Malawi Children's Mission

Hello Friends! (Amzanga Abwenzi!)

Every $20 donation can make a world of difference!!

I am excited to reach out to all of you on behalf of the Malawi Children’s Mission (MCM) for your support in my efforts to reduce and prevent the risk of contracting malaria through the purchase of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs). MCM is located in a southern rural community outside Blantyre, Malawi. This amazing organization is a feeding center and private K-12 school for orphans, which also provides much needed health services and quality of life care. MCM plays an essential role to its surrounding community through broader public health interventions such as the distribution of malaria prevention bed nets. MCM has the structural systems established to determine ITN need and ability to distribute accordingly throughout the community. The challenge remains the scarcity of funding resources to purchase ITNs, and the supply chain access to acquire new or replacement nets. (http://www.malawichildrensmission.org/)

Malaria is a major worldwide public health issue that contributes to a cycle of poverty and illness. There are estimated 216 million cases of malaria and 445,000 deaths annually. Africa is home to upwards of 89% of all malaria cases and 91% of all malaria deaths. It contributes to upwards 1.3 GDP in Africa. Malawi is a country impacted by this treatable & preventable disease.  The use of ITNs is a major source of prevention and reduced risk exposure to this vector borne parasitic illness. Children under age 5 and pregnant women are in the highest mortality risk category.

The cost per bed net is $20. These individual ITNs can significantly reduce the risk of contracting malaria for over 3 years! MCM is in desperate ongoing need for ITNs. As requested, I am hoping to raise $6000 in order to purchase 300 bed nets for the MCM community this year. Each donation of $20 makes a direct and lifesaving impact on the Malawian people in this area. Please know: 100% of all donations will go directly to the purchase of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs). No donation is too small or too large.

I have the wonderful opportunity to travel to Malawi to see this work in action from June 23-July 8, 2018 as part of graduate work at UMass Amherst for my Masters in Public Health (MPH) and Global Health Certificate. While at MCM, I will be assisting in the development of a formal soccer programming initiative through the generosity of the Global Premier Soccer (GPS) Foundation for both the school and surrounding community. It is my intent that through the universally shared passion for soccer, we can start to bridge gaps with health and hope.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions on my larger project. Thank you for being part of the solution to eradicate malaria related illness and mortality.

Thank you! (Zikomo!)

Cheryl Nelson, PT

See links for more details on malaria if interested:

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/

http://data.unicef.org/topic/child-health/malaria/

http://www.who.int/malaria/en/

Our goal: We aim to raise $5,000 to help repair the homes of families where teenagers are the heads of their households.

Our team:
                       Willie Alvord
                       Max Hirsh
                       Liam Norton
                       Matt Murphy
                       JohnO Hoins

Our story:
Last summer, Max and Willie traveled to Malawi to provide outreach support to the children and community members at Malawi Children's Mission (MCM) and came back home feeling like they had more to give. We need your support to enable us to change the lives of some of the children we met.

MCM is a school, feeding center and medical center for 150 of the poorest orphaned children from villages surrounding the town of M'Bwana. There are drastic differences between our home lives and those of the children from MCM. Some of the children's homes — which are no more than single roomed clay-brick homes with straw roofs — are extremely worn down and susceptible to the elements all while being cramped and unsanitary. Overall, much of the damage done to these shelters make for an extremely low standard of living.

This upcoming summer, our team of 5 will travel back to Malawi -- with various adults partnered with MCM -- and will use the money from the fundraiser to assist in the process of rebuilding and repairing damaged homes. We’re using our own funds that we have saved independently to pay for our travels. We aim to work hand-in-hand with local builders and the heads of these households, who in fact are the same age as us, if not younger.

We hope that you can take the time to read a few of these children’s stories; these are the people we fell in love with last summer and whom we hope to help.

- Willie Alvord, Max Hirsh, Liam Norton, Matt Murphy, and JohnO Hoins

Chifuniro


Daniel


Yakobe Juma