Nothing but Nets Becomes Real

Today was an amazing day for everyone on the team. Our group journeyed to the Grand Basaam district, leaving at 7:30 from the hotel (breakfast was a 5:45am – yes AM). We first met the Assistant to the District Director from the Health Ministry at his office and then were dropped of at our sites. We split our Grand Basaam team into pairs and I am teamed with Carmen Rickel, a fellow pastor from the Conference. We were assigned to work at a distribution site at a primary school in Basaam.

To give you some perspective on the project, this week the net distribution is part of a national measles vaccination program. Children from 9 months to 5 years, can come to one of the sites and receive: a vitamin A supplement (helps the immunization work better), a de-worming pill, a measles vaccination, and a long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito bed net. So, at a our site, we were tasked with the job of distributing the nets. These nets are ones purchased by the donations and matching grants received by the Texas Annual Conference. It was an unreal experience to put your hands on nets that people from Texas enabled to be given to the people of Cote d’ Ivoire.

Words cannot adequately describe the experience of giving these nets to children or their mothers as they came through the line. We were set up as the last stop so the children came to us right after getting the shot. Many were crying but some were really brave. They ran the gamut of ages but all of them had that same look after getting a shot. It was so great to see the smiles as I handed them a net. One little girls frown turned to a big smile, as she said “Merci!” (thank you) to me. After that, I knew the whole work of this campaign and trip was worth every ounce of energy.

At our site we gave out just over 500 nets in one day. Our Grand Basaam team gave out just over 2000 nets in one day. The Texas Conference Team approximately 8000 nets in one day alone. You need to know that our team is working only in 5 of the 18 districts targeted in the campaign. In those districts, we are working at 3 sites each. So, our work is a small part of the overall distribution campaign this week. So you can see how it is possible to get 850,000 nets out this week. But how awesome is it to know that our work alone saved over 8000 lives just in one day. That is what Nothing But Nets is about.

Pray for all of us as we look forward to another hard day of work but a blessed day of work tomorrow.