Here is a little quiz for you. Do you know what the following countries have in common: New Guinea, Suriname, a few South Pacific island nations and the US?
Bravo if you guessed that these are the countries that do not have a national paid parental leave law (out of 193 countries in the United Nations). What is up with that?
Of all the damning statistics that show the consequence of not having institutionalized and systemic support for our carers (mainly women), the one that stands out the most to me is that between January and December 2020, more than 2.1 million women (!) left the labor force, including 605,000 Black women and 382,000 Latinas.
Recently, I was honored to be on a panel with Tina Tchen of Time’s Up to discuss the child and eldercare crisis that we face in this country. (You can watch the panel discussion here.) I was really excited to be part of the discussion because I am one of the many women across the country who are affected by this problem. And, this is not an either/or issue: many women who take care of their children are at a point in their life, where they also have elderly parents they need to care for. The sandwich generation. No wonder 2.1 million women left the labor force last year.
I have a heightened care issue because I have a son who needs constant medical and functional care around the clock, while having two other young children to care for. When the pandemic hit and schools closed, my son was not able to access any virtual education provided by his public school because of his deaf-blindness. So, I became my son’s primary teacher and therapist and began building a team of educators who could help him (while fighting with school and insurance company to get them to pay for these essential services).
My way of coping with the overwhelming responsibilities of running this home-grown learning program for my son was to organize and systemize them as efficiently as possible. In doing so, I realized that so many other children participate in learning activities outside the school structure, whether it’s need (therapies and tutoring) or interest driven (music, sports, STEM), and yet there is no tool to manage, collaborate and communicate between parents and educators during this process.
So, I started a business called Lernadu. (Yes, when things get crazy, start a second business!) It’s a business born out of my need to better manage my son’s education and ensure accountability between his therapists/teachers and me. The ultimate goal is to make sure my son progresses in his learning through effective collaboration and communication with his educators. This way, I minimize the time I spend on trying to figure out what my son is supposed to learn and how he is progressing, so that I have time to be a good mom to my two other children. Through Lernadu, my hope is that I help other parents through this daunting process of helping their children with special needs access the education they need, without being at the mercy of what the school can or can’t provide them.
My hope is that Lernadu addresses a serious equity issue that goes beyond providing internet access, laptops or educational technology that is focused on scaling learning for the masses. Lernadu is designed to empower parents and educators who work with children needing personalized learning that cannot be accessed through school and set them up for success.
Another name I call my business is Project Lemonade because I feel that the theme for the last year has been all about making the best damn lemonade out of the lemons that life has gifted me.
For my virtual dream box this week:
🌶️ Shito. We have a lovely Ghanaian woman, who helps take care of my son during the week and she introduced us to this delicious condiment. It’s a wild party of hot peppers, ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes (and dried fish) that you can put on eggs, rice, fish and even pizza. My usual, WFH lunch menu involves rice, a couple of fried eggs with generous spoonfuls of Shito on top.
🏃♀️ The Source. This is a short documentary about a woman named Courtney Dauwalter, who is a record-breaking ultramarathon runner. Just to give you an idea of how bad-ass she is, when she won a 240 mile (!) race in Moab a couple of years ago in 2 days, 9 hours, and 59 minutes, she beat the second-place finisher (a man) by more than 10 hours. I’m super inspired by her and also find it so endearing that she runs in these baggy basketball shorts. Who needs fancy spandex when you’re running for more than 50 hours straight?
🪄 Egyptian Magic Cream. Thank you to those of you who complimented me on my skin on a recent Zoom call. Part of the credit goes to Zoom’s built-in, touch up tool but most of the credit should go to this multipurpose cream that I use on my face every night (and on my 2-year old son after bath). One caveat is that I look like I face planted into a bucket of Vaseline, but it’s totally worth it because it does wonders for my skin.
📚 Crying in H Mart. For those of you who don’t know what H Mart is, please call me so I can tell you all about one of my favorite, happy places. This is where I get everything from fresh produce and seafood to instant noodles, and even a cheap haircut next door. But I digress. This is actually a book written by a well-known musician about her mom’s death, family, grief…and of course, food. I have not read it yet, but it’s on top of my list.
What HMart do you go to? Wondering if I can try the Egyptian cream on my combination skin. I guess one of the benefits if not going anywhere is no one is going to see!