Choosing to Participate:
A Social Justice Service Project on Sustainability

On 4/30 I taught kids from the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades about malaria through jeopardy. I made a master sheet for myself. I had all the malaria related questions, the answers and their difficulty level. I did the activity with Aaron, Mickey, and Zaran. We all played a part in the process. Aaron told the students what malaria was, Zaran kept score, I explained the rules and read the questions, and Mickey kept time. Some of the questions were about history involving rulers that were infected by Malaria, their statistical questions, and there were science questions about the parasite and how it infects the body. I really do think that a lot of the kids walked away with a full understanding of the disease and what they could do to help out. At the end of the two periods we had a question and answer time. Most of the kids wanted to talk to their friends and hang out. I understood this. After class, all I want to do is talk to my friends, not have a thorough discussion of what we did and learned. Knowing this first hand from being a student. I had decided to let them relax for a few minutes. However, something struck me as I saw a fifth grader raise her hand in the back of the room. Everyone quieted down to let the girl speak. I called on her and I just heard her shy little whisper of, “What can I do to help the kids in Africa?” I was stunned in the best way possible. I had made a kid question, and that to me was amazing.

Two days ago I made fliers for Against Malaria. Today I handed out the fliers. Each flier said the same thing. The fliers said that Malaria is the leading cause to children under seven and pregnant women. They said that most cases of malaria are found in Africa. Many parts of Africa are very poor and don’t have the resources to fight this deadly disease. However, only five dollars can buy a mosquito net for a possible, or even a soon to be victim of malaria. At the bottom of the fliers was the website information. They said that you could see pictures of he person that would be receiving the five dollar mosquito net and any possible contact information if they want to give it out or if they have any. At the top it said in big, bold letters, 7 JUMBO JETS OF CHILDREN DIE OF MALARIA EACH DAY. This was the line I shouted out to people. I went to a street fair on Broadway and handed out eighty-five copies of the original flier. People were amazed that there wasn’t more media attention covering the subject. I told them that many parts of Africa can’t afford media attention to bring the disease to wealthier countries that can help. Another thing that people were enthusiastic about was my age. No one expected a kid my age that has never had any sort of encounter with malaria to be helping the cause. People were amazed by some of the things that I told them. People asked me to be there at other fairs so they could bring their friends to talk to me. It was a great experience. I thought that people were genuinely interested in getting involved rather than what I expected. I was hesitant to hand out fliers because I was afraid people would just be interested with the idea that I was doing a community service at such you age. However, they were not, and I felt that I got people interested and did my part.

Today, I did was sending emails to people that I thought would be interested in learning more and supported the cause. I told people a short history of how it started. I mentioned Rob Mather and how he first conducted a swim to give money to a girl who was seriously burned and would need surgery, on and off, for the rest of her life. I included website in formation and the different websites. For example, I mentioned againstmalaria.com, worldswimagainstmalaria.com, madnessagainstmalaria.com, worldfastagainstmalaria.com, auzziemozzieagainstmalaria.com, and mybednetagainstmalaria.com. All of these websites give people different ways that they can contribute to the cause. I included a downloadable copy of my flyer I made in the email as well. I know that alot of people don’t read emails from people if they think it might be boring. I know I erase anything on my email that isn’t from my friends or doesn’t sound interesting. I hope that we should all be more conscious of what we erase. Something like thi public service anouncment may come along and all you have is an empty email inbox.

I started at 10:00. I made fliers, in color, for madness against malaria. The fliers said that Malaria is the leading cause to children under seven and pregnant women. They said that most cases of malaria are found in Africa. Many parts of Africa are very poor and don’t have the resources to fight this deadly disease. However, only five dollars can buy a mosquito net for a possible, or even a soon to be victim of malaria. At the bottom of the fliers was the website information. It said that you could see pictures of he person that would be receiving the five dollar mosquito net and any possible contact information if they want to give it out or if they have any. At the top they said in big, bold letters, 7 JUMBO JETS OF CHILDREN DIE OF MALARIA EACH DAY. After the original was made, I printed it out and went to Kinko’s and made eighty-five copies of it. I think that the handout doesn’t just preach, but let people know what they can do. It doesn’t accuse them of not caring, it says how they can care more and show. I think that people will definitely respond to it in a positive and progressive way.

On Wednesday, I made posters for Against Malaria. I took different facts that I learned from John Matthers about the issue and put them on the poster, as well as certain pictures that could easily catch someone’s eye. I put the sites that people could go to on the poster as well. Something that people responded to was the fact that you could get pictures of the mosquito net they donated being delivered with pictures of the person that was recieving it. I put the posters in very strategic locations. I put each poster in a place that would be noticed. Thursday, I went to those places that I put up posters. I saw at least one person at each one. I even saw someone copying down the email address on their hand. This project went really well.

Aaron, Zeron, Sash, and I talked with Rob Matthers today. He is located in London England. Rob told us all about the things we could do to help and get involved. First, He told us about how he started Against Malaria. He was watching the TV one day and saw a report about a little girl named Terry who had gotten her house burned down. Here Mother died and she got 90% of her skin burned away. Rob thought this was terrible. He wanted to do something. He was a father of two kids and had absolutely no experience in fundraising. However, he decided to do something. He organized a swim to raise money for Terry. 100% of the profit went to Terry. Later, Rob found out about Malaria. Malaria is the most common lethal disease among children and pregnant women. However, it doesn’t have to be. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. The most cases in the world are in Africa. Malaria can be prevented by mosquito nets a mosquito net costs five dollars and one is enough or two children. He came up with the idea for a swim against malaria. Then he realized that many people don’t like to swim. They started doing other things to raise money. Rob said, “I don’t care if you jump on a pogo stick in Connecticut to raise money.” Anything is appreciated. Keep this in your head, it will help you sleep!! 7 jumbo jets of children die everyday from malaria.