desperate need and also create a few extra gardens that we can use to help children like Jamila and Butambala (pictured below) in emergency situations.

Emma took this photo when she went to visit them at their home after hearing that their father had been hospitalised again and they were living alone. Their father has HIV and spends long periods of time in hospital, and with no other relatives to help, the children are left to fend for themselves.

The women Awamu work with are their only safety net in the community, they visit the children regularly to make sure they are well, are going to school - extra gardens would mean that we had food to help children like Jamila and her brother.

By taking part you're helping to ensure they don't go to school hungry which means they can concentrate in class... so sunflowers really change children’s lives! So get your green fingers into action, claim your sunflower seeds to start growing now.

The rules

Once you have your seeds planted please keep Awamu updated on the progress of your flowers by posting your photos and updates on their facebook page or using the hash tag #awamugrowoff on instagram and twitter – they'll reweet and share your progress with everyone else taking part.

The final measuring day will be September 11th. Two winners will be announced: tallest sunflower and widest face sunflower. Please send a final full-length photo clearly showing the height or width of the sunflower against a measuring tape. The winner will be announced on September 25th!

Good Luck.

To visit Awamu's website click HERE

Awamu is a registered cic no. 7818944.

This is why Microscooters are marvellous!

It's no secret that having young children requires quite sizeable apparatus. I don't mean the actual birthing process thankfully, unless you count a hospital, I mean those specialist and , sometimes cumbersome, items such as cots, high chairs, buggies and car seats. The option to travel light with a baby or a toddler is a rare commodity. In the last 4.5 years I have rarely left the house without at least one of these aforementioned items. Of course this isn't a complaint, I have relished every adventure but I cannot deny that sometimes living in London with no step free access train station nearby, can feel a little claustrophobic. 

This didn't quite prepare me for the feeling of sheer freedom that would come from my children becoming scooter owners. Am I naive to realise that a Microscooter isn't just a toy to accompany you to the park along with all the other apparatus but a new, lighter mode of transport for your children?. 

It was with some anxiety that I allowed my eldest son to scoot along ahead of me on the pavement for the first time and it was not without some rather militant road safety 'training' in the back garden first. However, as a result he has developed beautifully honed road safety skills which he takes great pride in demonstrating at every pelican crossing. My youngest who still requires a little extra towing on my part, hoots with delight and of course I can never pull him fast enough. 

I could witter on about what a novel invention they are but actually, forget their brilliant range of colours and models, for us the Microscooter is the tin opener to our previously sealed can of London. Not having to weigh up the possibilities of either having to lug a buggy down flights of stairs versus the inevitable ending up carrying your tired child because you've left the buggy has, in every sense, been a weight off. As a dedicated country bumpkin I rarely relish the thought of a summer in the city, but now I have two independently mobile children, I think I can safely say we cannot wait. 

To redeem your exclusive MicroScooter Discount code click HERE.

Mumsnet Hackney & Waltham Forest received a complimentary Microscooter to conduct this review. 

A Thoroughly Modern Tale of Two Parentpreneurs

Nicola and Louise, the co-founders of Thoroughly Modern Baby

This week we are catching up with the founders of Thoroughly Modern Baby, an online baby boutique, to tell us how two lifelong friends became business partners. 

Louise lives in Hackney with her husband and daughter, Skye Daisy and Nicola lives in their home town of Perth and has a grown-up son, Cain, who is now studying Art in Glasgow. 

How does this make for an online baby business you might ask?

Well, it started with an obsessional love for Cuddledry's Apron towel. Lou has purchased dozens of these as newborn gifts and as Skye started to grow, she found herself looking for more of these innovative products that were popping up to help modern mums and babies - from the genius ideas to the super-practical everyday items, the just-for-fun to the down right beautiful. Lou soon realised that although there was plenty of fantastic ‘stuff’, she couldn't find anywhere that you could buy all of these wonderful products together. One basket, one click, one easy lunch hour transaction... or 10 minutes on the sofa with a cuppa.

So she started researching and pulled in the help of one of her oldest pals who, as luck would have it, just so happens to be a digital-marketing professional… Enter Nic to the mix!  The pair started planning and within one lunch date they had a name, after a couple of dozen emails to T’Go Creative Design they had a brand and following hundreds of hours of chat between themselves and Anna at Atholl Road Design, they were ecstatic with the launch of their prototype website.

All of this happened in time for their first trip to Harrogate in March 2014.“We were so wet behind the ears. We had this idea that suppliers would pay an admin fee to be part of our fabulous site. That lasted about ten minutes! We were changing strategy as we walked – it was hilarious. Thankfully, Nic and I are both used to working in industries that change constantly and neither of us shy away from making quick decisions so we just rolled with it!

We were focused on what we were looking to sell though and we didn’t really deviate from this. We had a vision of a beautiful website filled with innovative products that would make parents’ lives easier and baby's life happier.  So it had to be clever or beautiful or both!”. The weeks that followed were immense; Nic headed to Hackney for a full-on week of copywriting, photo resizing and website uploading.

“We barely touched the sides of what needed done. It was so labour intensive. Nic went back home to Scotland and we worked until midnight every night for about a month. I include Anna the web developer in that statement - she was amazing”

 

Louise with baby daughter Skye Daisy.

The site launched on 1^st June 2014, with Nicki sitting watching patiently from Scotland and Lou trying to connect to the internet from her family holiday in France. They clocked up 1000 unique visitors in week one and they’ve never looked back.

“We’re both really pleased with everything we have on the site now; not just the products. We wanted to create an interesting platform for parents whether they’re buying products or not; it’s one of the reasons we decided to invest so much effort in our blogging section. 

We’ve been thrilled at the experts who’ve agreed to chat for us – Jo Swinson MP has talked about Shared Parental Leave; Andrea Grace, the sleep expert, provided her top sleep tips for babies.  We also invited our friend, Mrs M, to document her pregnancy - a beautiful read!

When we realised how much parents enjoyed the ‘real life’ stories from Lou, her husband Iain and our friends Muireann and Louisa, we launched ‘Parent Reviews’ and that’s been another huge hit. We’re just so delighted that everyone seems to love the site as much as we do!”

They have just completed their second Harrogate Nursery Fair; with almost a year under their belts they know what works and what doesn’t. It was two confident and knowledgeable women that strode into Hall H this year. “We were on fire! We had a list of items we knew we wanted, an idea of gaps in our range and a real commitment to the quality and integrity of the brand we’ve been building.  You need to be so sure with online because people can’t see or touch before they buy; so when it hits their doorstep, they need to open the box and be WOWed".

We know our customers trust us to have checked every product for quality and feel-good factor - it’s important we get it right. Thankfully we’re both super-fussy” The increase in web traffic, social engagement, sales and blog readers isn’t the only thing to have put a smile on the faces of these old friends this year. Lou and her husband Iain are expecting their second baby at the start of June meaning ‘Dad-D and Skye’s Adventures’ are about to include a brand new little character.

“People wonder how we do all this, hundreds of miles apart and with families and other jobs to worry about. But the truth is, regardless of where you live, what you do and how your family works, if you believe in something you’ll find a way to do it. The feedback we’ve had on Thoroughly Modern Baby and our product range is wonderful.  Sometimes when you’re a bit knackered and uploading pics or sorting the VAT return, an email will ping in with a photograph of a lovely baby using our products it makes it all worthwhile.  We both love our website and can’t wait to see what year two is going to bring.”

To receive your Thoroughly Modern Baby discount please click HERE

To browse through the gorgeous range click HERE

Bing Bunny comes to Soho!

In advance of the imminent DVD release, MN Hackney & Waltham Forest (and family) was very lucky indeed to be invited to attend the screening of easily our sons' favourite CBeebies show ‘Bing'. For those of you who aren't familiar, this is a delightfully gentle TV series following the adventures of a little black rabbit called Bing and his carer Flop (voiced by Mark Rylance) celebrating the noisy, joyful messy reality of being a pre-schooler. Based on the book series by Ted Dewan this groundbreaking series is not just aimed at young children but also, quite refreshingly, the grown-ups in their lives. 

Usually any invite to an event that involves viewing anything for longer than 20 minutes just reminds us that actually regardless of time, we will be leaving after 20 minutes as our little ones' concentration span will have already long departed. So it was with slightly anxious anticipation we sat down in the private cinema of the Soho Hotel to watch a marathon 10 episodes of Bing's escapades.

However, it was with some relief that consistently after each program, youngest shouted his usual one word response of ‘Again’ and each new episode was accompanied with squeals of delight. The highlight was easily the episode starring 'Brenda the blender' which we hadn't seen before and we have been merrily making banana smoothies ever since (we are yet to successfully include a carrot though).

Needless to say we already have Bing full ensconced as a TV staple in our home however, if you would like to join us then pre-order your DVD HERE. 

Hackney children partake in thousands of extra hours of activity thanks to Play Streets.

A pioneering Hackney project to get children playing outside in the streets and estates where they live has reached more than 1,600 youngsters and led to thousands of hours of activity, an independent report by a children's play expert shows.

Parents volunteering to run the scheme, called Play Streets, said it is helping create a greater sense of community and making streets feel friendlier and safer, the report by writer and researcher Tim Gill says.

He presented the key findings at a formal reception held in Hackney on the 27th February, involving some of the residents who volunteer as organisers, councillors and partner organisations.

The report shows that in the 12-month period until September 2014, the project has:

• Led to 380 hours of street play sessions in 29 locations that have reached around 1,600 children and nearly 800 families.
• Supported 8,100 hours of children's physical activity – equivalent to 14 extra term-time classes of PE lessons.
• Caused drivers minimal disruption, with an average of nine cars affected per session.
• Recruited and supported parents to run Play Streets across most parts of Hackney, including areas of disadvantage.
• Assisted three schools and a children's centre to run termly Play Streets at the end of the school day.
• Supported parents in three estates to run play sessions.
• Revealed a strong consensus among organisers about the perceived benefits for children, families and communities – especially in terms of improving social interaction among neighbours, and giving children more freedom and choice in how they play.

  

  A group of local Councillors and play street organisers

Tim Gill said: "This report shows that Play Streets are not just a popular, effective way to get many more children playing outdoors and being active. They also have the potential to transform the way people feel about their neighbourhoods. I suspect that councils across the country will be looking to follow Hackney's lead in promoting the idea."

Cllr Feryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: "Growing up in the city can be tough for children which is why we have made it as easy as possible for parents, schools and estates to close residential roads near them in order to get youngsters outdoors and running around.

"Play Streets has been a resounding success, helping to get more children physically active, creating tighter-knit communities and making our neighbourhoods more liveable. I would like to thank all those who have been involved and look forward to seeing more Play Streets around Hackney."

The full report also indicates residents are broadly accepting of the scheme.

Hackney Council's Health and Wellbeing Board commissioned Hackney Play Association, a local charity, to deliver the Play Streets project.

The charity provided training, mentoring and practical support for residents and schools wanting to start a Play Street. As of February 2015, there are 32 Play Streets in Hackney.

During the sessions, children ride bikes and scooters, bring out and share their own toys and take part in games of yesteryear like hopscotch, chalking and skipping.

Zoe Eisenstein, a resident organiser in Clapton, said: "The scheme has strengthened the sense of community, and has been a stepping stone for other community groups, including a park user group. It is an amazing initiative with the potential to work magic."

If you would like look into turning your road into a play street one afternoon just click HERE.

Love The Great British Sewing Bee? Meet the show’s sewing Guru here on our doorstep in Hackney

As a busy Mum of 4, I was thrilled watching the kid’s week episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. I love every aspect of the sewing process from planning, cutting out and sewing together. Sewing is my guilty pleasure as it’s time out just for me. It makes me truly happy. One thing I’ve realized being a mum for 14 years, is that my kids are happier when I’m happy!

Never Heard of the Sewing Bee? Let me fill you in. Made by the same production company as “Bake off”, it’s a competition celebrating the talents of amateur sewers. As parents we’ve all had that dreaded moment when we need to rustle up an emergency costume overnight, and in last week’s Sewing Bee, 9 frantic sewers pulled together a veritable zoo of amazing fancy dress outfits in just 4 hours.

Lucky me then, that my friend Claire-Louise Hardie is the Sewing Producer for the show, so I get insider scoops and tips. Only joking she is really tight lipped about revealing anything! Claire-Louise is also The Thrifty Stitcher, and her teaching studio in Stoke Newington is remarkably like the sewing room on the Bee. She has also written the official tie in book for series 3, and was so busy last year she invited me to join the company too.

The ethos of The Thrifty Stitcher has always been to encourage aspiring dressmakers whilst keeping class numbers small. We provide all students with a warm friendly welcome, and our sewing room playlists seem to have inspired the music on the Bee too. Focusing mostly on entry level or beginner sewers, The Thrifty Stitcher offers a range of classes and packages. We run a freestyle Dressmaking Club for those who like to go off  piste, along with skills based workshops for improving sewers. We even offer 121 personal tuition during the week. We’ll shortly be launching a new Children’s clothes making course on a weekday morning, so watch this space.

Claire –Louise, who is the creative heart of The Thrifty Stitcher, trained originally in Costume Design at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She’s been blessed with a varied career that’s taken her around the globe. Sewing however, has always been at the centre of her career, and in 2009 she began teaching sewing after discovering that it was no longer on school syllabuses. She believes her job on The Sewing Bee is tailor made for her unique set of skills and experiences.

Do you have a machine gathering dust in a cupboard? Why not let us help you liberate that machine? You never know where it will lead. Could you become one of the next batch of contestants on the Bee?

Happy Stitching!  

Tash Matthews and Claire-Louise Hardie- The Thrifty Stitchers

http://thethriftystitcher.co.uk

This blog post is an advertorial as Mumsnet Hackney is currently proudly featuring paid for advertising by The Thrifty Stitchers.