Umoja Against Malaria

• Kenya - Africa

Why I choose this cause:

While I was sipping a latte on a sunny but cold day in Madrid , a leaflet about Malaria caught my eye. When I read that around 700,000 children still die every year due to malaria which can be treated with tablets and prevented with mosquito nets, I decided that I couldn’t turn a blind eye to what was happening.

How I planned to help:

Back then I was a real pain in the arse and nothing has changed. I sent dozens of emails to mosquito nets manufacturers and companies across the world with the intention to raise funds to buy some nets to fight malaria for a community in West Kuria (Kenya) which I found via an NGO called KeNaam. All those companies I have contacted, they either didn’t reply or told me to f-off except for Sumitomo in Japan who read my email and kindly donated 1000 LLMN mosquito nets to my trust.

What we raised:

1000 LLMN nets from Japan to Africa . Sumitomo paid the transport from Tokyo to Nairobi and I flew to Kenya to organise the transport from Nairobi to West Kuria (400 km), distribution and installation of the nets hut by hut in the rural community, kids unit at the hospital and orphanage. A net cost as much as a coffee however, poverty and difficult circumstances mean that many can't afford to buy one or they use the nets to fish or protect their vegetables. I raised the funds to pay for the transport of the nets from Nairobi to West Kuria, paid the volunteers to help out as nobody was willing to come and help for free like me as the huts could only be reached by walking in the scorching hot sun, drivers and fuel for the 5 days we had to install them as these were heavy and we could only take a bunch at a time and return back to the car after each installation to ensure that the nets wouldn’t get stolen or sold in the black market, new car battery as the car broke down and left us stranded for half day in the middle of nowhere, car wash, meals and drinks for the volunteers , County Health Team Cost, professionals from the region to educate the community about malaria and how to use the nets.

Achievements:

If you think having your mother in law at your place for a week-end is lethal , you've never slept in a room with mosquitoes. Malaria kills.
Thanks to the generosity of Sumitomo, the kindness and help of many people who embraced my vision and determination, 1000 families received a LLMN mosquito net to sleep safe at night. It was not an easy ride, we walked for miles in the hot weather, installing nets in huts made of mud with no toilets, windows, potable water and often filled with smoke from the cooking on the open fire and using stones as DIY tools but we did it. We made sure that everyone who kindly donated to this project saw that their generosity made a difference. Of course we can all do more but if we all give, even if we only have a little that’s a great start to create happiness and happiness never decreases by being shared.