JCI LONDON - NOTHING BUT NETS

Have you ever had malaria? I have. I clearly remember how its symptoms manifested, first came the weakening in my knees which slowly spread to every part of my body, next the fever, the overwhelming burning from inside me and quickly followed by excruciating migraines which felt like a tower was being constructed in my head. I remember laying on my bed, unable to move for fear of waking the construction workers in my head and the lack of energy to lift a single muscle.
 Imagine my dismay after being half dragged and carried to the local pharmacy and being told that I will have to take a combination of malaria tablets because the malaria parasite was now stronger than it used to be. Oh my, did I pray, I promised to be a better person if I got better, not to be naughty or selfish anymore. I did get better after a couple of days and during my bout with malaria I realised good health really is wealth.

I was in Lagos at the time, the commercial capital of Nigeria which represents a small fraction of the 3.3 billion people – half of the world's population – who are at risk of malaria.  In 2010, there were about 216 million malaria cases and an estimated 655 000 malaria deaths, 90% of all malaria deaths occurred mostly among children under five years of age. Now, sitting in my warm room in London, 2,924 miles away, a part of the world that is free from malaria I want to help protect others and ensure they don't have to experience what I went through, that's where JCI London's "Nothing but Nets" campaign comes in http://www.facebook.com/JciLondonNothingButNets.

Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand which I could wave from side to side and immediately eradicate malaria from the world but sadly such thoughts are only possible in Cinderella stories. However, I have learned from research that malaria is preventable by bed nets, that's why my friends;  Rafael, Hiwot, Soraya, Lori, Ren, Ricky and I including other members of JCI London have come together to raise a thousand (1,000) bed nets in a bid to save a thousand lives and raise awareness against malaria. We would be delivering the nets in person in December to mothers and children in Tamale, a city in the northern part of Ghana, West Africa, where we would also be partnering with members of JCI Tamale in providing mentoring sessions and series of trainings to locals in the community relating to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs - Empowering Women, Combating malaria, HIV, education).

In the next few weeks, JCI London will be bringing you a series of fund raising events in a bid to raise funds and awareness for this campaign. All these events promise to be fun and exciting, lots of people will be in attendance and you can also get involved either by learning more, volunteering to become a member of the team or donating a bed net which cost less than £7 (seven pounds) - http://jcilondonnothingbutnets.wordpress.com/ . Whichever option you choose, do ensure you attend all our events if you want to have a good time, meet people and support a worthy cause.

To get started, like our Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/JciLondonNothingButNets, watch our video http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151648922191251&notif_t=video_tag    and invite your friends to do so as well. Our aim is to join forces, save lives, prevent malaria & raise awareness, develop friendships and protect the future.

Cheers,

Ade.

JCI London "Nothing but Nets" campaign.