Mosquitoes kill no more

Mosquitoes, they fly high;
Mosquitoes, they fly low.
Mosquitoes, they fly everywhere -- [clap]
Mosquitoes fly no more!

Bishop Elaine Stanovsky has been teaching conference leaders, clergy and laity this camp song about mosquitoes each time she talks about the life-saving work of Imagine No Malaria. On Friday evening, the participants in the Youth Leadership Conference (YLC), held at St Andrew UMC in Highlands Ranch, learned all about the mosquitoes that spread malaria. And, more importantly, they heard from Bishop Elaine and three other speakers how The United Methodist Church, together with global funding and health partners, is taking the lead in an extraordinary effort to end preventable deaths and suffering from malaria in Africa.

Rev. Dr. Mike Dent, Senior Pastor of Trinity UMC, Denver, introduced the youth to Imagine No Malaria, an expansion of the tremendous work accomplished through Nothing But Nets. Imagine No Malaria adds to the prevention work of providing bed nets the essential components of treatment, education, communication, and advocacy, which are being carried out in African communities by United Methodist health workers and partners like Africare, Nets for Life, and the Alliance for Malaria Prevention. Rev. Dent also welcomed the other members of the Steering Committee who were present at the event: Dr. Becky Buxton, Bishop Elaine, Kunle Taiwo, Kristi Kinnison, and Rev. Dr. Youngsook Kang. Co-Chair, Robin Ball, and Field Coordinator, Rev. Kerry Greenhill, were unable to attend.

Becca Fenton, a youth leader in the conference and member of the Conference Board of Global Ministries, led an exercise that demonstrated the prevalence of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa -- in many areas, approximately 75% of the population experiences malaria at some point in their lives, most as children when they are most vulnerable to the disease.

Dr. Becky Buxton, who teaches medical laboratory sciences at the University of Utah, shared her professional passion for malaria research and her personal experience visiting Ghana and seeing firsthand how diagnosis and treatment have improved in the last eight years.
 
And Bishop Elaine closed out the presentation with the mosquito song, a description of her experience distributing bed nets as part of the Mountain Sky Area mission team to Angola last year, and a call to action for the youth: Get involved as leaders in your church and community, and help us save lives! 

One of the images from the Angola trip is of a village gathered around the base of a baobab tree to sign up to receive insecticide-treated bed nets, one of the most important and cost-effective prevention tools available. Reflecting on what those nets mean to families, many of whom have already lost children to malaria, Bishop Elaine identified this as a powerful symbol: the Tree of Life.

For most Americans, the challenges of malaria may seem too far away to get involved or too overwhelming to make a difference. But Imagine No Malaria offers individuals, families, churches, and communities the opportunity to be part of a bigger movement; to take small steps that can offer physical and spiritual healing to families and communities in Africa. It only costs $10 to send a net that can save a life; imagine how many lives you can save if you join together with others in your Sunday school class, youth group, UMW, UMM, book club, congregation, school, or town!

For those unsure of their capacity to have an impact, consider the African proverb:

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito."

Youth at YLC had a chance to sign up to get involved as volunteers, and also to take packets of information back to share with their churches. Video of the presentation will be available soon. Meanwhile, to learn more or to get involved, please contact Field Coordinator, Kerry Greenhill, at kerry [at] rmcumc [dot] com or 303-733-3736 x152. Together, we can sing a new song:

Mosquitoes, they fly high;
Mosquitoes, they fly low.
Mosquitoes, they fly everywhere -- [clap]
Mosquitoes kill no more!

Introducing our new Field Coordinator

Hi! My name is Kerry Greenhill, and I'm the new Field Coordinator for Imagine No Malaria in the Rocky Mountain Conference. I look forward to sharing updates on our campaign, ideas for how to get your church and community involved, resources and inspiration throughout the coming year. If you have questions or want to learn more, please contact me at kerry [at] rmcumc [dot] com, or call 303-733-3736 x152.

Myranda Hoffman, RMC Communications Specialist, wrote this article about me in December:

Welcome Kerry Greenhill! 

New Field Coordinator, Imagine No Malaria Campaign 

by Myranda Hoffman

The Rocky Mountain Conference of The United Methodist Church is pleased to announce Rev. Kerry Greenhill has been selected for the position of Field Coordinator for the Imagine No Malaria campaign. She will be working with Conference leaders, including the Steering Committee of the Imagine No Malaria Campaign of the Rocky Mountain Conference, Bishop Elaine J.W. Stanovsky and Rev. Youngsook C. Kang, Conference Staff Administrator, to get the word out to churches across Utah, Wyoming and Colorado about the goals and impact of Imagine No Malaria. Oh behalf of the Steering Committee, Kerry will also be asking for individual and congregational involvement through education, fundraising and advocacy. 

The Rocky Mountain Conference adopted the Imagine No Malaria campaign as a major area of focus. Our goal as a Conference is to raise $1.2 million from both large and small donors. The goal is to have met this amount by World Malaria Day in April 2014. This campaign provides so much more than simply treated mosquito nets.  It will complement the success of the Nothing but Nets campaign by adding holistic prevention efforts, providing treatment through existing United Methodist facilities, educating community health works, and providing communication to raise public awareness of bed net usage and when to seek treatment.

When asked what drew her to the Imagine No Malaria campaign, Kerry responded, “I have always believed that one of the gifts of The United Methodist Church is its willingness to put faith into action in bold ways, making a concrete difference in the lives of people around the world. I see Imagine No Malaria as a true healing ministry, saving lives and offering a more abundant life to millions of people in Jesus’ name. No strings attached, just living out God’s love in tangible ways.” She hopes that every church in our Conference “will commit to a plan of education, generosity and advocacy that involves all their members and also reaches out to the wider community.”

Rev. Greenhill has been serving as Associate Pastor at Highlands United Methodist Church in Denver, CO since 2008. This is a one-year part-time position from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013. Kerry is looking forward to working with local churches, districts and the Conference during that time.