I want to tell you a story about a child that was told to us by Father Roger Banda, one of our partners in Zambia.

We don’t know the child’s name, but let’s call him Albert.

It was the end of the day.

Albert was walking towards his home, a single path hidden in the tall grass 8 kilometers off the tarmac road.

Albert was looking forward to the family’s evening meal, with his mother and father and 3 little sisters.

Albert is the first born, he does not know exactly how old he is, but he can read.

After supper he has chores and homework to do.

As he approached his compound, he knew immediately that something terrible had happened.

Silence.

Then he heard the weeping…his mother, his grandmother and his sisters.

One of his three sisters had died and the body was lying on the only bed.

The fever from early in the morning had developed quickly and she had died just as quickly.

Albert was sent to fetch the priest, who lived only a short distance ways—a half hour’s walk.

Malaria is the leading cause of death in children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.

In Albert’s village babies are not given a name until they are over a year old, for the chance of them being alive and needing a name is so remote.

Imagine the priest that Albert went to fetch having the knowledge, the tools, the training, the nets, and the volunteers to prevent the needless death of Albert’s sister.

And not just this little girl…but all those children not yet named, not yet in school being protected from malaria.

NetsforLife, is distributing one million long lasting insecticide treated nets in 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years, together with training, monitoring and evaluation.

NetsforLife’s ability to reach the last mile in Africa through its Anglican Church partners is reducing the malaria morbidity and mortality for people who live at the end of the road.