‘The Malaria Campaign was something we
forward on,” she added. And we’ve grown because
could focus on together and move forward on.’
malaria has “increased our capacity as a church to do ministry around hunger, poverty and disease,” she said. Tat capacity will continue when the ELCA Malaria
Campaign draws to a close. Fundraising may end in 2016, but malaria work will continue through com- panion churches, funded by grants from ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Global Mission. A malaria vaccine seems right around the cor-
ner—but as science catches up, the malaria parasite is evolving. “Bad, drug resistant strains of malaria are developing
20
Philliph Choguya works behind the counter at the Chitkete Chemical Supply Shop, which received a startup grant from the Lutheran malaria program in Zimbabwe. The shop sells goods including insecticides for crops and mosquito repellents for neighbors. The proceeds support people affected by malaria.
20
use seed money from the church to launch innovative efforts like the Chitekete Chemical Supply Shop. Brisk sales in insecticides and mosquito repellents that help prevent mosquito bites and an agrochemical for cotton, the most popular local crop, helped the group pay back its seed money in three months. Participating in community-based income-generating
projects means that more than 4,500 people like Chitkete stakeholder Tendero Mutakanyi now earn enough to “fund hospital bills and buy food.”
Changing the story, changing ourselves Today there’s a wider awareness of malaria symptoms. Tere are fewer places for mosquitoes to breed and hide. People have greater access to nets, medication and malaria prevention during pregnancy. Diagnosis is faster and treatment is more effective. Family income is increasing. In all these ways, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is
changing the story of malaria in Africa. But campaign coordinator Hacker has seen the cam-
paign change us too. For starters, malaria has become part of our everyday vocabulary. “People are not only learning about malaria but thinking in different ways about our companions around the world and how we can walk together with them,” she said. During the divisive years following the 2009 vote on
sexuality, the campaign united us, Hacker said. “When the synod mood was negative, the Malaria Campaign was something we could focus on together and move
22
www.thelutheran.org
in Southeast Asia,” Hacker said. “We need to eliminate malaria in Africa before drug resistance causes us to lose our tools.” Something to keep in mind as the ELCA commemo-
rates World Malaria Day this April 25. “I’ve found the grassroots engagement exciting,” said
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton. “Across the ELCA people have taken the Malaria Campaign and run with it. Also meaningful for me is the engagement of our companions. Tis has not been about us, as the rich church, coming in and saving the helpless. It has been about, ‘How do we help people build capacity?’ Our companions are the ones with the expertise, adminis- tering the resources, helping themselves. Tey are not helpless. Tat’s important. “No one church could do this by itself. We needed
to be church together. Everybody from congregations, vacation Bible school kids, synods, ecumenical partners and other church bodies to Lutherans in [other coun- tries and] their governments worked on this together. … We needed them and they needed us. In the end, even the youngest [Sunday school student] has been able to make a difference in the world in Jesus’ name.”
To help Send checks (indicate “ELCA Malaria Campaign” on the memo line) to Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA Gift Processing Center, P.O. Box 1809, Merrifield, VA 22116-8009; give online and learn more at
www.elca.org/ malaria (click on “Donate now”); or call 800-638-3522.
Author bio: Basye, a freelance writer in the Pacific Northwest, is proud that her grandfather, Oscar F. Johnson, worked as a medical researcher with the California State Department of Health Service Malaria Demonstration Project in Shasta County in 1919.
ELCA/ALLISON BEEBE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52