I’m in Kenya this week working with a team of logisticians who are crucial to Africa’s current race to scale-up mosquito nets. But the minute we end our session here on Thursday, I’ll be racing back to New York so I can perform with the New York Songwriters Circle on Monday night.

Modeled after the famous “Writers in the Round” nights at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, the NYSC showcases up-and-coming songwriting talent from around the world. Intimate concerts like these always remind me of a song’s power to communicate where mere words might fail us. That’s why I wrote “A Closer Far”, a song born out of my own experiences working in Africa on behalf of Malaria No More.  I’m looking forward to performing it along with other favorites of mine and I hope to see you all there.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of “A Closer Far” support the ongoing work of Malaria No More. Buy the song here. To hear my music, check out MySpace.

Our own Christina Roberts, Director of Program Operations, was featured in her alumni newspaper for writing a song with a cause! Combining her two passions, music and malaria, Christina wrote the song, A Closer Far, about Africa. Some of the proceeds from song sales will benefit Malaria No More to help buy bed bets in Africa.

In Christina’s words: “The big thing is to raise awareness and raise the profile of the fight against malaria. The best thing people can do is pass it on to their friends and begin a conversation about how to get involved.”

Christina spends a lot of time in Africa with MNM and her on-the-ground experiences are a tremendous help to us in NYC. With her help, we are able to determine where our bed nets are needed most and how our contributions directly reduce the malaria rate in Africa.

To all my friends in Austin, show your support at Flipnotics on Friday, July 10 at 8 p.m.! If you can’t make it (or if you don’t live in the great state of Texas), buy the song here.

Erica is the new Communications Associate with Malaria No More. She is also a Texas native and will remind her friends in Austin of their new Friday plans.

Every once in a while, we’re reminded that our team here at Malaria No More is a multi-talented group.  Just last week, MNM Director of Program Operations Christina Roberts released her latest studio project, A Closer Far.

This new song is a lush trip through Christina’s experiences and realizations of the last 3 years working with Malaria No More. In the summer of 2006, Christina was passing her days writing songs in Austin, Texas when she came across the founders of a new organization determined to end malaria deaths.  Affected and inspired, Christina immediately joined the new Malaria No More team full-time.  As one might imagine, battling mosquitoes hasn’t allowed Christina a whole lot of time for music—so she found a way to combine her two passions in A Closer Far.

Says Christina, “The world is probably mostly unchanged from a few years ago, but the way I see it is different—and I suspect I’m not alone.  I can no longer imagine that it is us, here, and them, there.  I am compelled to participate in the effort to make things better.”

Listen to A Closer Far (MP3).

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this song will support the ongoing work of Malaria No More.