A couple of months ago after reading a post on Maithri's blog, Soaring Impulse, about the importance of nets to protect children from mosquitos and malaria, I went to the site he wrote about and began donating whenever I could. It's been a good feeling to know you can help, even in a small way.
This is part of an email I received today and I wanted to share it with you.
Dear Sylvia,
You did it! You helped us provide enough life-saving bed nets to fully cover the four refugee camps in Kenya. Thank you for sending nets - a combined 128,000 of them - to save lives and protect refugees from malaria.
From the refugee's point of view - a life-saving bed net.
I just returned from Dadaab, Kenya, where I was able to witness the first batch of your nets being distributed. I won't sugar coat it. Life in Dadaab is hard and the issues that refugees and our partner, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), face are complex.
There are a quarter million people living on land that should hold one-third that many. Each day hundreds of refugees, mainly from Somalia, arrive in Dadaab and there is simply no more space. Water is running short. And limited resources mean that UNHCR is forced to make hard decisions on who is most in need.
In the midst of such complexity and hardship, the impact of a bed net was more clear to me than ever.
In going door to door with the health workers to distribute the bed nets and help hang them in the mud brick and stick homes, I met women like 25-year-old Wassan. Having arrived in Dadaab just nine months ago with two children, Wassan was grateful to receive a bed net. And while we cannot change all the struggles she and her family face, with a simple bed net you have dramatically improved her life and that of her children by giving them the opportunity for a healthy life.
Thank you for your support! We have more work to do, but it is important to take a moment to recognize what we have accomplished together. Full coverage of all refugee camps in Kenya is no small achievement - congratulations!
Adrianna Logalbo
Director, Nothing But Nets
http://www.NothingButNets.net/
Even if it's just a little, it can make such a difference in some child's world and it makes a difference in mine as well.
Sylvia's world in thoughts and pictures
I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!
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What Can I Say?
I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.
5 comments:
Great Sylvia, I have quoted John Wesley earier this week and I'll do it again. It starts with these words.
Do all the good you can
By allmeans you can
In all ways you can
In all places you can
......
LOLove Tyra
You're an angel, Sylvia. My son was in Mali and he knows first hand how terrible malaria can be. Those nets are truly life saving!
It's good to know your generous efforts have helped already. What a wonderful letter of acknowledgment.
Goodonya Sylvia ! as June in Oz would say .... Cheers, Kate x.
Isn't it amazing how such little things can make such a huge difference to people, if only we take a moment to give what we can? I have more time than money to give, so I volunteer a lot, and you're so right---it makes a difference to me, too. Like magic.
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