It's just a bug... right?

In my years of being a camp counselor, I can’t tell you how many times I have told screaming 10 year old girls (and boys, occasionally) “Calm down! It’s just a bug!” I also can’t tell you how many times I have sprayed campers with bug spray or gotten itch cream for a kid with a bug bite. I myself have suffered from the incessant itching of countless bug bites. But none of these experiences were particularly remarkable for me because people can’t die of a bug bite… right?

In reality, 750,000 people die of a bug bite each year. 2,000 children die each day… of a bug bite. What is this horrible bug? Is it the black widow spider, some kind of killer bee? No, it is a mosquito. Malaria is one of the leading causes of death for the developing world… and it’s entirely preventable.

In mid-January, the office of LUCSA, the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, held a conference and planning meeting to develop their 2011 Malaria program strategy. This program is relatively new and at this point is entirely funded by the ELCA. Five countries within Southern Africa were represented at this meeting by their Malaria project coordinators and field officers. The week consisted of reporting on the past year’s activities and proposals of the upcoming year’s plans and budgets. Programming varied from net distribution and instruction, to destruction of mosquito breeding grounds to education for identifying symptoms of malaria and rapid response. Observing these meetings was such an awesome experience for me and I felt honored to witness such an important meeting that will save thousands of lives in southern Africa.

Malaria is not a major problem in the country of South Africa. I have anti-malaria medication in a drawer somewhere for when I travel to the eastern part of the country where there are game reserves and the malaria-risk goes up. But I rarely think about malaria here. How often do North Americans think of this deadly disease? Probably about as often as I do here in South Africa. Malaria was eradicated from North America in 1950. Since then, 41 million people have died of malaria in the rest of the world. How is this possible? We know how to prevent malaria. We ourselves have purged it from our country and continent, saving the lives of our children and future generations. The issue of malaria in developing countries is not just an issue of public health. It is also an issue of economics and social justice.

On one of the first days of the malaria meetings, Rev. Benyam Kassahun of ELCA Global Mission delivered an important message to those in attendance at the conference. He stated that North America does not face the challenge of malaria. We have not had to think about this problem for decades. However, here in Africa, malaria is a problem. A part of the body of Christ has a problem with malaria and so the entire body is affected. Thus, we DO have a problem with malaria in North America. We are compelled by our understanding of the gospel to solve this issue and work together to save the lives that are being lost.

Why is this such a difficult concept for us to grasp and act upon? Children are dying of a preventable disease; a disease that we know how to stop and that we put an end to for ourselves a long time ago. Yet somehow, it continues. Why is it so easy for us to push such issues out of our minds and turn a blind eye? Is it because we are so far removed from it that it doesn’t feel like real people are dying? Does it simply fit our picture of “poor Africa” and we have accepted that these things happen in “Africa”? If 2,000 American children died each day of a preventable disease, what would be the response of our people and our government? If 250 million Americans were infected each year by this deadly disease (more than 75% of our country’s population) how would this change our perspective? Now imagine if this was the health crisis in America and there was another country somewhere that had solved these issues for its own people over 60 years ago. If that’s not injustice, I don’t know what is… So why are we allowing it to continue?

More and more, I am discovering how ignorant we are of how the policies and economy of the U.S. impact the lives of people around the world. We are dependent on the rest of the world for so much and yet we sometimes act as if we are functioning in a vacuum. We only see the issues that are right in front of us and we do not bother to understand the way our policies impact the entire world. I, too, am guilty of this ignorance. I have never completely understood global economics or the centuries of war that have shaped our influence around the globe. However, being aware of these issues that impact so many is the first step in understanding our position in the world. This knowledge moves us towards finding solutions for problems that affect millions of fellow humans.

Not only are we morally obligated as members of the human race to make ourselves aware of these issues, but as Christians we are, as Rev Kassahun said, compelled by the gospel to face such issues head-on. Christ challenges us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. To address their issues as we address our own. What would Christ’s life and ministry look like without empathy for the stranger? What would be notable about his life if he was only healing his friends and disciples? Always curing his own headaches and bruises and drying the tears of his own family? Perhaps the most remarkable, compelling and confusing parts of the gospel are moments in which Christ welcomes a stranger or an outcast to be part of a miracle or part of his ministry. Repeatedly we hear the stories of lepers, prostitutes, Samaritans, or just strangers who Jesus comes across and treats as equals. We must emulate this example and learn that while there is nothing we can DO to earn God’s love, the only appropriate response to the wonderful gift of grace we receive is to love others as God has loved us. This love we must have for others means that malaria must be ended for all people.


All figures and demographics included in this essay were provided by the World Vision campaign to end malaria, the World Health Organization and the U.S. census bureau. Check out the World Vision campaign to end malaria website to find out more about advocacy opportunities and for more information about ending malaria by 2015. www.endmalaria.org. Additionally, you can contribute to the ELCA Malaria fund at www.elca.org or you can make a donation to directly provide nets to those in need through ELCA Good Gifts. Thank you!