Volunteering For NETwork by Lauren

Blue, red, green, yellow.  I scan the beads for the necklace I am putting together during a morning meeting at Network Against Malaria Club. The finished necklace is full of colors and neat beads.

One of the things I love about Network is bead-making. It’s so fun to sit around with your friends after or before school or on a weekend at someone’s house making beautiful jewelry, key chains, and rosaries! You are having an awesome time and helping others too!

It’s also fun to go to public events and sell the beaded creations. When you see other people come up admiring Network’s hard work, you get a sense of pride that is so so cool!

Another cool thing is where we get the beads and supplies needed for bead-making. Though a lot is bought by Network, much is donated too. It’s great to know that the community sees the good work that we all are doing and wants to help too. 

Orange, pink, purple, black. My next piece of jewelry is a bracelet. As I string the beads together, I think of who will buy and wear this. Whoever it is, they will spread Network to even more places by showing off all of our hard work through our bead-making. Through our jewelry, rosaries, and key chains, Network Against Malaria is traveling everywhere and growing bigger and bigger!!

New Year, New Posts, Same Mission (aka Changing the World)

The summer wrapped up with many changes for our global community, our NETwork community, and myself.

For starters, I headed off to college this year which is a major change. College is definately an adjustment: the workload, being away from home, sharing a room with someone who was a stranger 2 months ago, buffet style meals (Chinese food and pizza in the same meal minus portion control! That's a dream come true!). It's a major change but one I'm thrilled to have made.

For our world- politics, governments, natural disasters. It's been a buzy summer.

AND FOR NETWORK?

We distributed 1,000 bednets to the children of Hoima. Our vice president and co-founder travelled to Uganda and attended this distribution. I'll include a picture and a few links.


I'm so excited to talk to you again and you'll hear from me really soon!

It's May 24th and I feel like my life is starting to calm down again, like I can breath again.

That's the thing about taking on many responsibilities as youth volunteer. You need to keep up with them and it can be overwhelming. But with May wrapping up and June soon to follow, my lungs seem to fill with air more easily and my chest doesn't pound quite as much. I hope you're starting to feel the same way.

But, in my humble opinion, its all worth it. Its worth the confussion and exhaustion and all other things. Its worth it to be a person of conviction. It is worth it to strive for character.

We Are Young.

We are young. We are frustrated. We are uncertain. We are even confused. We are angry. We are disappointed. We are constantly finding things are not as we had hoped.

We are young. We are exhausted. We are overwhelmed. We are overworked. We are unappreciated.

We are young. We are discouraged. We are saddened. We are continuosly seeing the world is filled with cruelty.

We are young. We are spirited. We are, despite it all, optimistic. We are young. We find energy. We are hopeful. We are determined.

We are young.

We will change the world.

ART CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

NETwork Against Malaria Weill Cornell Medical School Chapter would like to invite you to participate in our 1^st Annual Art Contest in Recognition of World Malaria Day—April 25, 2011. Our theme, NETs work Against Malaria.

World Malaria Day is a day to remember malaria victims and celebrate global efforts to control malaria. In honor of World Malaria Day 2011, the Weill Cornell Medical School Chapter of a national nonprofit, NETwork Against Malaria, is hosting our first annual art contest to help spread awareness of a disease that threatens nearly half the world population and claims the lives of nearly one million people every year. Most of these are of young children living in sub-Saharan Africa. It doesn’t have to be this way. When mosquito nets are heavily used, malaria transmission can be cut by over 90%. Although nets can have a major impact, few families in sub-Saharan African have the ten dollars needed to purchase one.

To facilitate learning about mosquito nets and the people who need them, NETwork Against Malaria has established an art contest. By creating artwork that nurtures understanding of serving others with malaria, NETwork aims to help students develop an appreciation of other cultures, increase awareness of the problems others face, foster the growth of the global community, and teach children how they can make a global impact. For additional curricular resources visit www.networkagainstmalariaartcontest.blogspot.com; for additional information about malaria and NETwork Against Malaria please visit www.networkagainstmalaria.org.

For rules please see attachment and information below.

Thank you for your efforts to educate the next generation.

Sincerely,

The NETwork Against Malaria Weill Cornell Medical College Team

Attached: rules

Contests Rules for participating children:

Please email all submissions to: NETworkagainstmalariaCornell@gmail.com Or mail all submissions to: NETwork Against Malaria Box #820 445 East 69th Street New York, NY 10021

Deadline: postmark May 12, 2011 or email by 11:59pm May 11, 2011.

1. Create an original piece of art using the theme: Nets Work Against Malaria. The theme should appear on the front of the work. Art should reflect the theme.

2. Use 8.5 x 11 inch paper (for both mailed and emailed artwork).

3. Make your poster colorful. Use markers, colored pencils, crayons, paint. (Do not use glitter or glue.)

4. Original art only. Please no stencils or coloring book pages.

5. Please label the artwork: For mailed entries: student’s name, school, teacher, grade must be written on the back of the paper.

For emailed entries: The art should be scanned or photographed. Student’s name, school, teacher, grade must be included in the name of the file in the format: FirstNameLastName.School.Teacher.Gr(grade number) (e.g. JaneDoe.WeillCornell.MrsDoe.Gr8). Please submit files in .GIF, .JPEG, or .PDF format.

6. Prizes will be awarded to 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and honorable mention winners in each division.

7. The divisions are as follows: grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8,

Winners will receive a certificate and a goodie bag with a NETwork Against Malaria T-shirt.

Teachers/educators of winning participants will also receive a NETwork necklace made with fair trade Ugandan beads.

Please mail and postmark submissions by May 12^th or email by 11:59pm May 12^th.

Questions?

Email: Vlad Thomas or Margaret McGlynn at networkagainstmalariacornell@gmail.com

Phone: Margaret McGlynn (618-581-6046)

For curricular resources please visit www.networkagainstmalariaartcontest.blogspot.com

for more information about NETwork Against Malaria please visit: www.NETworkAgainstMalaria.org

Fr. Mujule

Meet Fr. Mujule!

With one Bead

With just one bead, you can change a life. NETwork volunteers make jewelry using beads made by Ugandan women. The women go to trash dumps and get old newspapers and magazines. They cut them into strips and roll them into paper beads. The women seal the beads and send them to America where volunteers string the beads to make jewelry.

The jewelry made by our volunteers is sold to purchased bednets for Ugandan children.

We can do a lot with a single bead like save a life.