Thousands of supporters, One thing in common

Editor’s Note: For the 5-year anniversary of the Nothing But Nets campaign, we’ve asked our team to look back at their favorite moments of the last five years and will post their blogs here leading up to our anniversary on November 14th. Send us your Nothing But Nets story and we might feature you too!

I’ve worked for the Nothing But Nets campaign for about two and a half years. I started my job shortly after finishing graduate school, and I felt lucky just to be employed! I quickly learned I was lucky to be part of this campaign for so many reasons. As a former Model United Nations delegate, I enjoy the opportunity to contribute to the work of the UN. I also get to work with amazing Nothing But Nets supporters who help protect children across Africa from malaria -- a cause I deeply care about.

Every day, I have the pleasure of speaking with people of all ages and from all walks of life. Some are kids who have “donated” their birthday to raise money for bed nets; some are entrepreneurs who want to include saving lives in their business plan; and some are people who have had malaria themselves and know how devastating the disease can be. Everyone I talk with is different, and yet, they have one thing in common: they want to help end malaria deaths in Africa.

The best part is: it’s working! When I started, malaria killed a child in Africa every 30 seconds and now, because of bed nets and other prevention tools, we’ve pushed that statistic to 45 seconds. This is impressive progress -- but even one death from malaria is too many.

As our Nothing But Nets team prepares to celebrate our 5-year anniversary with everyone who’s joined us in the fight against malaria, I’d like to thank our incredible supporters for being a daily inspiration in our work to send nets and save lives.