Each year in my classroom I try to instill the power of making a difference, even as 1st and 2nd grade students. I generally read the “Story of a Starfish” and discuss how the little child made a difference by throwing one of many starfish back into the sea. My students decided they too wanted to make a difference. I then read the children’s book, “Nets are Nice” published by Scholastic. This launched our project “Pennies With a Purpose.” After 3 months we raised 10,000 pennies for 10 Bed Nets. The children were overjoyed with this project! They truly learned the meaning of being compassionate and making a difference.

Kathy Hitchner is a Grade 2 teacher at Shoreline Schools

Students at Pleasant Valley School in South Windsor, CT raised money for life-saving mosquito nets by doing service learning projects.

For 2 months, the students spread the word about the effect that malaria has on the young, in Africa.  The students wanted to become “globally” involved in doing their part to reach out to other children to help wipe out this deadly disease.  $2,330 was raised through service learning projects done at home and in the community. 

Sammy Petry, a fifth grade student, raised over $300 to help make a difference.

Hand in Hand – Pleasant Valley Kids DO Make a Difference!

submitted by Deb Hagedorn, teacher

Students and faculty at Deerfield Beach High School in South Florida recently hit the gym to dodge malaria.  Ara Parikh, a Junior, came up with a fun and creative way to introduce the problem of malaria to her fellow students and to raise funds for Malaria No More – a dogeball tournament.  The tournament brought together students and faculty to raise awareness about the disease and generated more than $2,000 to provide life-saving mosquito nets to families in Africa!  The tournament was a huge success and students are already gearing up for a second tournament, to take place in April. 

The team at Malaria No More is thrilled by the success of the tournament and the enthusiasm displayed by the students at Deerfield Beach High School.  We’re all looking forward to the April tournament and wish all of the participating teams the best of luck!

To learn more about Ara’s efforts and the Dodge Malaria tournament, check out www.dodgemalaria.org.

Last week in our nation’s capital, students of Cornerstone Schools in Washington, D.C. celebrated Malaria Awareness Week with a full schedule of activities and lesson plans focused on malaria and the impact we’re having in the fight to end malaria-related deaths. Students received a visit from the our Policy Center’s own Wendy T. and had the opportunity to see what it would feel like to be under a real mosquito net.

The lessons were complemented by a classroom fundraising competition which raised more than $300 to provide life-saving mosquito nets in Africa! In addition, Mrs. Coley’s third grade class was rewarded with a special treat for raising the most money during the week – the opportunity to throw a pie in the face of Cornerstone’s Principal Lange. What a sweet treat for this great group of students who are already making a global impact and helping us to save lives!

Watch Principal Lange get pied in the face by Mrs. Coley’s class!

Earlier this week, our team received an email from Liz, whose son decided to donate his “tooth fairy money” to Malaria No More. We liked the story so much that we asked her to write a guest blog post about it. Read her charitable tale below:

Last holiday season I gave each of my children $10 to donate to a nonprofit. I gave them a few nonprofits to choose from. One of my children, Will (who is now five) chose to donate to Malaria No More to buy a bed net for, in his words, “the place with the most mosquitoes”.

Fast forward to the other day when Will lost his first tooth. Or, more accurately, when Will lost his first two teeth since the dentist had to pull them to make room for adult teeth. The tooth fairy came and gave Will $3 per tooth. The next morning I asked what Will wanted to do with the money. He shocked me by saying that he wanted to donate $5 out of the $6. Since we had just read “Three Cups of Tea”, I asked if he would like to fund a year of school for five children (by donating to a nonprofit that is currently holding a fundraiser at his school). ‘No’, said Will. ‘I want to give it to the bug place’ (which I eventually figured out was Malaria No More). ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because it’s more important to live than to go to school’, said Will.

Leave it to a five-year old to get to the heart of the matter. And leave it to a five-year old to remind us what a privilege it is to be a part of something as important as ending malaria.

This weekend, traveling the roads from New York to Maine for a wedding, I tuned into Marketplace on NPR to learn the latest goings-on in this emotional Tilt-A-Whirl we call the current US economy when—surprise, surprise!—I found myself smack-dab back in the malaria world.

In a great piece about the First National Bank of Orwell, Vermont, some local schoolkids go up to the teller to complete a transaction and we, the lucky listeners, are treated to this:

First, click here. Trust me, it’s way more fun with the audio.

(Kids) “Can we please have a check for 350 dollars?” (Teller) “Now how are you going to pay for that check?” (Kids) “Right here.  That’s how much there is.” (Teller) “Okay.  Well, you know what I have to do, I have to count it.” (Kids) Okay, yup, Mrs. S said.” (Teller) “And who is the check going to be made to?” (Kids) “MALARIA NO MORE!” (Teller) “Okay! It’s going to take me a minute…”

Granted, this story had nothing to do with malaria, but doesn’t it say something wonderful about the world today that kids in Orwell, Vermont have small-town experience in banking and global experience in philanthropy?

According the New York Times and new data from UNICEF, child deaths have fallen to their lowest levels since 1970.

The child mortality rate has declined by more than a quarter in the last two decades — to 65 per 1,000 live births last year from 90 in 1990 — in large part because of the widening distribution of relatively inexpensive technologies, like measles vaccines and anti-malaria mosquito nets.

Malawi is one of the many African countries making progress, and largely due to Malawian high school students that took 10-week health training courses and acquired the knowledge and tools (like bicycles) to help sick children in the community. These students are able to help mothers by providing them with birth control and malaria medicines for the family.

We still have a long way to go until we reach our 2015 goal of eliminating malaria deaths in Africa. But it’s great to know we’re getting closer every day.

This post is an excerpt from Jonathan Shradar’s post on the Malaria Watch blog at the Malaria Policy Center:

At the Malaria Policy Center we spend most of our time on conference calls and in board rooms talking about how policy makers can help defeat malaria a world away and this week in Tanzania we have been doing a lot of the same. We are meeting with government leaders and other NGOs to determine how to best wage war on this terrible disease.

But for me, the policy arguments and strategies can only be one part of our efforts and thanks to Save the Children I got to see and hear from another important part of our battle with malaria – the kids that are coming down with it everyday.

These kids amazed me. They were so responsible and to me, more accurately articulated problems with net and drug distribution. At one point the eleven-year-old guy sitting next to me claimed that the youth council should be the one distributing malaria drugs so they get to the people that need them the most.

As we work to build malaria campaigns in Tanzania I will remember what these children taught me and how confident there were in the face of such poverty and disease. They are the ones whom will realize an end to malaria deaths and I want to do what I can to help them.

Read Jonathan’s full account on the Malaria Watch blog.

This past weekend, a team of us here from Malaria No More headed up to Wilton, Connecticut for the 28^th Annual Wilton Nutmeg Invitational Tournament. We weren’t just there to cheer on talented young girls as they competed for the top prize, but we were also there to bring awareness about malaria to aspiring young soccer stars and their parents. We set up a large tent with malaria information and encouraged the players to particpate in the Speed Shot, where a sports radar measured how fast each player could kick a soccer ball. The Speed Shot contest was successful in riling up plenty of fun, spawning quite a few sibling rivalries, and of course, teaching the kids about what malaria is and how we can stop it.

We had the kids kick the balls into actual bed nets, the same kind families in Africa use to protect themselves from the bite of a malarial mosquito, and we also hung up mosquito targets for the kids to aim at while kicking. It was a weekend full of giving the boot to mosquitoes!

The kids also had a visit from Congressman Jim Himes, a member of the Congressional Malaria Caucus, who came out and showed his support for the United Against Malaria campaign and also took some pictures with the lucky winners of the Speed Shot competition. Those winners also walked away with some United Against Malaria jerseys as well as tickets to a New York Red Bulls game.

But most importantly, the winners and all participants alike walked away armed with the knowledge of how to fight the malaria menace.

Nikilesh Eswarapu is an intern with Malaria No More. His fastest kick at the Speed Shot was 38mph which, incidentally, is only slightly faster than the fastest 9 year-old.

Goodwin, better than good in patch design contest!

9-year old Emmy Goodwin of Wilton, Connecticut was recently recognized by the Wilton Soccer Association (WSA) and Malaria No More for her winning design in the 2009 Nutmeg Invitational Tournament logo contest. The winning design was chosen from among 50 submissions and will be featured on this year’s tournament t-shirts along side the Malaria No More and United Against Malaria logos. To honor her achievement, WSA President Andy Hoffman presented Emmy with the official jersey of the newly crowned European Cup champions, and long-time supporter of Malaria No More, FC Barcelona.

In the lead up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, The Wilton Soccer Association has dedicated the 2009 Nutmeg Invitational to Malaria No More and the United Against Malaria campaign, which is committed to leveraging the world’s most popular game to raise global awareness and renew worldwide commitment to ending malaria. 

The Nutmeg Invitational Soccer Tournament will take place June 13th and 14th with nearly 60 teams, representing 17 towns across Connecticut. The tournament will feature mosquito net blue goals, United Against Malaria lace guards, and the “How Fast Can You Kick Malaria?” Speed Shot and information booth, helping to educate players, coaches and parents about malaria while testing their shot velocity. Whether teams win or lose on the field, they’ll come away with a major victory against malaria.

United Against Malaria is a partnership of footballers, non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, and corporations who have joined forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite in the fight against malaria. www.unitedagainstmalaria.org