The Feel Good Feeling of Giving

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.

A Young Heroine

Several weeks ago I learned of a wonderful program from Maithri of The Soaring Impulse. For ten dollars I could provide a bed net to help save a child’s life in Africa, to help prevent a child from dying of Malaria. Yesterday I learned about an amazing young girl named Katherine Commale, who by her 6th birthday had raised over $10,000 for Nothing But Nets and now, just two years later, she has raised more than $85,000 to send bed nets to Africa – that’s 8500 bed nets! She has done it all by giving presentations at churches and local schools and creating holiday gift certificates. For her efforts, Katherine has been recognized by The New York Times, CNN, President Clinton and thousands of people across the nation for the work that she does. You can learn more about Katherine’s impressive efforts here. .

Like everyone else these days, I don't have a lot of extra money to spare, but I can give $10 to such a worthy cause with the hope of saving a child’s life. I just wanted to share this wonderful story of an incredible young girl and what she has accomplished. Hopefully, the more people who learn of this program, the more children we can save.