Affect the World Forever

Robin Ball is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for Imagine No Malaria in the Rocky Mountain Conference, and also Chair of the Conference Board of Global Ministries. She recently shared some thoughts on her experience going to Angola in 2012 to distribute bed nets, and her enthusiasm for the opportunity that Imagine No Malaria represents:


She ends with:

"It's so exciting that we might actually be able to eliminate a killer, something that affects so many women and children in the world... and it keeps families in poverty. And we really have the opportunity now to eliminate that. So take this opportunity right now, where science is coming together with the political situation, and we have the awareness, and we can raise the money, and really affect the world forever."

It's true - the resources that are available currently make elimination of deaths from malaria possible in our lifetime, something that could quickly slip out of reach if we do not follow through on the massive and comprehensive efforts needed to win a sustainable victory over this disease of poverty. We'll have another video on why that's true from a scientific perspective next week!

If you want to be part of the movement to save lives and end preventable deaths from malaria, please consider making a donation through the Rocky Mountain Conference or at ImagineNoMalaria.org (make sure to check the box at the bottom for your United Methodist affiliation so your church/district/conference gets credit!), or contact Field Coordinator Rev. Kerry Greenhill, 303-733-3736 x152 or kerry (at) rmcumc.com to find out how you can get involved.

Volunteer Training in Denver

Rev. Mike Dent is Senior Pastor
at Trinity UMC, Denver, and Co-
Chair of the Imagine No Malaria
Steering Committee

As we gear up for Annual Conference, with a great Mission Banquet focused on Imagine No Malaria, and invitations to all churches to take this on as a missional focus in the coming year, we anticipate an increase in the need for presentations, resourcing support, and coordination. Because our Field Coordinator is only one person (and part-time at that!), we need to develop a NET-work of volunteers who can help lead campaigns in their churches, speak to other community groups or congregations, and do some behind-the-scenes work like making phone calls and help with reporting. Whatever your gifts, we can find a way for you to serve! And so...
 

All YOU are invited to our first Volunteer Training for Imagine No Malaria in the Rocky Mountain Conference:

Rev. Kerry Greenhill, Field Coordinator,
speaks to the Plains Sub-District at Limon
UMC in April. This could be you!

Who: YOU! And any friends, coworkers, neighbors, classmates who might be interested.

When: Tuesday, May 28, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Where: Trinity UMC, 1820 Broadway, Denver 
Cost: Free! And snacks will be provided!
RSVP: Rev. Kerry Greenhill, Field Coordinator, 303-733-3736 x152, or kerry @ rmcumc.com.

Learn more about how the people of The United Methodist Church are putting their faith into action to end preventable deaths from malaria in Africa. If you've heard a little about Imagine No Malaria but want to get more of the nitty-gritty details, or if you're passionate about the cause and want to volunteer - either in your local church or at the district or conference level - this is a great opportunity to get the information and resources you've been wanting!

Please let us know you're coming so we can prepare enough materials for everyone. Feel free to call or email with questions as well.

Would you walk 100 miles to save lives?

Rev. Will Morris, pastor at Burns Memorial UMC in Aurora, Colorado, has challenged his congregation to a unique undertaking: walk, run, bike, or swim 100 miles to raise money for Imagine No Malaria. He just completed his own challenge, by walking 100 miles in less than a week! Here's his story, in his own words:

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Several years ago, after a sermon and subsequent Bible Study discussion on caring for our physical bodies, I started the Kingdom Walkers. This is a small group of people who meet most Sundays after church (in good weather) to walk and share fellowship -- 30-90 minutes depending upon the interest and fitness of the walkers. We handed out pedometers and had various recognition pins for walking milestones. Recently interest has waned, so Imagine No Malaria seemed like an ideal reason to rejuvenate this group and take on an important ministry at the same time.

The 100 Miles Toward No Malaria Challenge was born. Here's how I presented it to our church:

"I challenge members of our congregation to walk, run, or bicycle 100 miles in support of our efforts to raise money for Imagine No Malaria. Alone or in pairs or in a group, take on the challenge of walking, running, or bicycling 100 miles (any combination of movement). Take the time you need to make this happen: one week, several weeks, one month – our goal is to celebrate your accomplishments and our donations on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2013. If you want to take longer to do the 100 Mile Challenge, that’s OK, too. Get a pedometer and challenge yourself. Record your mileage on paper and bring it to church. If you don’t want to walk, please consider sponsoring someone who can walk –  1¢ per mile, 10¢ per mile, $1 per mile, you name the amount. Here’s my goal: I plan to do 100 miles in one week. Jane (my wife) and I pledge $1 for each mile of that 100.  

– Pastor Will Morris"

So, after showing several short segments of the Imagine No Malaria DVD, we started off on the 100 Mile Challenge. Several people have accepted the challenge with walking; one older gentleman is using his regular swims as his approach. Two people sponsored my personal challenge.

I have always enjoyed walking and running as a time of prayer and thought, so this was a good opportunity for me. I have never done 100 miles in one week, so this was a stretch. As it turned out it took me 5 days to reach 100 miles. Lots of hours on the road, but it meant I could pray for those who have died from, and who live in the fear of malaria; and for those who are educating people and helping to prevent this disease. God has blessed me with a healthy body and I am grateful to be able to do something to help others.

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John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed that caring for people's bodies is as important as caring for their souls. What a wonderful way to demonstrate God's care for ALL bodies, by encouraging healthful behavior in our own community and giving of our resources for those who suffer from a preventable and treatable disease in other parts of the world! Blessings to all the Kingdom Walkers at Burns Memorial UMC!

Compassion AND justice

Back: Jennifer Long, Charissa Shawcross, Adlene Kufarimai,
Linda Caldwell, Bonnie Marden, Kerry Greenhill
Front: Jill Wondel, Tami Coleman, Kristen Cates

I recently spent a week in Nashville with a dozen passionate and thoughtful church leaders from across the U.S. to be trained in how to go about organizing our campaigns for Imagine No Malaria. There was a lot of joking that since I'd been on the job for three months already, I could lead the training rather than receive it, but I gained a great deal from the stories people shared, the best practices recommended by the more experienced Field Coordinators, and above all from the connections built among those of us setting out on this journey at about the same time in our respective annual (regional) conferences.

As we talked with some of the communications staff connected with Imagine No Malaria, we were asked why we are passionate about the cause. Staff writer/editor Barbara Dunlap-Berg quoted part of my response in an article posted today to the Imagine No Malaria website:

“What excites me about the campaign is that this is a ministry of health and healing that is about both compassion and justice. Not only are we relieving suffering for thousands of families across Africa; we are also empowering local leaders through training, support and accountability to develop the infrastructure that will support future public health efforts in a sustainable way.
“Children in the United States don’t have to worry that they might die from a mosquito bite, but children in Africa still do. I believe that just as Jesus made healing a central part of his ministry, we as the body of Christ today have a calling to offer healing, wholeness and abundant life in Jesus’ name.”

The difference, to me, between ministries of compassion and justice, is that compassion means we are responding to an immediate need to alleviate suffering, but justice requires working for a world where needless suffering doesn't happen in the first place. I believe that Jesus calls his followers to both justice and compassion, even when it is inconvenient or means we have to give up some privilege or comfort for the sake of others. 

Bishop Elaine and others are greeted by children in Angola

Through Imagine No Malaria, followers of Jesus in the United States (and plenty of non-Christians who are invited to take part in our work) have an opportunity to give of the resources God has entrusted to them (us) for the sake of the well-being of our sisters and brothers in Africa. And the way we are working together, donors and recipients, fundraisers and health care providers, advocates and administrators, provides a foundation of just and mutual relationships that could bring us a few steps closer to realizing the kin'dom of God here on earth.  

When we recognize our interconnectedness in these networks and communities built on mutual respect and love for neighbor, we are all beneficiaries of the act of sharing and giving, both "rich" and "poor" alike, wherever our home, however safe or vulnerable we currently feel. Living in a world of gross inequity impoverishes us all, though clearly some suffer greater physical consequences than others. 

This is at least part of the meaning of abundant life, that “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little” (2 Cor 8:15). And this is why I agree with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who declared, “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”  

I hope you will consider joining us as we seek to offer healing, wholeness, and abundant life through Imagine No Malaria in the Rocky Mountain Conference and around the world.

World Malaria Day

This Thursday, April 25, is World Malaria Day. It's a time when everyone involved in the fight to end preventable deaths from malaria - churches, NGOs, hospitals, research labs, donors, advocates, government leaders, health care professionals, community educators, public health officials, and others - joins together to help raise awareness of malaria and invite others to join us in saving lives. In case this is your first time to the blog, here are the statistics:

• Malaria is a disease transmitted through the bite of a mosquito. 
• Left untreated, its flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, vomiting, headache) lead to convulsions, organ failure and countless unnecessary deaths.
• One in five children in Africa does not reach their 5th birthday because of malaria. 
• Over 655,000 people die each year because of malaria.
• Malaria is preventable, treatable and beatable: To overcome malaria, we must continue to support the most effective prevention methods. We also must improve education about the disease, continue to establish community-based malaria-control programs, conduct communications and revitalize hospitals and clinics to improve treatment across Africa.
• Imagine No Malaria is an expression of the United Methodist Global Health Initiative to raise $75 million to fight malaria on the African continent. 
• Through Imagine No Malaria, 1.2 million insecticide-treated nets have been distributed, impacting 2.4 million lives. A total of 13 health boards have been created with responsibilities in 16 countries and 5,800 health care workers have been trained.

World Malaria Day is a great opportunity to take the first step in joining the people of The United Methodist Church as we Imagine No Malaria, and then help make that vision a reality. Or, if you've already taken some first steps, it's an opportunity to pray and reflect on whether God might be nudging you to go a step further, whether that's through Advocacy on behalf of those suffering from malaria, Raising Awareness among your church or community, Raising Funds alone or with a group of like-minded friends, Engaging the Community to invite others into this extraordinary effort, or volunteering at the local, district, or conference (regional) level to support this ministry behind the scenes. Check out the Resources to Get Involved page for a complete list of ideas on how you can take part.

Our movement begins and is surrounded by prayer: Join Imagine No Malaria as we pray for all who are affected by this preventable and treatable disease.  As people of faith, we will once again through prayer ask God to bless and protect those who suffer with malaria but to also bless and protect those who  are working toward malaria’s elimination as a disease of poverty. Visit ImagineNoMalaria.org each day this week for a daily prayer, and lend your social media network to our Change the World campaign at Thunderclap to help us get the word out to invite prayers for all affected by malaria.

This year, our program staff at the General Board of Church and Society are particularly encouraging Imagine No Malaria supporters to take part in an advocacy movement to let our elected leaders know how important Global Health funding is to us as people of faith. Please consider writing to your Senators and Representatives to ask for continued support of Global Health Assistance for diseases of poverty like malaria. You can send an electronic letter simply by entering your zip code and contact information at the GBCS page for World Malaria Day Advocacy.

(There are two other petitions you can sign onto at UMPower.org: Moms for Moms, and Stand with Us Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.)

If you're able to make a donation to move us toward our goal of ending deaths from malaria in Africa, you can do that here (2nd box down) or here (be sure to check the box near the bottom of the form for your United Methodist church/district/conference affiliation). We most often use $10, the cost of providing an insecticide-treated bed net, as our reference point for what it takes to save a life, but if you're looking for more detail, here are a few other comparisons:

Bishop Elaine helping hang a bed net in Angola

$5.00    Provides medication to treat someone with malaria
$10.00    Purchases one insecticide-treated mosquito net
$20.00    Pays for the cost of food and treatment of anemia in a pregnant women with malaria
$50.00    Buys 25 Rapid Diagnostic Kits for malaria
$100.00    Covers the expenses for an anti-malaria campaign in a local school
$200.00    Trains Traditional Birth Attendants in malaria prevention and treatment.
$500.00    Provides all the expenses for a one day community leader training for 35-40 people on malaria prevention.

And this is a great time for starting a plan to engage your community, whether through a church-sponsored event, a school-based awareness campaign, or another creative approach to inviting others to join you in saving lives. If you want to be trained to volunteer for Imagine No Malaria, be sure to contact me, kerry (at) rmcumc.com, so I can include you in plans for volunteer trainings this summer.

Whatever action you take for World Malaria Day, please let us know about it through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RockyMountainConferenceUMC), Twitter (https://twitter.com/RMCbuzz), or by email (kerry [at] rmcumc.com). Tell us the story of what this means to you, how many lives you plan to save, how you are inviting others to make a difference through this extraordinary, life-saving ministry, so we can continue to build the movement. Thank you for all you are doing, and remember, it is God who is at work in you and through you to bring more abundant life to our sisters and brothers around the world!

Mary & Martha: A story of two moms united to fight malaria

Share an evening with Oscar award-winning actress Hilary Swank!

Watch the Trailer Now

No plans this weekend? Throw a party to save lives! 

Gather your friends to watch the HBO premiere of Mary and Martha, a dramatic story about two courageous women. The movie stars Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn.

The TV drama is about two moms – one in Africa and one in the United States – whose lives become intertwined as they face the same reality: malaria kills both of their sons.

Offer guests a “night on the town” in front of your TV. Not only will it be an entertaining opportunity for friends to sample your best party recipes; you may also open eyes to the human pain and suffering caused by this preventable disease.

Movie watchers can join the cause and donate $10 to Imagine No Malaria by texting ‘MOM’ to 27722. 

If they (or you!) are moved to do more, contact Field Coordinator, Rev. Kerry Greenhill, to learn about upcoming volunteer trainings and other ways to get involved: call 303-733-3736 x152 or email kerry (at) rmcumc.com.

“Mary and Martha” premieres Saturday, April 20, at 8 p.m. EDT on HBO. (It is also scheduled to air Sunday, April 21, at 12:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday, April 23, at 10 a.m. Check local listings for your time zone.)

If you have been looking for a fun way to take the next step in being involved with Imagine No Malaria, this is it! Get exclusive content, including a movie-watching party planning kit, costume tips and more, from http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/maryandmartha/.

Honor Your Mother

New Imagine No Malaria Field Coordinators on our tour of
United Methodist Communications during training

This week I'm at Field Coordinator Training in Nashville with colleagues from eight other annual conferences who are just starting their journey with Imagine No Malaria. As we dive deep into the facts and stories of this extraordinary effort to reduce preventable malaria deaths in Africa, we spend a lot of time talking about the impact of this initiative on families. Statistically, 85% of those who die from malaria are children under 5 years old. That's a statistic that is made even more compelling when we see the photos of infants, toddlers, and preschool-age kids in Africa who are actually suffering from, or have survived in spite of, malaria.

But the other demographic group that is vulnerable to malaria is pregnant women.  The CDC identifies the risks:

Adults who have survived repeated malaria infections throughout their lifetimes may become partially immune to severe or fatal malaria. However, because of the changes in women’s immune systems during pregnancy and the presence of a new organ (the placenta) with new places for parasites to bind, pregnant women lose some of their immunity to malaria infection.

Malaria infection during pregnancy can have adverse effects on both mother and fetus, including maternal anemia, fetal loss, premature delivery, intrauterine growth retardation, and delivery of low birth-weight infants (<2500 g or <5.5 pounds), a risk factor for death.

It is a particular problem for women in their first and second pregnancies and for women who are HIV-positive.

And the drugs most commonly used to treat malaria carry the risk of stillbirth.

Jennifer Long is a Field Co-
Coordinator in Missouri

One of the new Field Coordinators here in Nashville with me is a mom and seminary student from Missouri. Jennifer Long contracted malaria unknowingly while on a mission trip to Honduras nearly 8 years ago, and did not get diagnosed until nine months after she returned - when she was four months pregnant with her fourth child. 

Although the diagnosis of malaria was unusual in the midwest, and so took longer than it might in an area where more people experience the disease, Jennifer was fortunate to have access to excellent health care, and her baby was born healthy. But she was devastated by the thought that as she held her beautiful, healthy baby boy, some three thousand mothers were watching their babies die. And all because she was in the U.S., while those other mothers were not. Jennifer has been raising funds through Nothing But Nets throughout her son's life to honor those 3,000 moms, and now is joining the Imagine No Malaria team in the hope that someday, no mother will have to mourn the death of her child due to malaria.

http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/sharethelove/

Today, the number of people who die from malaria has decreased nearly 50% over the statistics from 9 years ago. But approximately fourteen hundred mothers still mourn each day as they watch their children die from malaria. One in five children born in sub-Saharan Africa will die before their fifth birthday, and other families will mourn the loss of a mother.

As Mother's Day approaches next month, we invite you to honor your mother or a maternal figure in your life by making a gift in her honor to Imagine No Malaria. Visit the Share the Love page at the Imagine No Malaria website for Mother's Day resources such as prayers, poems, an inspiring video, and related articles. You can also order Mother's Day cards that let a mother in your life known that you helped save the life of a mother or child in Africa in her name.