Malaria Campaign launch - getting ready...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Antananarivo is a vibrant city. Being here feels like being in the 1960s or 70s. Old structures and almost antique French cars fill this city situated in the highlands of the island. Poverty here is endemic but the laughter of playful children can be heard throughout the city. The kindness and hospitality of the Malagasy people towards visitors is known internationally.
It has been quite moving to see the pride the malgache take on their culture, history and geography. They are also very much aware of their history as a colonized country and their recent independence in the 1960s.
I am part of a team of four people from the Canadian Red Cross that is currently preparing for the launch of the Malaria Campaign - an immense effort to prevent this disease from killing more children under five years of age and their families.
When I participated in the post-tsunami operations, I was a witness of human generosity as the response to the disaster was almost as comparable as the destruction it caused.
Millions of people from all over the world gathered funds and supported the tsunami survivors. Today, I am again a witness of this universal human generosity by being part of this effort.How is it possible that so many children die of a preventable disease such malaria each year? I ask myself this question, especially when I see children playing in the streets. This is happily starting to change in Madagascar. In October 2007, over one and a half million families will receive a free insecticide-treated mosquito net, one of the simplest methods of combating malaria.
I enjoy very much working with the logisticians that make all this happen! They are at the heart of the operation, always alert and on call, anything can happen, but the nets HAVE to reach their final destination. It’s their job and they feel responsible for helping to protect the lives of those kids.
If you imagine the thousands of kilometres that a bed net crosses from its point of departure to its final destination: the bed of a child… it really makes you wonder!
I was amazed when I first realized that thousands of these mosquito nets travel by air, water and land. A logistician will do all it takes to reach the most isolated communities, and this means that sometimes bed nets can arrive by ox carts, pyrogue, unimog, or carried on human shoulders. This one is the most adventurous parts of the campaign…
Posted for: Nathalia Guerrero
Antananarivo is a vibrant city. Being here feels like being in the 1960s or 70s. Old structures and almost antique French cars fill this city situated in the highlands of the island. Poverty here is endemic but the laughter of playful children can be heard throughout the city. The kindness and hospitality of the Malagasy people towards visitors is known internationally.
It has been quite moving to see the pride the malgache take on their culture, history and geography. They are also very much aware of their history as a colonized country and their recent independence in the 1960s.
I am part of a team of four people from the Canadian Red Cross that is currently preparing for the launch of the Malaria Campaign - an immense effort to prevent this disease from killing more children under five years of age and their families.
When I participated in the post-tsunami operations, I was a witness of human generosity as the response to the disaster was almost as comparable as the destruction it caused.
Millions of people from all over the world gathered funds and supported the tsunami survivors. Today, I am again a witness of this universal human generosity by being part of this effort.How is it possible that so many children die of a preventable disease such malaria each year? I ask myself this question, especially when I see children playing in the streets. This is happily starting to change in Madagascar. In October 2007, over one and a half million families will receive a free insecticide-treated mosquito net, one of the simplest methods of combating malaria.
I enjoy very much working with the logisticians that make all this happen! They are at the heart of the operation, always alert and on call, anything can happen, but the nets HAVE to reach their final destination. It’s their job and they feel responsible for helping to protect the lives of those kids.
If you imagine the thousands of kilometres that a bed net crosses from its point of departure to its final destination: the bed of a child… it really makes you wonder!
I was amazed when I first realized that thousands of these mosquito nets travel by air, water and land. A logistician will do all it takes to reach the most isolated communities, and this means that sometimes bed nets can arrive by ox carts, pyrogue, unimog, or carried on human shoulders. This one is the most adventurous parts of the campaign…
Posted for: Nathalia Guerrero
Labels: africa, bed nets, canadian red cross, international work, madagascar, malaria bites, Nathalia Guerrero
posted by Alison Frehlich at 11:03 AM
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