UPDATE: Malaria bed nets!

WORLD MALARIA DAY

I'm proud to announce that we beat our record of $160 from last year.

Today, we raised $500 to donate to NothingButNets!

This will provide 50 bed nets, each of which can protect a family of four and will last up to 4 years.  And because they're treated to kill the malaria-spreading mosquitoes, they will help protect not only individuals, but entire communities!

Thanks to all who donated!

If you didn't have a chance to donate and would like to, click on NothingButNets and make your donation by credit card or check.

WORLD MALARIA DAY

Please join PHR for a breakfast to learn about the international health burden of malaria and help provide a life-saving bed net for only $10.

This Friday, April 24th from 8:15-9am, PH 17-201.

Suggested donation: $10 (all proceeds go to NothingButNets)

Last year we collected $160...help us beat that record this year!!

Each year, malaria afflicts approximately half a BILLION people.

Malaria kills more than a million people per year; 90% of those who die are African children.

Every 30 seconds in Africa, a child dies of malaria.

Malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year -- this disease is keeping countries poor.

For only $10, we can purchase a bed net, deliver it to a family, and explain its use.  These nets are large enough to fit a family of four and last for up to four years.

Humanitarian Crises of 2008

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has just released a list of the 

Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008

Please take a few minutes to click on the link and learn about the biggest crises going on in the world today.

The Ongoing Crisis in Zimbabwe

Hi all,

I'd like to bring more attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.  The UN has just released estimates that there have been 60,000 cases of cholera, and over 2,800 people have died from this curable condition.  Instead of acting to help his people, the Mugabe regime has sent police to clear teaching hospitals, shut off water for months, and has refused to address the mass starvation of his people.  Earlier in the year, he refused to admit defeat in the general election.  Instead, he has said "I will never, never never surrender...Zimbabwe is mine."  Now Zimbabwe is plagued with cholera, anthrax, and pellagra.  

Over 4 million Zimbabweans have tried to escape to South Africa.  However, on the way countless women and children have been robbed and raped by "gumagumas," and life in Musina, where most of the refugees have settled for now, is not much better than what they have escaped.

Please make an effort to learn about the horrific situation in Zimbabwe by reading a few of the articles I've included below:

Zimbabwe: 'If Cholera Doesn't, Hunger Will Finish Us' (allAfrica.com, 12/8/08)

In Zimbabwe, a Cancer Called Mugabe (Washington Post, 1/8/09)

Desperate Children Flee Zimbabwe, for Lives Just as Bleak (NY Times, 1/23/09)

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic could top 60,000 cases, UN says (Telegraph, 1/24/09)

If you are able, consider donating to two organizations who have taken the lead in dealing with this disaster:

Medecins Sans Frontieres

Physicians for Human Rights

Spread the word about the situation in Zimbabwe -- the media certainly isn't doing a good enough job.

Be well,

Alex

Donations for Uganda

As we near the holiday season, please consider this message from Cristina Fernández:

71 boys need uniforms for schools, uniforms that cost just $7.35 each. Many of these boys have HIV. Most of them are orphans. All of them live in Uganda.

The Sabina Primary School and Boarding House provides housing, education, and support services to about 300 children aged 5-13, many of whom are orphans and vulnerable (living with HIV, living with physical disabilities or mental illness). My aunt and cousin visited the Sabina School in August on a mission trip to support Children of Uganda, a non-profit organization that provides housing, food, primary education, and support services (HAART treatment, counseling, food supplements) to over 600 children, many living with HIV and many orphaned, in the Rukai and Mukono districts of Uganda.

My aunt has been fundraising for the Sabina School for 4 months. During a recent conversation with the principal, she was told that 71 of the boys have uniforms so old they have fallen apart. A new uniform, a new set of clothes, will make a difference in their lives as students and as boys.

If you are inspired to purchase a new uniform for one of the boys from Sabina School, please write a check to "Children of Uganda" for $7.35 and write "Boy's uniform-Sabina School" in the memo line. You can give the check to me in class our any other time before winter break. Or you can give me cash and I'll write a check for the bulk amount of cash I receive.

For more information about the Children of Uganda, visit: www.childrenofuganda.org and my aunt's blog http://cmafrica.wordpress.com/

Humbly,

Cristina Fernández

p.s. of course the girls need school uniforms too, and if you would like to buy a girl a uniform, each costs $9.15 (the higher cost is due to the fact the girl's uniform is a dress)