“After leaving the synagogue [Jesus] entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. Then Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.  Immediately she got up and began to serve them.  As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”   ~Luke 4:38-40

Looking for a way to begin a devotional or educational activity about the ELCA Malaria Campaign? One of our favorite Bible stories is the story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law, whose most prominent symptom looks achingly familiar: a high fever that probably meant malaria. Which gives us… a story of Jesus curing malaria!

There are wonderful insights to be gained from this brief passage. Recently I heard The Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, coordinator of the ELCA Malaria Campaign, give a devotion based on this story. I remember her passion as she noted that this vignette takes place at the setting of the sun. In Jewish tradition, the old day ends and the new day begins at sunset.

We, too, are coming to the end of a day– the end of the day that sees a child die of malaria every 45 seconds. The end of the day that allows pregnant or immuno-compromised people to die of a preventable and treatable disease.  The end of a day where the tiny parasite wins. We’re entering a new day– a day in which, together with our partners in Africa and all over the globe, we can overcome malaria.

Rebuke the fever! (photo: ACT alliance)

Like Jesus, we see healing as a vocation– a call from our creator to heal all of God’s people.  A call to work together with our companions in Africa to “rebuke the fever.”

~ Jessica Nipp, ELCA Malaria Campaign

At the beginning of the fund-raising effort, mosquitoes "swarm" the sanctuary at Zion Lutheran Church, Marinette, WI.

800,000 people die every year of malaria. That’s more than 2,000 a day.

I’m proud to that our church– ELCA members, congregations and synods– is working together to overcome this devastating disease, and I wanted to share a story of one of the congregations that has done a great job raising awareness and raising funds for the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

Zion Lutheran Church in Marinette, WI started with some modest goals: to educate their congregation about the global realities of malaria and how they could help, and to raise $2,000 for ELCA Malaria Campaign projects in Africa.

Zion’s pastor, Keith Kolstad, had previously taken a sabbatical to Tanzania, where he experienced first-hand the devastating effects of malaria. One of the pastors he worked with, the chaplain at the cathedral in Dar Es Salaam, lost his 18-month-old daughter to malaria while Pr. Kolstad was there. Fueled by the certainty that even one such death is too many, the congregation at Zion got to work.

The congregation’s $2,000 goal was represented by two thousand mosquito symbols that were hung from the sanctuary ceiling.  The plan was to “rid” the building of one mosquito for each dollar that members and friends of Zion Lutheran Church contributed to the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

Well, the mosquitoes at Zion Lutheran Church have been eradicated, and then some.  Zion’s members responded to a critical need by giving $17,296.85… more than 8 times their goal! I’m inspired by the creativity and generosity of Zion’s members. I hope you will be, too.

~Jessica Nipp, ELCA Malaria Campaign

In the global movement to fight malaria, we often hear the phrase “nothing but nets.” It’s catchy and alliterative and makes the containment of malaria sound oh-so simple; really it’s everything a catchphrase ought to be.

And mosquito nets, especially long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs), are truly wonderful instruments. They’re one concrete way to help households and communities prevent the bites from malaria-infected mosquitoes. Nets are cheap and effective, and through the efforts of many of our colleagues in global health ministries, they’re becoming widely available in Africa and in other areas where malaria impacts lives. Plus, they make great visual aids for a congregation that chooses to tackle the important task of raising awareness and funds to fight malaria.

But it would be a misnomer to apply the phrase “nothing but nets” to the work of the ELCA Malaria Campaign. Nets are definitely one part of the efforts our Lutheran companions are mounting to prevent and treat malaria in Africa, but they are just that– one part of the larger efforts. Our companions in Africa have created malaria containment programs that are creative, multi-faceted and sustainable, and respond to the specific needs and cultural dynamics  of their contexts. These programs take advantage of the most current medical and epidemiological insights about how to prevent and treat malaria, such as:

• indoor residual spraying
• up-to-date diagnostic equipment and testing
• artemisinin-based combination therapies

They also provide education to help individuals lower the impact of malaria in their lives. They teach:

• the efficacy of spraying
• how and why to implement mosquito nets in their household
• preventative measures for pregnant women
• the elimination of environmental conditions that encourage mosquito reproduction
• how to recognize the symptoms of malaria and when to seek medical attention

Our companions have many creative plans to impart these lessons, from training an advocacy choir in Zimbabwe to sing about malaria prevention and treatment, to purchasing bicycles for members of village health teams in Malawi.

In this newspaper article, Bishop Bvumbwe of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi weighs in about the ELCM’s approach to malaria work. He says what’s needed first in his context is education; nets come later.     And so the ELCA Malaria Campaign will be there, leveraging your donations to supply what’s needed most (nets and more!), accompanying our companions as together we equip households to keep themselves safe from malaria.

– Jessica Nipp, ELCA Malaria Campaign