Nothin But Nets

My Sister Salma
In the summer of 2014 I was given a scholarship to travel and live in Tanzania for one month. I was fortunate to be paired with a host family I depended on, and who would soon depend on me. Unexpectedly, one of my host sisters, Salma, got incredibly sick during my stay and we later found out that she was infected with Malaria. I was there with her throughout the process – from diagnosis to treatment.

When I saw the quality of their bed nets, I began to understand just how difficult it is to supply people with good nets due to how easily they tear. I went with Salma to the clinic to get treatment. When I saw just how easy it was to obtain treatment, and heard how treatable it is, I was confused as to why so many people where dying of it. The more I learned, I understood that it was expensive and clinics were far away. Although relatively easy to treat, it was not cheap by the standards of Tanzania residents.

Once I returned, I knew I couldn't forget an experience like that. I knew I had to do something.

I decided to collaborate with my school on a long-standing tradition, Mr. QV. This pageant is how our Prom King is chosen, complete with a grand entrance, talent portion, and mystery round. With the help of my National Honors Society that raised $1,000 and provided the funding to Nothing But Nets.

I continue to strive to help fight malaria because of people like Salma. Due to the lack of access to communication, I have not been able to contact her or my host family. Although I haven't been able to contact her, the fact that she is out there gives me the motivation to work hard every day. My wish is to one day return and see Salma and my host family again and I am currently applying for

I give to Nothing But Nets because for every story like Salma's, there is another story that didn’t turn out as lucky. Malaria is an ongoing problem and continues to claim lives of innocent people. Every sixty seconds, a child dies from malaria. This disease is preventable with something so simple; a bed net. This holiday season, give thanks for your health and think of others who are less fortunate. Help save a life and donate to Nothing But Nets (http://nothingbutnets.net/).

Bottles for Bed Nets

'Left. Right. Left,' I think to myself, praying I don't trip over my new heels as I walk towards Senator Boxer's office on Capitol Hill. I take a deep breath and knock. How did I get here? The answer is unusual, rewarding, and well…smelly. Trash.

To most people, trash is best hidden from sight. But for me, trash is how I connect to my community and give back to families in sub-Saharan Africa. While surfing the Internet in eighth grade, I discovered Nothing But Nets (http://nothingbutnets.net/), a charity that distributes anti-malarial, life-saving bed nets that only cost ten dollars each. Inspired by the direct impact my $10 could make, I decided to join the global fight against malaria in my own way – by creating something long-lasting that could start a conversation.

I founded a charity called Bottles for Bed Nets, in which my friends and I collect recyclables weekly from our neighbors and put the money towards supplying bed nets.

Since the creation of Bottles for Bed Nets, my friends and I have organized four annual bottle drives at local schools where we teach students how easily bed nets can protect families from malaria, a disease that kills a child every minute. Upon hearing this information, students enthusiastically bring and sort bottles in exchange for community service credit and the promise of saving lives. They rip open enormous trash bags full of bottles as they struggle to ignore the overpowering smell of spoiled milk.


Now, it’s not uncommon for mysterious trash bags from strangers to appear at my family’s front doorstep. Recently, an article about Bottles for Bed Nets published a year ago in ThinkCERCA received 14,000 views. And yet, despite all the progress we’ve made, as I head to the doors of my Senators and Representatives to advocate on behalf of Nothing But Nets and to share my story, I'm still just as nervous as when I first knocked on a neighbor's door. But hey, at least I haven't tripped yet!

When I was younger I struggled with reading. What seemed so simple for others was torture for me. My mom helped me discover that if I practiced my reading skills by following recipes I could create something delicious and reading would become a positive experience. But cooking has not only become a passion or a way to read better. It’s also how I give back.

In the time it takes you to read this essay a child in sub-Saharan Africa will die from Malaria. Over 75% of overall deaths from this disease occur in children under the age of five robbing them the opportunity to have their own creative passions, like cooking. The difference between this and many other diseases affecting children in Africa is that malaria is 100% preventable by use of a simple bednet.

During the summer of 2011, I began to search for an idea to help fight malaria for my middle school civics service project. While taking a break and watching a show on Hulu, I saw an advertisement for a non-profit organization called Nothing But Nets (http://nothingbutnets.net/). One of their goals is to provide lifesaving bednets to Africa. When I saw that the cost of purchasing a bednet, distributing a bednet, and educating health workers only cost ten dollars, I knew this was something I could tackle. From then I was hooked and knew that cooking was my catalyst for saving lives.

I have baked and sold homemade treats – the ones I had perfected through years of reading practice – dedicating the funds raised to purchase lifesaving bednets. To date I have raised over $16,100 and hope to raise $17,500 by my high school graduation in June 2016.

My future plans include the purchase and full operation of a dedicated food truck to raise funds for lifesaving nets. I have already started a small company called “Kevin’s Confections for a Cause” which is a food truck that will have the potential to reach hundreds of people every day with a simple and low cost cure for defeating Malaria. Many things in life have not come easy for me but giving back is the simplest thing I have ever done.

Our Giving Story
The art of teaching revolves around giving. In the fall of 2013, our fourth grade class became dedicated to creating a class project that would merge learning with providing aid to people across the world. Jena, a student with special needs, suggested that our class support Nothing But Nets (http://nothingbutnets.net/), a global grassroots campaign which seeks to save lives by preventing malaria. Not only did she educate her peers, but she also opened our eyes to the fact that malaria is a leading killer of children, under the age of five.

Our students quickly realized that in order to achieve this goal they would have to educate their schoolmates by developing empathy and building awareness of people’s conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. Collectively, they decided to create a campaign traveling from class to class, educating children about malaria and how to best prevent it.

The outpouring was resounding—we collected over $3,000 in change just from the students in our elementary school, in one-hour lunch periods over the course of three days. Our students experienced firsthand what it feels like to make a difference which impacted families just like their own, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Because of our work, we along with nine students and their families were invited to join Nothing But Nets at their inaugural Champions Summit to participate in a symposium which culminated in a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill. Our ten-year-olds sat in congressional offices, using bold voices to share their story and advocate for the appropriation of funding for the Global Fund and the President’s Malaria Initiative.

This powerful experience encouraged our new fourth grade class of 2014-2015, to continue our work. Our class adopted a motto to describe their efforts – Read to Learn, Write to Understand, Share to Teach. Our students cultivated interest through pamphlets, articles, poetry, comic strips, speeches, and PowerPoint presentations. The highlight of our efforts was a benefit concert that educated the community about malaria as a global health issue and bed nets as an effective way to prevent this disease. We raised over $1,000 for Nothing But Nets through this project.

In all of our various ongoing awareness raising projects, the curiosity in our student’s voices and twinkle in their eyes from fighting malaria serves as validation that our risk-taking in the classroom by way of service learning has delivered powerful results. We are teaching our students the importance of giving to others.