Katarina's Reply (re: Budget)

1. Have you ever considered buying long-lasting, insecticidal (sprayed with an  insecticide) nets, which last 4 to 5 years, for the villagers in Keur Se Daro?  

We buy nets with insecticide. I'm not sure about the longevity of the  impregnation.  

2. Do you know how much these nets would cost? 

I don't have specific information for different nets than the usual we buy...

3. How many nets would we buy (ideally)?

 I would say at least  40, but I also think you could budget for more. It will be a discussion with the women in the  village.  As you will realize the distribution could be unpredictable.  There is  also a neighboring village, which would also benefit from the nets.  

4. What is the system for distribution of nets (i.e. who gets priority for nets)? 

Either by us, us in combination with members of the village.

5. Are insecticidal nets available for purchase at the place you usually buy the nets in Senegal? (If not, two of our group members have found an organization  that sells insecticidal nets in groups of 50.) 

I think it would be good to buy 50.  Do you know how much space 50 nets would occupy.  We would transport the  nets in our luggage.  It can sometimes take several trips to the pharmacy to get  the total number of nets.    Be in touch again,  Katarina 

Follow-up email to Mr. Mbaye

(in French!)

Bonjour Mr M’baye,

Merci de votre rapide réponse. Il se trouve que nous n’aurons pas assez de temps pour trouver des films sur le Paludisme. Cependant, nous pensons a faire une sorte de brochure éducative, qui sera traduit en français. Que pensez vous de cette idée? Pourriez-vous utiliser les brochure éducatives dans vos programmes? Y a t-il quelque chose en particulier que vous souhaiterez voir dans cette brochure?

Toutes les suggestions que vous pourriez avoir serait très apprécié!

Merci,

Anya Richkind

Narrowing Down Our Budget

We emailed Katarina and Jacques with some questions about our budget today. Here it is, for all of our loyal followers to enjoy!

Hello Katarina and Jacques,

I believe that our group member Rachel already emailed you about our philanthropy group's budget, but she was home sick today, so I just wanted to check in with you. We were hoping to donate at least part of our money to the Lick-Drew Senegal trip. We have a couple questions for you guys...

1. Have you ever considered buying long-lasting, insecticidal (sprayed with an insecticide) nets, which last 4 to 5 years, for the villagers in Keur Se Daro?

2. Do you know how much these nets would cost?

3. How many nets would we buy (ideally)?

4. What is the system for distribution of nets (i.e. who gets priority for nets)?

5. Are insecticidal nets available for purchase at the place you usually buy the nets in Senegal? (If not, two of our group members have found an organization that sells insecticidal nets in groups of 50.)

If you could get back to me as soon as you get the chance, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks again,

Anya, Michaela and Ian

Malaria Prevention Education

So, in our quest for more information about malaria prevention education, we stumbled upon a pretty helpful organization, called "MosquitoZone Educational Resources." Click here to see the PDF of a manual on teaching about malaria. So, in our quest for more information about malaria prevention education, we stumbled upon a pretty helpful organization, called "MosquitoZone Educational Resources."

This website also provides information videos, which, if in French/Wooloff (probably French), could potentially be helpful for the school.

EMRO also sells complete education programs, which we may use our $1200 to buy... Click here to see their products!

They also sell brochures/stickers/posters about malaria prevention, posted here:

Email to Children for Children (Sweat for Nets)

Here is the email Ian sent to Children for Children, asking about their malaria education program:

Hello,

I'm working with a group of high school students that are focusing on preventing malaria in a village in Senegal, mainly through education and the distribution of nets. The project is part of Philanthropy Initiative that students participate in for a semester, although the projects that are created are often intended to go on much longer for that. We were looking at organizations that often do similar work, and found Children for Children. We were wondering what you find particularly helpful when educating children on malaria, or perhaps what a successful lesson plan you have used in the past.

Thank you so much,

Ian Day
Lick-Wilmerding Class of 2010

HE REPLIED!

So, Mr. Ousmane Mbaye replied to our email. Short and sweet, here it is:

"bonjour

je suis ravi de correspondre avec et je trouve votre programme tres intéréssant car le paludisme est une pandémie chez nous.Nous y avons des programmes mais ils ne suffisent pas .les films seraient intéréssants."

Which roughly translates to...

"hello
I am happy to correspond with your program, and I found it very interesting because malaria is a pandemic among us. We have had some programs but not enough. Films would be interesting."

Looks like we're gonna have to do a lot of the brainstorming ourselves, but oh well, it's a start! WHOOOHOOO!

Children for Children, Sweat for Nets

This organization helps educate kids around the US (mostly) about malaria. That's almost exactly what we hope to do in the village in Senegal, so... Ian is gonna email them before next class!

Children For Children, Sweat for Nets education program:

http://www.childrenforchildren.org/index.php?q=node/28

Video about Children For Children, Sweat for Nets program:

http://www.childrenforchildren.org/index.php?q=node/27

Letter to Mr. Mbaye - IN FRENCH!!!

We just sent this out. Pretty durn cool. It's in French.

Monsieur Mbaye,

Mon nom est Anya Richkind, et je suis étudiante à Lick-Wilmerding High School à San Francisco, Californie, USA. J'ai obtenu votre e-mail adresse de la part de Jacques Cusin, un des organisateurs du voyage a Keur Se Daro.

Je travaille avec trois camarades de classe sur un programme appelée l'Initiative philanthropique. Nous faisions des recherches pour savoir quels sont les meilleurs moyens pour sensibiliser les gens sur le paludisme. Nous nous sommes intéressés à vous contacter, car nous voyons une opportunité de collaboration entre notre groupe et votre école. Nous pensons que une des maniérés efficace pour lutter contre le paludisme est tout simplement de sensibiliser la population sur la sévérité du paludisme. Aussi assurez que les gens dans les zones touchées par le paludisme connaissent la gravité de la maladie.

Pour atteindre cette objectif nous voulons travail avec vos élevés pour distribuer les informations sur le paludisme. Pour mieux utiliser les liens que nous avons avec votre ecole nous voulons vous demander:

· Souhaitez-vous avoir quelques programmes d'éducation sur le paludisme à votre école?
· Avez-vous déjà un tel programme en place?
· Si oui, est-ce qu’il y’a quelque chose que nous pourrions faire pour aider à améliorer ce programme?
· Avez-vous besoins d 'équipements particulier pour aider à améliorer ce programme (projecteur de films, livres, etc)?
· Comment pensez-vous qu'un programme d'éducation contre le paludisme pourrait être exécuté dans votre école ( l'information doit être transmise par l'intermédiaire de films, ou des livres, ou autre chose)?

J'aimerais entendre ce que vous pensez de ces questions, et notre idée en général. Je suis impatient de travailler avec vous je l'espère à l'avenir!

Merci d’avance.
Anya Rchkind

Partner Organizations

These are some organizations that distribute nets in Africa with a little blurb about them. Some of them are pretty small organizations that probably would be really excited to work with us.

http://www.nettingnations.org/about.html
This organization has, "purchased and shipped as little as 50 nets to a partner organization for their distribution campaign in Senegal, as well as over 200 nets to a hospital Zambia, and much larger projects are currently in the works."

www.projectmosquitonet.org
This organization works exclusively in Kenya?

http://www.nothingbutnets.org/
Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to combat malaria, one of the largest killers of children in Africa. With a $10 contribution, Nothing But Nets provides individuals – from CEOs to youth, professional athletes to faith leaders – the opportunity to join the global fight against malaria by sending a net and saving a life.

http://www.poweroflove.org/project-mosquito-net
Project Mosquito Net is POL's initiative to provide insecticide treated bed nets to children and pregnant mothers in Mbita, Kenya (Mbita is approximately 400 km from Nairobi).

http://www.malarianomore.org/about.php
A non-profit, non-governmental organization, Malaria No More makes high-yield investments of time and capital to speed progress, unlock resources, mobilize new assets and spur the world toward reaching this goal.
Malaria No More is not a typical global health organization. We aren't strictly a funding body, or a grassroots movement, or an advocacy shop, or an on-the-ground implementer. Rather, we are a uniquely entrepreneurial organization with elements of each. What unites these disparate activities is leverage.

http://www.onenetonefamily.org/
Our approach is a collaborative venture between organizations and mosquito net manufacturers, to make pre-treated nets at low cost using recycled fabrics that we will provide with the help of private and public donations.

http://www.handeyemagazine.com/content/net-works
This New York-based non-profit, with a regional office in Ghana, distributes many tens of thousands of malaria nets to some of the most vulnerable people in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – as well as to sixteen other vulnerable African countries. Their plans for expansion are aggressive - they intend to distribute an average of 1.7 million nets a year going forward.

Letter to Ousmane Mbaye (principal of school in Keur Se Daro)

Today we drafted an email to send to Ousmane Mbaye, principal of the school in Keur Se Daro (the village L-W/Drew trip goes to in Senegal). We're sending it off to Youssou for translation into French, and then we can send it off to Mr. Mbaye!

Voila!

Dear Mr. Mbaye,

My name is Anya Richkind, and I go to Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, California, USA. I got your email address from Jacques Cusin, who, as you probably already know, is partially in charge of organizing a trip to Keur Se Daro which members of my school will be attending this summer.

I’m working with three fellow classmates in a class called the Philanthropy Initiative. Our group is working on a project focusing on malaria. We were interested in contacting you because we see a potential collaboration between our group and your school. We were thinking that one way to combat malaria is simply to spread awareness, and make sure that people in areas affected by malaria know about the seriousness of the disease. We thought that one way to do this would be to work through your school, to spread awareness to students.

In addition to what we already know about malaria, we have a couple of questions about how to best utilize the connection with your school:

· Would any sort of malaria education program be valuable to your school?

· Do you already have a program like this in place?

· If so, is there anything we could do to help improve this program?

· Is there any particular equipment needed to help improve this program (i.e. movie projector, books, etc)?

· How do you think a malaria education program could be run at your school (i.e. should the information be conveyed via movie, or books, or something else)?

I’d love to hear what you think about these questions, and our idea in general. I look forward to hopefully working with you in the future!

Thank you,

Anya Richkind

Self-assessment Milestones of Success

We believe that as a group we have accomplished a lot. So far, we have been in contact with the principal of the school in Senegal. We now plan on sending a letter to the principal in conjunction with Yousou, describing our intentions.

We've found organizations/companies that sell nets and ship them to Senegal for pretty cheap. Our plan now is to make sure transportation is feasible or find companies in Senegal who do so for reasonable prices, but so far, that has not been the case.

We've dug up very interesting research that we plan on incorporating in our educational pamphlets. In addition, we were thinking of including a short video, which is definitely possible with our IMovie skills. We just need to make sure that the necessary technological devices are present at the school we're going to send them to.

Personal Purpose

Divvying up tasks is an essential part of our group. Anya is responsible for sending out an informational letter to the principal of the school in Senegal. Rachel is responsible for working in partnership with Yousou and perhaps working with the World Family organization in order to send critical medical supplies. Michaela is responsible for finding a company in Senegal that sells nets. Ian is responsible for creating educational pamphlets, which will be sent to the schools in Senegal to accompany the nets.

Working Protocols

Divvying tasks between our group has been very essential to our group dynamics. By communicating effectively with one another, we have been able to accomplish a great deal and distributed the work equitably. One goal we have is to make sure we meet our goals. This has been especially difficult recently, since we have not been able to contact everyone we want. However, we are working on this, by establishing relationships with people involved in related organizations and seeking their help when needed.

Revised Punchlist/Timeline

4/13

-update blog

-email Jacques about principal's contact info

-Rachel: reply to contact at Netting Nets re: partnering

4/15

-draft email to send to principal of school in Keur Se Daro (Rachel and Anya)

-hand off to Youssou, for translation (Rachel)

-research organizations that sell nets in areas near Senegal (Michaela and Ian)

4/17

-Anya: elevator pitch at Senegal meeting; propose idea --> find out what the group thinks of this idea

4/19

-If we've received a reply, email principal back (Rachel and Anya)

-contact net-selling organization (Michaela)

-start brainstorming ideas for informational pamphlet (all)

4/21

-start drafting informational pamphlet

-continue conversation with principal of Keur Sedaro

4/26

-gather information for information pamphlet

-talk to Youssou re: translating pamphlet

4/28

-continue working on informational pamphlet

4/30

-finalize plan re: distribution of nets (in Senegal trip)

-finishing touches to the informational pamphlet

5/4

-brainstorm about presentation

-thank people who've helped us in this project

-upload pamphlet to blog

5/6

-prepare for/work on presentation

5/10

-prepare for/work on presentation

5/12

-presentation!

Conversation with Jacques

We spent class today talking with Jacques, one of the main organizers of the L-W/Drew trip to Senegal (and also Katarina's husband, coincidentally!). He had countless suggestions and invaluable advice. Here are the minutes:

FACTS/STATS/OVERVIEW:

-Specific countries (greater malaria rate). Need to target areas with greatest risk.

- Although Senegal does have malaria (largest cause of infant mortality), areas such as Togo, etc. have higher rates.

NETS:

-Educating about the use and impact of the nets would greatly decrease the chances of people selling them or merely not using them.

-Price of nets in comparison to villagers = two weeks pay. That’s a major reason that the nets are sold or seemingly not used.

-Participant (Anya) in Senegal trip could bring nets.

-Establish contacts in Senegal and send nets periodically throughout the year to one or more villages.

-Make sure you find the cheapest nets that are still effective. How many nets has Katarina bought?

MEDICATION:

-Expensive, often not available.

-For distribution, a contact in Senegal would be highly useful.

- Cameroon – manufacturer/pharmacy (Jacques is sending the name) that deals in patent rights and malaria medication for much cheaper than the major medical companies.

-Buying the medicine there eliminates the problem of transportation and medical transportation laws.

EDUCATION:

-Educational brochures/pamphlets/books could possibly be very useful.

-Should contact (Jacques will send email) teachers/principal of school to see if they need them or think they would be helpful.

-Talk to school about what kind of malaria education/awareness programs (if any) are in place already --> how they could be improved

-Videos/films? --> projector needed (could use $1200 to buy this)

-Government pamphlets?

-Could possibly establish contact with other high schoolers that have helped distribute nets in the past.

ADDITIONAL IDEAS:

-Re-do Health Survey: Inventory of number of nets and number of children in the village. --> Get past information/data from Katarina

-Find ratio of children to nets (how could this be improved?)

-Talk to Youssou re: translating letters to/from contacts at Senegalese school (Rachel will be in charge of this)

MALARIA NO MORE

Perhaps an organization with which we can partner? The picture is a link to their website, and visit their blog by clicking here.

Notes from the chat with Katarina

Over spring break, we spoke with Katarina, one of the women who is partially in charge of the L-W/Drew Senegal trip. She was super helpful in narrowing down our project, and also knew lots about the subject at hand: malaria nets. Here are the notes from what we talked about:

PAST SYSTEM OF NET DISTRIBUTION:
-Katarina would buy the nets upon arriving in the village, from a nearby pharmacy (not that efficient, can't buy nets in bulk)
-nets usually cost $3/$4, but sometimes up to $10

ISSUES:
-mosquito nets are not actually that cheap
-kids fall asleep outside (too hot in houses/don't always know the dangers of sleeping without a net) --> perhaps education is needed
-some houses don't have beds --> no easy way to set up net
-many people sleep in one bed --> hard to set up net
-parts needed: hook, string --> too expensive

THINGS TO LOOK INTO:
-assign team of students on Senegal trip to distribute/set up nets (need to talk to people in charge of trip, get their opinions)
-companies/organizations that make/sell nets

Then, today, we spoke with Mr. Kleindolph about these ideas. We learned:

-Upon arriving in village, American students set up nets in their own rooms, whether or not one was there before.
-However, Mr. K's been going on this trip for a couple years, and every time he goes back, the nets are usually not up.
-This suggests that for some reason, villagers are taking down the nets. Katarina mentioned that villagers sometimes sell the nets (for example, to get money to buy food), but Mr. K thought perhaps there were some cultural implications around the nets...
-Is it annoying to sleep with a net around you? Annoying enough to take it down, given that it could potentially save you from a fatal disease!?
-So, given this new information, we plan on talking to Youssou (woodshop teacher at Lick) and Daouda (teacher at Drew; one of the organizers of the Senegal trip), both of whom are originally from Senegal.
-We're hoping they might be able to enlighten us as to what people actually from the village think about mosquito nets. After all, it's not much use taking the time and effort to set up nets in a bunch of houses if the villagers just take them down...

So! That's the update for today.