My Christmas List

Last year for Christmas I got a llama, a sheep, ducks, water, a loan, meaningful work and dignity, and food.  None of this was really for me but rather these things helped give food, other basic necesities, and a chance for hope and a better future to people around the world. 

This year, all I want for Christmas is mosquito bed nets.  Lots of them, please.    

The stats and facts:

A child dies every 60 seconds from malaria.

Nearly 700,000 people die each year from malaria, most of them children and pregnant women.

These stats break my heart, but here’s the best fact of all: malaria is completely preventable and treatable! 

So for Christmas, rather than making up a list of things I want, I’m asking for my friends and family to give me mosquito bed nets by making a donation to the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.

As part of a worldwide effort, the Lutheran Malaria Initiative has this goal: to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.  That’s a pretty audacious goal, but it’s a goal that is achievable. 

Here's some information from LMI’s website:

“The most effective methods currently being used to control malaria include proper diagnosis and prompt medical treatment, proper use of insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying. To be successful these strategies require education about malaria and how to prevent and treat it. The Lutheran Malaria Initiative works through local partners to educate families on malaria, increase access to treatment, and provide prevention tools such as bed nets.”

Education: LMI educates families on the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of malaria.

Treatment: Increasing access to affordable medical care and resources for malaria prevention.

Prevention: LMI provides treated bed nets to families and trains them on their proper use.

"We work in communities where we already have strong relationships, such as those with our Lutheran partner churches and other local, community organizations. These long-standing partnerships make the ideal platform for introducing malaria programming. Already, the work of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative is making an impact. To date, LMI has reached 2.4 million people through malaria projects in Tanzania, Mali, Uganda, and Kenya. With increased funding, LMI will expand to Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Nigeria, Guinea, Niger and Ghana."

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is doing some incredible work in preventing and treating malaria!  I invite you to be a part of this work- whether you want to give me a Christmas present of a bed net or maybe you want to add a bed net to your Christmas list.