There they were…
I walked up to them with a big smile on my face, feeling all excited.
“I’m sorry I got lost!”
I gave Ruth a big hug. She smiled the most genuine smile and said it’s fine. Susan was next. We hugged as if we’ve met before.
From afar, it may have looked like we were a bunch of women who were just catching up.
These two ladies, who had such big smiles, were so warm and welcoming. Sophie, Susan’s little girl, was a little gem. She brightened up our whole time together.
The truth is, I had never met them before.
Well, not in person, until that late June day where I was en-route to see my fiancé, and I had a long layover in Singapore.
Indonesia to Singapore is not that far, only a short flight away, but it was the first time I got to meet Ruth Wong and Susan Koh, my fellow contributors at World Moms Blog. They warmly welcomed me to Singapore and even made their way to meet me at the airport. It was truly amazing to experience meeting them for the first time.
Without a doubt, the one thing that brought us together there that day was…World Moms Blog.
It was sometime in 2011 when I decided to email World Moms Blog and ask if they would be interested to have a new writer from Jakarta, Indonesia. Jen replied excitedly and, as they say, the rest is history. World Moms Blog was the first international website I dared to write for.
Ruth and I have been working closely together for the past couple of years to organize World Moms Blog’s behind-the-scenes secret santa for our contributors or what we call “Fairy Moms”. Working on this project helped me get to know her better and was a fun way to get to know more of the World Moms.
And connecting with Susan led to our discussions on my issue with uterine fibroids. From her, I learned about the surgery options and the recovery period.
World Moms Blog has given me so much.
Not just a platform to allow myself to be a better writer, it has brought in friends from many different parts of the world. From New Zealand (Karyn) to Canada (Kirsten) to South Africa (Simona) and India (Purnima), to name just a few! Many of us are actively in touch behind the scenes of the site, and maybe that is not very known. World Moms Blog made the world a little smaller for me and has allowed some great friendships to blossom among its global contributors.
The time in which I really needed my fellow World Moms was the period just before and during when I came out publicly about my childhood sexual abuse. My friends at World Moms Blog were there, lending me their love and support at a time when I needed the most. This amazing group of mothers has become a tremendous support system for me.
Witnessing how much World Moms Blog has grown over the years and seeing the social impact that these women have brought into the world — from covering stories about child workers in Morocco to the Chibok girls of Nigeria who were captured, I can only say how proud I am to be a part of this amazing network of women.
I need them. The world needs more of this unique love and support across geographical, cultural, religious and political divides. I am proud to write at World Moms Blog. I am proud of what we are accomplishing together.
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by contributor, Maureen Hitipeuw of Jakarta, Indonesia.
Photo credit to the author.
Maureen
Former nomad, Indonesian by birth, mom, travel junkie, healthy living enthusiast. Maureen is blogging her way on a new journey in finding joy in life, one scoop at a time at her blog: Scoops of Joy
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You give so much love, Maureen. You are an inspiration.
I am in tears. I love you all, World Moms! Thank you so much for writing this, Maureen. There is so much that happens off of the web site, that the world doesn’t always get to see. I’m so glad you wrote about it. I fell the same way!
Jen 🙂
Awwww Maureen, what a heartwarming post and made me miss you so much! Indeed, I’m so thankful for WMB that led me to know so many awesome moms around the world! Thank you Jen for starting this. And thank every world mom for the specialness you bring to this community and the world!
A warm hug to you and to all moms on WMB! Let’s make the world a happier, gentler, saner, wiser place 🙂
Great story – Jen, you should be so proud of what you started, and Maureen and all the other mums should be so proud of keeping it all going! It is amazing how sharing ones life (and thoughts) online makes you all grow closer! (I was lucky enough to meet up with Jen and her family during the summer, and even though we had only met once before, it honestly felt like having one of my closest friends over!)