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By Linda Worthington
UMConnection Staff

Malaria is an old, old disease. It’s been killing for thousands of years; since the time of King Tut. But The United Methodist Church believes now is the time to stop the death and suffering by this disease.

“Our goal is to raise $75 million for this fight against malaria,” said Pittsburgh Area Bishop Thomas Bickerton, who heads the campaign for the denomination. Already the denomination has reached $60,000,000, mostly as a result of grassroots efforts.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has pledged $2.1 million as part of that overall commitment and has $800,000 more to raise, said David Simpson, who with his wife Sylvia Simpson is coordinating the BWC campaign.

“Our goal is to have every church be involved,” he said.

To that end, they have organized each district to have five or six key organizers who can provide ideas and resources for each church.

If every church would raise $30 per average worshipper, Simpson said, the conference would meet its $2.1 million goal. Simpson said that the endpoint for the goal is for commitments – either checks or pledges – to be submitted at this year’s Annual Conference session.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 24 percent of all early childhood deaths are due to malaria. That’s a staggering number, but unless you have had malaria or seen someone in the grip of the disease, it’s hard to imagine the suffering.

The Rev. Cecil Mudede of Glen Mar UMC, knows what it was like.

“I suffered from malaria when I was about 9 years old and later on when I was a high school student at United Methodist Church School, Murewa High,” he said. “The symptoms were high fever with extreme body temperatures.”  He also experienced headaches and nausea, he said.

Most of his family members suffered at one time or another. The disease, in the 70s, was treated with chloroquine, as is still the case today. Malaria parasites enter the body through the mosquito bites, and then live in body tissues such as red blood cells or the liver. Chloroquine prevents the development of malaria parasites in the blood.

The Rev. Bruce Jones, who serves LaPlata UMC, was raised in a missionary family in what was then the Congo from 1956 to 1961. He also had malaria when he was 5 years old. He also reported about the high fevers and extreme chills, but what he really remembers was the terrible medicine.

“I remember how awful quinine was,” he said; he had to take it for many weeks. “If you don’t get the meds, it can cause death.”

Though children are the most vulnerable, malaria is no respecter of persons. Last year the grown daughter of United Methodist bishop Gabriel Unda Yemba of the East Congo Episcopal Area died of malaria. Her mother had also died of malaria in 2007.

This work in Africa is our United Methodist faith in action, Simpson said. As you join in the campaign, expect to change the world.

The UM Imagine No Malaria suggests several fronts on which to attack malaria and be part of the campaign, in addition to raising the necessary funds:

For more information, visit www.bwcumc.org/ImagineNoMalaria/resources.

$10buys a life-saving, insecticide treated bed net

$20pays for the cost of food and treatment of anemia in a pregnant woman with malaria

$50provides malaria medication to treat ten adults

$100covers the cost of an anti-malaria campaign in a local school

$200trains traditional birth attendants in malaria prevention and treatment

$500provides all the resources for a one-day community leader training for 35-40 people on malaria prevention

$28/monthover three years adds up to a pledge of $1,000 that will save 100 lives - that’s a whole community!