This post is written by Melanie Brooks, Communications and Media Coordinator for CARE. She is currently in Haiti.

Feb. 7, 2010

Night falls, and one by one, the candles flicker on in the camps — tiny pinpricks of light in a city clad in darkness. As the sun retreats, the muffled cries begin. And the women creep deeper into their flimsy shelters of bed sheets and plastic tarps, praying for the morning to come.

The women here talk of 'mauvais esprits' (bad spirits) stalking the survivors of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti Jan. 12. Stories of rape are spreading like wildfire through the camps, where hundreds of thousands of people are huddled together under flimsy shelters, sleeping cheek by jowl.

“It happens at night,” said Hannah, a nurse who sleeps in a makeshift tent in a crowded camp in Pacot, one of the most dangerous spontaneous camps that has sprung up in the city of Port-au-Prince after the quake. She speaks softly, tilting her head so as not to be overheard.

“Young men come with weapons, and rape the women. They haven't reported it, because the services don't exist anymore. The hospitals, the police — everything was destroyed in the earthquake.”

Cases of rape and sexual violence were high even before the earthquake, and rates of violence have increased after previous disasters. Darkened streets due to lack of electricity, crowded makeshift camps and unprotected bathing and toilet areas leave women and girls particularly vulnerable to harassment and sexual violence. Husbands and brothers try to provide protection, and women pass whispered warnings to each other.

But every night as darkness falls, the terror starts anew.

“We cry. We sleep. But it is a half-sleep; we are always waiting for something to happen,” said Hannah. “In my family, there is always someone keeping watch outside while the others sleep. I have a five-year-old daughter, and I'm terrified for her. They have no pity. There are men who rape girls as young as six months old in Haiti.”

In the rural areas around Léogâne, women talk of the added fear of escaped convicts from the collapsed prison roaming the countryside.

“At night, we are afraid. We hear stories of rapes in the camp next to ours,” said 23-year-old Rachelle, casting a furtive look over her shoulder. “There's nothing we can do. There's no protection. Men have started following us to the street to watch us bathe. We are afraid they will come back at night.”

The women have simple requests: tents to be safe, bathing facilities for women in a well-lit area, separate toilets for men and women. CARE is working to meet those needs, but it is a long-term solution to the plague of sexual violence in Haiti that is crucial.

“In the short-term, we need to make confidential clinical services available to treat survivors of rape including psychosocial support and security. Women need to know where they can get these services. At the same time we must do all we can to prevent it. Sexual violence was a problem in Haiti before the earthquake and we know it increases in these types of situations,” said Janet Meyers, CARE's Senior Advisor for Sexual and Reproductive Health in Emergencies. “After the earthquake, everyone is sleeping in camps. They have enough problems, without this fear as well.”

CARE is working to re-establish reporting procedures, and ensuring confidential, quality services, including clinical management of rape, emergency contraception and psychosocial support, are available to treat survivors of rape and sexual violence.

But for women like Hannah and Rachelle, the time needed to make those changes are measured in the slow passing of each dark Haiti night, waiting for the mauvais esprits to pass by their tent.

Names have been changed to protect identities.

via Reuters AlertNet — Bad spirits stalk Haiti camps.

From USA Today, writer Wendy Koch gives us more details from the study.

“This is a crisis,” says Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America. “People need to understand that this is America, and we’re seeing this kind of need.” She says the report is her group’s most comprehensive study on emergency food distribution.

It comes as a record number of Americans are receiving food stamps — 33.7 million last year — and as President Obama, who has set a goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015, proposed in his budget Monday to add $1 billion annually to school-based food programs.
…

The Agriculture Department reported in November that 14.6% of households didn’t have enough food at some time in 2008.

Feeding America based its report on 61,000 interviews with people seeking food aid and 37,000 surveys of food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and other programs affiliated with Feeding America food banks.

More than a third of those interviewed said they had to choose between food and other necessities, including rent, utilities and health care. The average monthly income of households seeking help, $940, is below the $1,214 federal poverty level for a two-person household.

“Our system is overburdened,” Escarra says. She says companies, individuals and the federal government have increased donations, but food banks are still struggling to keep up with demand.

Sourced from: Poverty News Blog

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States.” Though 145 years have passed, slavery continues to flourish and more people are enslaved today than ever before. Nevertheless, Freedom Day honors an important milestone for eradicating slavery and acknowledging the fundamental aberration of the crime. The day also serves as an opportunity for anti-trafficking organizations and activists to revitalize their work.

As President Obama stated in his proclamation “The United States was founded on the principle that all people are born with an unalienable right to freedom — an ideal that has driven the engine of American progress throughout our history. As a Nation, we have known moments of great darkness and greater light; and dim years of chattel slavery illuminated and brought to an end by President Lincoln's actions and a painful Civil War. Yet even today, the darkness and inhumanity of enslavement exists. Millions of people worldwide are held in compelled service, as well as thousands within the United States… [W]e acknowledge that forms of slavery still exist in the modern era, and we recommit ourselves to stopping the human traffickers who ply this horrific trade.”

National Freedom Day is an opportunity to honor and remember the important work to eradicate slavery that has been done and to recommit efforts to deliver on the 13th Ammendment's declaration that slavery shall not exist in the United States, while expanding that promise so that slavery does not exist anywhere in the world.

Picture by Josh Nichols

via The Human Trafficking Project: National Freedom Day 2010.

By Lucia Rodrigues, World Vision Mozambique. Edited by Rachael Dill Boyer, World Vision U.S.

Manuel Andrade’s children enjoy some sweet potatoes, the special root vegetable that helps the family survive the dry season and stay well-nourished.
Photo ©2009 Lucia Rodrigues/World Vision

Editor’s Note: For the Dill family, Christmas dinner — and Thanksgiving, for that matter — wouldn’t be complete without baked yams with butter, brown sugar, real maple syrup, and toasted marshmallows. It’s more like a dessert, but I love it. I am also a huge fan of sweet potato fries. Huge.

I am slightly obsessed with these surprisingly nutritious root vegetables — the orange varieties are full of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, complex carbohydrates, and more. Perhaps that’s why it’s so interesting to me that farmers in Mozambique are feeding and supporting their families by growing drought-resistant varieties of my favorite potato.

Sweet potato farming=drought insurance

Help bring agricultural assistance to hungry children and families, like seeds, tools, training, and more.

At this time of year in Mozambique, most of the farmers’ fields look dry, with some burned spots in preparation for the next season of planting when the rains come. Some families have gloomy faces. They are not sure what will happen: Will the rain be enough to grow crops such as maize, rice, and other basics?

However, Manuel Andrade’s family is having a different experience. He and his wife Emilia look very happy. They are working in their field, cultivating yams, or orange sweet potatoes.

When asked why his mood was so different than the other farmers in the area, Manuel replied: “I am not worried. Until the rains start and we start having new crops, I and my family are fine. I have a farm with orange sweet potatoes. They are right for this season, as there is nothing in the fields, and it is all dry at this time.”

Oddly named, but effective: resisto and gaba-gaba

Manuel proudly displays a set of the sweet potatoes that have helped bring stability and happiness to his family.
Photo ©2009 Lucia Rodrigues/World Vision

“From November to March, the food is very scarce,” Manuel continues. “Since I started farming orange sweet potato, it was in 2007, helped by World Vision, I am having very stable food supply, and I grow two types of [potato]: resisto and gaba-gaba.”

The resisto type of potato grows consistently and flourishes, continuing to be edible long after harvest. Manuel dries the resistos and makes them into flour, so they have food until the other crops come around by mid-March. They also make a juice from the orange sweet potato that the children like because it looks like Fanta.

“Gaga-gaba is less resistant but sweeter,” explains Manuel. “Children eat them cooked and roasted; my kids love them.”

A trail of accomplishments

World Vision started a project in Manuel’s community two years ago to educate local residents on how to farm this valuable root vegetable.
Photo ©2009 Lucia Rodrigues/World Vision

Last year, Manuel harvested three tons of orange sweet potatoes. He sold the surplus, earning more than $1,800 — enough money to build his family a new house and a water pump to irrigate his field.

These blessings are the result of a project that World Vision started two years ago to educate people about techniques for farming, harvesting, and utilizing these miraculous varieties of sweet potatoes. Now, people from Manuel’s village and the surrounding area come to him to buy potato starts so they can grow their own.

“Because of this,” says Manuel, “I am now a contact person for World Vision, and I do help in training other farmers who would like to go into this crop. I do encourage them because I have seen the results and my family is not going hungry.”

Since he began growing the yams in 2007, Manuel’s children have not been malnourished as they were in the past. “I thank World Vision for introducing this type of sweet potato,” he says.

The sweet potato project has come to an end, leaving behind a trail of accomplishments on which the local communities are continuing to build. The miraculous orange sweet potato has impacted thousands of people, including Manuel’s family, improving their health, food security, and quality of life.

Now that’s something to celebrate. Time to pull out those mini-marshmallows!

Sourced from: World Vision Latest News

John O’Malley Burns has been volunteering selflessly in Haiti for the past four years. His commitment? Working with smallholder mango farmers to ensure they receive more of the value of their crops and are encouraged to plant and nurture more trees.

The fledgling Mouvman Moun Mango (also known as 3M) program was just starting to make progress. Thanks to farmers’ hard work and sales of Fair Trade Certified™ mangoes through Whole Foods Market, farmers throughout five different rural regions in Haiti got a bonus at Christmas time. This was meant to help them hold out for better (Fair Trade!) prices during the harvest season and avoid pre-selling their entire crop to middlemen at very low prices.

But the financial, technical, and organizational capacity of these groups was extremely fragile — even before the earthquake. Now, without help to rebuild infrastructure and train leaders, particularly where there have been casualties, the whole program is at risk of collapse.

John writes to us, describing the aftermath of the earthquake: “Downtown Port-au-Prince has been reduced in population by a third or half. Families are still trying to get in touch and find the one or two unaccounted-for people. Communities are working together to organize their own clean up. Tent cities have sprung up on all available open land and few people have gone back indoors to sleep. They construct shelter made of poles and repurposed wood from the rubble — using quilts, sheets, and cardboard as doors.”

He goes on to reflect “After so many years I continue to be amazed by the resilience of the people dealing with the worst of catastrophes. There is an extraordinary opportunity here to bring this economically and socially fractured country together around the common and uniting goal of rebuilding after the quake. How can we make the coming change a lasting change to get the country back to better than it was?”

If you would like to support the effort to build an equitable, sustainable, mango-tree-filled Haiti, please visit http://www.eco-ventures.org/content/view/108/92/ to make a tax-deductible donation via Eco-Ventures, and please remember to specify donated funds are to be directed to Mouvman Moun Mango or 3M.

Checks should be addressed:

EcoVentures International

c/o Lauren Frederic,

1519 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 200

Washington DC 20036.

Thank you for supporting the rebuilding of Haiti.

Sourced from: Fair Trade Certified ™ Blog

$15 — will assist a team of local and international experts in assessing the impact of the recent earthquake on the Vetiver sector. $50 — will provide technical assistance to the Vetiver sector to develop and sustain income generating activities that provide complimentary soil erosion control and flood mitigation benefits. $100 — will help local communities in the South of Haiti establish relationships to sell their products to people and businesses outside of their community and outside of Haiti.

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

As Haiti is already highly devastated from deforestation, the adoption of sustainable practices in Vetiver growing areas provides a symbol of hope, environmental security, and sustainability. Vetiver oil, a primary ingredient in many cosmetic and beauty products, is one of Haiti’s primary exports. The Vetiver plant is grown throughout the south of Haiti and the livelihoods hundreds of thousands of families are connected to the growing, harvesting, and distillation of Vetiver.

Activities

EVI aims to support an immediate assessment of impacts to economic livelihoods in the next three to four weeks and a follow-up mission to provide needed technical assistance to rebuild the Vetiver sector, which so many livelihoods depend on.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Lauren Frederic

1519 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
United States
202–667-0802
Email: lauren@eco-ventures.org

Project Sponsor

EcoVentures International

Organization

EcoVentures International
1519 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 301
Washington, DC 20036
United States
+1 202 667 0802
http://www.eco-ventures.org

Learn more about EcoVentures International and the project team.

EcoVentures International’s Current Projects on GlobalGiving

Green Enterprise for Rural Youth in Tanzania

Sourced from: GlobalGiving Projects - Just added

Children are vulnerable after the Haiti earthquake. World Concern humanitarians are trying to reconnect them with living family members.

The director of World Concern’s humanitarian operations in Haiti called this morning, after a mobile phone network was repaired. Christon Domond said they need our support immediately. The city of Port Au Prince is overwhelmed by dead bodies, and the critical needs for survivors include clean water, medicine, blankets, plastic sheeting — and now — food.

World Concern’s Senior Director of Technical Support (the disaster lady) Merry Fitzpatrick, expects she will be able to fly out of Miami today to assist with the logistics. If a hurricane, civil war or earthquake hit your community, she’s the person you’d want with you, guiding you through the process.

Christon has been able to contact most of the staff, but not all. His family survived. We are also hearing about relatives of staff members who were killed in the earthquake. The primary World Concern building in Haiti remains standing and it is likely that the staff and their families who have lost their homes will live there for the foreseeable future.

World Concern employs more than 100 people in Haiti, a staff of people native to the country, who are trained and ready to respond. Though they may have lost their own homes, and even relatives, they have begun their critical, life-saving work. In the past, they have successfully responded to many disasters, including three 2008 hurricanes.

Seattle-based World Concern has worked in Haiti since 1978 and currently provides hope to 125,000 people. Our work with the poor includes microfinance, agriculture, disaster response and small business development. World Concern works with the poor in 24 countries, with the goal of transforming the lives of those we touch, leading them on a path to self-sustainability.

Worldwide, World Concern offers life, opportunity and hope to more than six million people.

Give online: www.worldconcern.org, or call 1–866-530‑5433

Average Cost of Disaster Supplies:

Blankets: $50 for a family of five

Plastic Sheeting: $20 per family. Good for shelter, lining latrines, other uses

Water purification: $10 for 100 gallons

Food: $1 per meal

Sourced from: Humanitarian Aid and Relief

(CBS) Want to Help the earthquake Victims in Haiti?

Seeking Information on Family Members in Haiti
The U.S. State Department says Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti should call 1–888-407‑4747 or or 202–647-5225.

Due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording. “Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American citizens through our Warden Network,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. “Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.”

The FBI is cautioning Americans who want to donate to Haiti relief funds to be careful. If past tragedies are any indication, not all of them are legitimate.

Text Donations
To make an automatic $10 donation to the Red Cross, text “HAITI” to 90999; the money will be charged directly to your cell phone bill.

To donate $5 via your cellphone to Wyclef Jean’s grassroots organization: text “Yele” to 501501.

Special Report: Haiti Earthquake

A victim of the quake in Port-au-Prince, searches for other survivors on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 after the largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti. (Daniel Morel)

Charitable organizations that offer aid to Haiti:
• American Red Cross: Since its founding in 1881 by visionary leader Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been the nation’s premier emergency response organization.

• Salvation Army: an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

• Action Against Hunger: Named for the original member of the International Network, Action contre la Faim, or ACF, the ACF International Network shares an overall vision of a world without hunger, collaborating closely and sharing human resources, logistics, and technical capacity.

• AmeriCares: a nonprofit disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization which provides immediate response to emergency medical needs — and supports long-term humanitarian assistance programs — for all people around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion.

• American Jewish World Service: American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

• Beyond Borders: Beyond Borders is a registered tax-exempt (501c3) non-profit organization. All contributions are tax-deductible. We are certified by the state of Pennsylvania as a charitable organization.

• CARE: CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.

• Catholic Relief Services: Help CRS rush humanitarian relief to survivors within hours of man-made and natural disasters around the world.

• ConcernUSA.org: a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

• Childcare Worldwide: At Childcare Worldwide, our unique programs not only help feed hungry children and their families, they also help children receive an education that leads to employment. Our goal is to help children survive and succeed.

• Direct Relief International: Since 1948, Direct Relief International has worked to help people who confront enormous hardship to improve the quality of their lives.

• Doctors Without Borders: Doctors Without Borders provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.

• Episcopal Relief & Development : In the aftermath of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, Episcopal Relief & Development is providing critical emergency funds to Haiti.

• Food for the Poor: Food For The Poor ministers to spiritually renew impoverished people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Food For The Poor raises funds and provides direct relief assistance to the poor, usually by purchasing specifically requested materials and distributing them through the churches and charity organizations already operating in areas of need.

• Feed My Starving Children: Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit.

• Friends of WFP : Friends of WFP is a U.S.-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on building support in the United States for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and other hunger relief operations.

• Haitian Health Foundation: The Haitian Health Foundation provides health care, development, relief, and the hope of a future to more than 225,000 of the poorest people in over 100 rural mountain villages in southwestern Haiti.

• Hope for Haiti: Hope for Haiti has held the vision from the very beginning that the people of Haiti are the ones who take control of their future and we are here to lend a needed hand along the difficult path.

• International Medical Corps: International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

• International Relief Teams: International Relief Teams is a nonprofit, international relief organization dedicated to organizing volunteer teams to provide medical and non-medical assistance to the victims of disaster and profound poverty worldwide.

• The Jewish Federations of North America : The Jewish Federations of North America represents 157 Jewish Federations and 400 Network communities, which raise and distribute more than $3 billion annually for social welfare, social services and educational needs.

• Lutheran World Relief : Lutheran World Relief is responding to the affected communities through its partners on the ground in Haiti. LWR anticipates a large response. Every dollar donated to this life-saving effort is critical to providing the necessary emergency support to the people of Haiti.

• Medical Teams International: Since 1979, Medical Teams International has shipped more than $1.3 billion in antibiotics, surgical kits and
lifesaving medicines to care for 35 million people in 100 countries around the world. More than 2000 volunteers meet the needs of people worldwide each year.

• Meds and Food for Kids: Meds & Food for Kids is dedicated to saving the lives of Haiti’s malnourished children and other nutritionally vulnerable people.

• Mercy Corps: Mercy Corps is a team of 3,700 professionals helping turn crisis into opportunity for millions around the world. By trade, we are engineers, financial analysts, drivers, community organizers, project managers, public health experts, administrators, social entrepreneurs and logisticians. In spirit, we are activists, optimists, innovators and proud partners of the people we serve.

• Operation Blessing International: Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation (OBI) is a nonprofit 501 ©(3) humanitarian organization based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.

• Oxfam: Oxfam International is a confederation of 14 like-minded organizations working together and with partners and allies around the world to bring about lasting change.

• Operation USA: Operation USA helps communities alleviate the effects of disasters, disease and endemic poverty throughout the world by providing privately-funded relief, reconstruction and development aid.

• Partners in Health: Our mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care.

• Samaritan’s Purse: Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world.

• Save the Children: Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world.

• UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) : Humanitarian fund established by the United Nations to enable more timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to areas affected by natural disasters. CERF will assure that the funds for the relief effort in Haiti will go where they are most needed in the network of international aid organizations.

• UNICEF: UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

• World Concern: World Concern works in 24 of the poorest countries on Earth, giving hope and opportunities to vulnerable people in great need.

• World Vision: World Vision helps transform the lives of the world’s poorest children and families in nearly 100 countries, including the United States. Our non-profit work extends assistance to all people, regardless of their religious beliefs, gender, race, or ethnic background.

• Yele Haiti: Yéle Haiti is a Wyclef Jean’s grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment.

© MMX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Esperance, 18, has her health monitored by Hyacinth Umhoza, a nurse at Kigeme Hospital in Rwanda. Malaria still poses hidden risks for this young mother and her unborn child.
Photo ©2009 Andrea Peer/World Vision

At 18 years old, Esperance contracted malaria for the first time. “It started on Tuesday,” she explains. “I had no appetite and a terrible headache. I was also coughing and felt nauseous, like I wanted to vomit. I couldn’t eat,” she says.

High risk for malaria

Esperance grew up in the mountains of Rwanda, where temperatures were not warm enough to host the anopheles mosquito that carries the malaria parasite. When she married and moved to a warmer region, Esperance was exposed to the disease for the first time. “Near my new home there is a river and bushes. A lot of mosquitoes come and bite us. That’s why I believe I am suffering from malaria,” she says.

Four days after her fever began, Esperance slipped into a coma, and her husband of seven months carried her on foot to Rwanda’s Kigeme Hospital, one hour away.

Because she had never contracted malaria, Esperance’s body had no immunity to the disease, making her risk extremely high. And if that wasn’t frightening enough, this young woman’s bout with the illness came at the worst possible time — four months into her first pregnancy.

A miracle

Hyacinth Umhoza, a nurse at Kigeme Hospital, acknowledges that the risk of malaria is much greater for women who are pregnant. “Their immune system[s] [are] weakened because they are feeding two bodies, so vitamins and minerals go to two people. Any disease can attack both of them,” she explains.

At the hospital, Esperance received three rounds of intravenous therapy, which finally brought her out of the coma. “When you get someone who is unconscious and you bring them back, it is a miracle,” says Hyacinth. “Esperance has recovered. It seems that God is behind this,” she adds.

A preventable disease

Help provide malaria prevention training and tools to those at greatest risk from this deadly disease, like Esperance and her unborn child.

While Hyacinth is grateful that her patient recovered, she is also aware that young mothers like Esperance do not have to suffer this disease at all. “Malaria is a serious problem, but yet it is a disease that is preventable,” she says.

In countries like Rwanda, World Vision is working to reduce the number of malaria infections by distributing long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and providing prevention education. For mothers like Esperance, these simple measures can mean the difference between life and death, both for them and their unborn children.

Additional concerns

Though Esperance made it through the most critical stage of malaria, her worries were far from over. “Not only could I lose my child, but even my life was in danger,” she said.

Even when a mother is not showing symptoms, malaria’s hidden activity poses a huge threat. Malaria can reduce the mother’s red blood cells, leading to anemia, and even death. Additionally, the malaria parasite can spread to the placenta, causing anemia and low birth weight in newborn babies. It can also lead to spontaneous abortions.

Esperance sits in a hospital bed recovering from malaria. Inexpensive bed nets, like the ones hanging behind her, could have prevented this expectant mother from contracting the disease.
Photo ©2009 Andrea Peer/World Vision

Esperance’s particularly severe bout with malaria caused great concern. “We are keeping her because we want to check the child in the womb. The higher risk is that the child could be affected because the mother lost consciousness. The risk is the baby inside dying,” said Hyacinth, a few days after Esperance recovered from the coma.

Overcoming malaria

But when Esperance received an ultrasound, her worst fears were stilled. Her baby was alive, evidenced by a healthy heartbeat. Though the risk of low birth weight and anemia remain, Esperance is confident that before long, she will be back in the hospital for a much more joyous event — the birth of her first baby. “When I see him come out, I will praise the Lord,” she says.

Unfortunately, because prevention and treatment tools are not always readily available to those who need them most, many mothers in sub-Saharan Africa lose the battle with malaria. In addition to bed net distribution and prevention education, World Vision is working to provide treatment for pregnant mothers, anti-malarial drugs, and case management and referrals for malaria patients.

World Vision is working in 64 countries where malaria is a threat, including 24 in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, we launched a major initiative to significantly reduce the illness and death caused by malaria. This involves advocating for an increase in U.S. government funding that will allow a scale-up of existing anti-malaria programs and enhance the efforts of the global movement to combat this deadly but treatable and preventable disease.

“We can be the impetus for making stories like those of Esperance a thing of the past,” says Craig Jaggers, World Vision’s health and education policy adviser. “By raising awareness of the disease in our communities, donating to malaria campaigns, and advocating that Congress fulfill its promises to provide $5 billion over five years for malaria programs, we are literally helping save lives.”