Malaria! It's not sexy is it? Who worries about malaria? Well, quite frankly the people who live in sub-Sahara Africa do! Over 1,170 children in Africa lose their life to this disease every day! That is 50 children every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year...
Not only does malaria kill, it is the number one reason children are not in school throughout sub-Sahara Africa. With all those days out of school, it has an impact on the economic vitality of the various nations affected. Like mosquitoes, this is a situation that continues to breed nothing but more problems.
Yet, it is not hard to fight back. Malaria vaccine is available at a price. Mosquito netting is inexpensive and can easily be made available. All that is needed is a hand up from folks like us.
A few years back, at the urging of our sister churches in Africa, the ELCA choose to make this a big deal. We are in the process of raising 15 million dollars to help eradicate malaria in Africa. It's not something that will make big headlines back home, there are no Hollywood stars speaking on TV, but it is big news to those communities decimated by the impact of this disease.
If you would like to help as we put the bite on this disease, you can go to the ELCA website or Peace Lutheran Church website to make a donation, because it's little things like this that make a big difference as we live out the vision of God's reign of peace.
Peace,
Pal
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