Lenten Stories: With women in power, malaria doesn’t stand a chance
ELCA’s 40 Days of Giving
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With women in power, malaria doesn’t stand a chance
ZIMBABWE
It is easy to think of malaria prevention as simply providing mosquito nets for prevention and medicine to those who have fallen ill. But there’s much more to it than that.
Burure is in the Gokwe Region of Zimbabwe, bordered by rivers that are notoriously difficult to cross during the rainy season. It is an area that has been plagued by outbreaks of malaria in the past. It is one of the most remote areas served by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ).
Your gifts to ELCA World Hunger support Burure’s schools and the Burure Gokwe Clinic – institutions that provide education and health care to an area of approximately 10,000 people.
Jairos Charedzera is a village health worker supported by the ELCA Malaria Campaign. With a contagiously enthusiastic and upbeat demeanor, Jairos teaches malaria prevention and control in Burure and the surrounding villages and is a “trainer of trainers” for income-generating savings groups in each of the villages.
“Health and income that reduces poverty must never be separated,” Jairos said.
“When a household’s income rises, so does the likelihood of good health.”
In each of the village savings and loan groups, the members – all women – contribute money each month. That money is pooled together to invest in income- generating activities. The women plant and nurture a nutritional garden, growing squashes, peanuts, greens and spices. They also harvest honey from beehives they built and maintain.
The profits of these activities are then used to provide goats, hens, pots, pans, mosquito nets or other necessities for each member of the group and their households.
Strong women are at the center of Burure’s journey toward a future of hope and possibility. When women gain access to income, the whole community benefits.
The world provides enough food for all, but more than 800 million people around the world face chronic hunger. We believe in a God of abundance, so as a church, we live out our call in baptism to strive for a just world where all are fed. ELCA World Hunger is our church’s ministry to end hunger and poverty. We walk alongside our partners and companions in the United States and more than 60 other countries. Your gifts to ELCA World Hunger address hunger and poverty around the world with creative and courageous action.
This Lent, you’re invited to join together with fellow supporters to study, reflect and give during ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving. Experience how the grace of Christ moves us to engage in transformative works of love around the world through ELCA World Hunger as God calls us into the ministry of hope, liberation and restoration for our world.
Learn more at ELCA.org/40Days.