Downing Tweet

Posted by Ben in Inspiration, News

I was lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural #DowningTweet party, through my work with Twestival (thanks for the invite, @amanda!), which took place at 10 Downing Street.

We were there to support the www.millionmums.org campaign, which aims to stop women from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications around the world.  As @SarahBrown10, Global Patron of the White Ribbon Alliance (the organisation behind the Million Mums campaign), writes in The Huffington Post, a woman dies every minute of every day from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications around the world, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. Over 80% of these deaths are easily preventable – women are dying needlessly, not for lack of a cure, but because they can’t get healthcare.

Those who sign up to the campaign and donate £1 or more will be sent a special Million Mums white ribbon pin. You can check out the website at www.millionmums.org and follow them on Twitter at @WRAGLOBAL

As with the various tweetups that happen on a regular basis now (Twestival, nfpTweetup, etc), the event had a great mix of people from different backgrounds. Below are a few photos so you can see what took place:

It was also great to meet the team behind @WRAGlobal, who tweet out the maternal mortality campaign messages to reach grassroots members in 143 countries. #DowningTweet was the latest idea to raise awareness about all these needless deaths, and how simple it is to stop them.

I also got to meet Damien, the guy behind @HelpSaveBees, a campaign that aims to help raise general awareness about the plight of our native British Bees, particularly our Bumblebees, and how much it would affect us all if they continue to become extinct at their present rate.

All in all a fantastic evening and I’ll be wearing my white ribbon in aid of Million Mums with pride – make sure you get yours and sign up to the campaign too!