This Mother's Day - Making the world a little brighter

As a mother to two girls, I’ve come to appreciate Mother’s Day from a very special position both as a mom and a daughter.  I’d always cherished the handmade gifts my girls prepared carefully under their preschool teachers’ guidance.  But witnessing their pride and excitement after finally being able to share their gifts with me on Mother’s Day was truly the most fulfilling part.

As a daughter, I have also grown to fully appreciate and recognize my mom for everything she’s given me throughout my life.  Today I’d like to share something my mom has given me for many, many years: her handmade, versatile heat packs.  My mom’s heat packs have provided me relief and comfort for all sort of aches in the twenty years I’ve been using them.  Through her ingenious creativity and hard work, we’re able to offer these heat packs to you as well. 100% of the proceeds will go towards providing solar LED lamps to an off-grid community in Myanmar (Burma).
 
A few years ago, my mom was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, which progressed to Wet Macular Degeneration this past year and impacted the loss of her central vision in one eye.  Yet, with her strong perseverance, she still made these heat packs by hand.  At times it was frustrating as she had trouble simply threading the needle, but we took these challenges as an opportunity for my daughter to help her grandmother with the sewing.  This seemingly insurmountable challenge had become an opportunity for all three generations in our household to work together.  To keep costs down so more profits can go towards solar LED lamps, my mom utilized her network to obtain 100% of the raw materials as donations.  I’m proud to say that the best Mother’s Day gift is witnessing my mom’s pride and excitement, the same feeling I had sensed in my daughters, as she handed me the finished heat packs to sell on Jezuba.
 
Eric Rondolat’s article,“1.1 billion reasons why light poverty must be eradicated,” states that light poverty negatively impacts 1.1 billion people world-wide.  That means one in every seven people do not have access to electric light, instead resorting to primitive light sources, such as candles, kerosene lamps, and fires.  In his article, Mr. Rondolat stated: “These primitive light sources have claim the lives of 1.5 million people every year through fires and respiratory illnesses – the same number killed annually by HIV related illnesses.”
 
Our goal at Jezuba is to raise enough money to provide solar LED lamps to an underserved community in Myanmar (Burma). My mom’s donated time and materials will help their light poverty issue by replacing candles and kerosene lamps with clean solar LED technology. My lifelong dream of making our world a little brighter by combining entrepreneurial skills with charitable thinking has taken a big step towards becoming a reality.  
 
We hope these heat packs bring you the same comfort and relief as they have for me, as well as the comfort in knowing that each purchase from Jezuba gives you the opportunity to contribute to a possible solution to a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
 
Rebecca Liao
Co-founder and Director, Jezuba