Mosquitoes–buzzing around your pillow in the middle of the night, swarming your campsite, leaving you with itchy red welts. What if those annoying insects were carrying malaria? Malaria is a tropical disease caused by a microscopic parasite that enters the bloodstream. Mild cases result in flu-like symptoms and weakness. Left untreated, malaria causes vital organs to shut down. For children with less developed immune systems, malaria is often fatal. In Africa, a child dies every 45 seconds from malaria-related causes. The good news is that malaria is totally preventable. Get your kids and youth involved in addressing this huge problem by observing World Malaria Day on April 25. Here are some materials you can use.
Elementary-Age
Stand4Kids has an inexpensive, downloadable lesson on malaria called “Mosquito Beware: How Bed Nets Help Prevent Malaria”. Through hands-on activities, kids will learn what malaria is, how it spreads, it’s effects on children, and what can be done to prevent it. The lesson includes two stories of ways kids have raised money for bed nets.
Through Sweet Sleep’s Nickels for Nets program, children can provide bed nets for orphaned and abandoned children in Haiti and Africa. Download the free Nickels for Nets curriculum to educate children on the importance of using mosquito nets. You can order free Nickels for Nets collection boxes for the students to take home. To participate in this program, please call 615.730.7671 or e-mail nickelsfornets@sweetsleep.org.
Group Publishing and World Vision have created a way for kids to squash malaria through their KISS malaria goodbye campaign. Order your free kit. It comes with a 7-foot mosquito net, 50 Bugs Prayer-er clips, 50 donation cards, and a promotional DVD and posters. Donated money goes to help prevent malaria in Mali.
Youth
Working with junior high or high school kids? Check out Compassion International’s Bite Back Campaign. Order the kit for
organizing your own fundraising event. It includes a Bite Back DVD, mosquito net, donation form, bracelets and stickers, a fundraising ideas sheet , a stencil, posters, and brochures. There’s even a template for creating your own, on-line giving campaign.
