Food or Malaria Meds?
If I were forced to live on $1.50 per day in one of the poorest areas of the world, there is a good chance that my family and I would also be at risk for malaria. Which means that if one of us did get malaria that my $1.50 would not be for food, but for malaria meds.
The result is a life saved, but no food. So I decided that for today I would not eat anything, and live as though I had to buy a $.50 pill for each of my three children.
I’ve wondered how I would feel if this was my reality.
Right now my hunger is more palpable than it has been all week. However, I suspect that as a loving dad, the pain of my hunger would be offset by seeing my children recover from an illness that otherwise would have killed them.
The choice for any caring parent is simple. However, there does not need to be a choice. We can live in a world where there is no more extreme poverty. A world where parents can eat and care for their children in the event they get sick.
One of the ways to see this dream realized is by joining the fight against malaria. For $10 you can buy a lifesaving bed net. That covers the making and distribution of the net, net replenishment and the necessary education for those who use them.
More than this, organizations like Malaria No More are working to help doctors diagnose malaria more quickly and more effectively. Through this treatment can be delivered earlier, which means it is more effective.
Tonight as I put my kids to bed, laughed with them and saw how healthy they are I was thankful. And in that same moment I realized that there are parents in the 40% of the world that do this too – with the same love that I have for my children. The only difference is on many of those nights they are hungry. For their children’s life comes at the expense of food.
We can change this. Together we can make malaria no more and make extreme poverty history. Join with me as I enter my last day of living below the line. For every $10 gift you donate a bed net will be delivered, and that is a gift the whole family will love.
Support me as I enter my final 24 hours by clicking here.