Malawi

Meet Maya

Maya Lulanga is less than a year old. Her father, Mike, couldn’t have been more thrilled when Maya was born. But he was also scared.

Mike knew of many little children who never made it to their fifth birthday.

"Two years ago, close to where I live in Chinsapo, Malawi, a baby girl was born. So beautiful and charming was this little angel with her babyish smile and pink cheeks," Mike remembers. One day the mother noticed something strange. The baby was shivering and the body temperature rose. The baby would not stop crying.

The little girl had malaria. A preventable, treatable disease caused by the bite of an infected mosquito. When she passed away she was only three months old.

To most of us in the United States, mosquitoes are nothing more than a nuisance. But in Malawi and many parts of Africa, just one bite from a mosquito could transmit malaria and lead to death.  By providing mosquito nets, medication and comprehensive health education, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is working to eliminate deaths from this disease — for good.

By sleeping under an insecticide treated mosquito net, Mike, baby Maya and the rest of the family have stayed healthy for almost a year. And so have many other families in the community.

But that’s not all. "The money which could have been used for medical bills [to treat malaria] is now used for other things. It helps me and my family save money." With savings and good health, the future looks bright for baby Maya.

Your gifts to the ELCA Malaria Campaign will help our companion churches in Africa provide mosquito nets, insecticides, medication, mosquito control and comprehensive health education — methods proven to be highly effective in fighting malaria.

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