CAMEROON: YOUTH DISTRIBUTE MOSQUITO NETS
What started only as a dream is now a reality. Through the ministry of HIS Nets, Brickson Sam, president of the All Africa Baptist
Youth Fellowship and Vice President of the BWA Youth Department, has been successful in distributing mosquito nets to several countries
in West Africa. With malaria being one of the major causes of death among the young as well as the old, this project is seen by many
families as a gift from God.
The most recent country to benefit from the partnership between HIS Nets and the All Africa Baptist Youth Fellowship is Cameroon.
Brickson and the youth leaders from the three Baptist bodies in Cameroon (Cameroon Baptist Convention, Native Baptist Convention
and Union of Baptist Churches) came together to assist in the net distribution.
Despite the bad road conditions, the team was able to reach people in remote villages in all four regions of the country with a total
distribution of 2,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets. The nets were distributed to families with small children, clinics, health centers,
churches, hospitals and orphanages.
The distribution was a good opportunity to speak openly about the driving force behind this project – the Good News of the
Gospel.
The team was received with dancing and great jubilation by all. In some parts of the country, the day of the net distribution was
declared a public holiday. In some cases, the distribution was covered live on national television and in other news outlets.
One of the traditional leaders said that the nets “are indeed a weapon to fight against malaria.” It is expected that if used properly,
these nets will save more than 5,000 people from dying from this preventable disease. With the rainy season now upon the country, the
nets could not have come at a better time.
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that malaria is one of the most severe public health problems
worldwide. It is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the
groups most affected. According to the World Health Organization, at least one million deaths occur every year with some 3.2 billion
people living in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 107 countries and territories.
According to the United States Agency for International Development, long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets (LLNIs), the type of
nets distributed by HIS Nets, “have proven highly effective in killing the mosquitoes that transmit malaria. In addition, the netting also
acts as a protective barrier, helping to prevent the mosquito from biting. Consistently sleeping under an LLIN can decrease severe malaria
by 45 percent, reduce premature births by 42 percent, and reduce all causes of child mortality by 17 to 63 percent.”
It is no wonder why many see the net distribution as a gift from God. The partnership that Brickson Sam and the youth leaders of the
All Africa Baptist Youth Fellowship have with HIS Nets is commendable and worth emulating as it demonstrates what true discipleship
is all about, caring for the least of these.
Other countries to have benefited from this project through the All Africa Baptist Youth Fellowship are Togo, Benin, Ghana and Sierra
Leone, with a total net distribution of 10,500.
The ministry of HIS Nets was started in 2004 by Frank T. Thomas and his family. While serving as a missionary in Africa, Frank’s
daughter had a near-death experience after contracting malaria and he took up the challenge to help alleviate this deadly disease. Over
the last four years, this ministry has provided more than 30,000 nets.
Emmett Dunn, Director of the BWA Youth Department, contributed to this story.
PHOTOS: A young child receives one of the mosquito nets that was distributed in Cameroon; Brickson Sam, vice president of the
BWA Youth Department and president of the All Africa Baptist Youth Fellowship (standing front row, second from left), distributing nets
to a clinic in Cameroon
UKRAINE: CALLAM VISITS UKRAINE
Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam visited the country of Ukraine during the month of March.
During his visit, which lasted March 25-31, Callam preached at Central Baptist Church and Syvatoshino Baptist Church in Kiev,
Ukraine’s capital, and at Zhitomyr Baptist Church in the town of Zhitomyr, 90 miles west of Kiev. He also brought greetings and
addresses at several meetings, including a youth celebration event, and met with leaders of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of
Evangelical Christian Baptists (AUCECB).
Callam was impressed with the commitment of Ukrainian Baptists to evangelism and social ministry, such as a ministry to drug
addicts, and by the structure of the AUCECB. Callam described the structure of the union,
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