Pastor's Corner
 The Nothing But Nets campaign for Malaria prevention will be the key focus of the new ministry partnership between the Texas Conference and the Cote d’Ivoire Conference of the United Methodist Church. Malaria is one of the world’s most preventable diseases. Yet malaria is a leading killer of children in Africa. Every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from Malaria. Malaria is a disease that infects nearly 500 million people each year and kills more than 1 million of those who become infected.
The effects of Malaria are far-reaching and not limited to health matters. Elizabeth McKee, director of marketing for the United Nations Foundation says, “ Malaria costs Africa 12 billion a year in economic loss – not including treatment.”
Malaria is the number one cause of poverty on the African continent.
Bed nets can prevent Malaria transmission by 50%, and the nets work in two ways. They stop mosquitoes from biting during the night and spreading the disease, and the insecticide on the net kills the mosquitoes when they land on it. Just one bed net can keep an entire family safe from malaria transmission for up to four years! A donation of 10 dollars is all it takes to buy a bed net. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match each donation up to 3 million.
The goal of the Texas Annual Conference is to raise one million dollars over the next few months for the Nothing But Nets mission effort in Cote d’Ivoire. There are more than 1 million United Methodists in Cot d’Ivoire. The Texas-Cote d’Ivoire partnership is designed to capitalize on the strengths of both conferences. Bishop Huie notes that we can learn a lot from the church in Cote d’Ivoire as it is outpacing the Methodist church in America in membership growth.
Mission Bend United Methodist Church is committed to a goal of raising 10,000 dollars to support the Nothing But Nets campaign. By reaching this goal Mission Bend will be providing 1,000 families in the west African country of Cote d’Ivoire with bed nets for the prevention of the killer disease Malaria. Malaria kills. Nets save lives. Send a net. Save a life.
Blessings!
R. Jeremiah Booker
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