July 2009

Students Collaborate to Fight Malaria in Botswana

August 2008

End Malaria – Blue Ribbon Campaign Engages Families from Lesoma Village in Botswana

 Botswana and United States teachers and students are working together with the support of the American Embassy, the Ministry of Health, local government officials, and the Malaria Foundation International (MFI) to engage community leaders and families from the Lesoma Village, Chobe District of Botswana in today's global fight against malaria. A recent village campaign to End Malaria in this village and encourage international leadership among students to help fight the disease globally followed a Malaria Education Workshop held at the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS).

The Malaria Foundation International is pleased to report the expansion of the End Malaria – Blue Ribbon campaign to the northern region of Botswana, where malaria persists. The Student Leaders Against Malaria (SLAM) partnership developed by Mr. Tommie Hamaluba, a computer technology teacher from the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS) in Gaborone, Botswana, and teacher Mr. Bill Meyers, from the Alexander Dawson School in Colorado, USA is responsible for the delivery of long-lasting insecticide treated bednets and malaria educational messages to the community, prior to the start of the rainy season when malaria will once again become a significant threat to the community.

A village meeting held in the morning, with ceremonial speeches and local entertainment, was followed by a house-to-house malaria educational campaign and exchange of knowledge.  The students shared their knowledge about prevention and treatment of malaria with the people living in the village, and visa versa.  Knowledge gained from the village with regards to current malaria prevention and control methods will be passed on to authorities to support the ultimate management and elimination of the disease in the area.  One message relayed by a local nurse is that malaria carrying mosquitoes do not only bite during the night when people are sleeping, and thus the continued discovery and application of preventative methods other than bednets is critically important.

Broad support was shown by government officials, whom attended the village meeting and subsequent campaign events, including house-to-house visits.  They demonstrated their commitment to the people of Botswana to End Malaria and they also empowered the student leaders who were present from Botswana and the USA.  Hundreds of cases of malaria can be expected in the Lesoma village and surrounding areas in the coming months, but these can largely be prevented with the use of insecticide-treated bednets and other precautions. The use of insecticides, timely diagnosis, and proper treatment with artemisinin combination therapy were also being promoted in the community. 

Development of Internet resources in the community so that village members could be in touch with the world as active global citizens, use e-mail, and access knowledge with regards to malaria and other pertinent educational, business and political issues, was also emphasized as important.

For further updated information, please visit the student’s blog at http://ads-gss.blogspot.com

Contacts:
Dr. Mary Galinski, Founder and President
Dr. Esmeralda Meyer, Outreach Director
Malaria Foundation International
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

 

 Lesoma Village families gather for the Malaria Education Campaign ceremonial events

The Honorable Duncan Mlazie, Member of Parliament, and other dignitaries acknowledge the delivery of 500 insecticide treated bednets for the community (compliments of citizens from Burbank, CA, USA)

 

The Honorable G.U.S. Matlhabaphiri, M.P., Assistant Minister of Health, gives a speech at the village meeting as District Commissioner B. P. Masole looks on.

 

Traditional Dancers entertain the dignitaries and the community.

 

Mr. Bill Meyers and Mr. Tommie Hamaluba join the traditional dancers with the satisfaction of a cheering crowd.

The village crowd expands in numbers as the ceremonial events continue.

 

 The award-winning Lesoma village hospital clinic’s choir sings a song about malaria and its devastation.

 

GSS student, Ms. Mpho Koketso Zachariah reads a passionate poem she wrote about the horrors of malaria, also referring to the disease as the “thief of life and happiness” and the “silent murderer”.

 

Botswana and USA students are acknowledged by Mr. Tommie Hamaluba for their partnership to End Malaria and empower communities to join their efforts.

 

Botswana and USA students pose with Dr. Mary Galinski, (President of the MFI), ready to engage in the community campaign to End Malaria. 

 

Lesoma village women are among the first to arrive at the ceremonial village meeting and some were among the first to receive insecticide-treated nets in the house-to-house visits that followed the meeting.

 

American Embassy supports the End Malaria – Blue Ribbon Campaign in Botswana

 

Students listen intensively to a series of lectures and discussions on prevention methods, treatment, and research relating to malaria.  

Mr. Hamaluba demonstrates how to hang a bednet as speaker Ms. Lorato Regoeng, the National Malaria Coordinator from the Ministry of Health, looks on with approval.

 

Mr. Bill Meyers expresses his thanks and appreciation to all of the Student Leaders Against Malaria (SLAM) members at the workshop and shares inspirational messages regarding their heroic efforts to educate people about the lifesaving measures that can help to prevent malaria.

Mr Hamaluba challenges the students

 Mr Hamaluba and Dr. Galinski commit to the continuation of their partnership and agree to expand the SLAM and EM-BR campaigns together. 

Dr. Galinski addressed the workshop regarding the history and expansion of these MFI campaigns, and also lectured about the malaria parasite and disease from a scientific perspective.

 Ms. Tebogo Obatleng, 17 year old student from Botswana GSS is congratulated upon completing the workshop and receives her Award Certificate

Kate, 17 year old student from the USA, is congratulated upon completing the workshop and receives her Award Certificate

After all Award Certificates were individually distributed, all students proudly displayed their Award Certificates and celebrated their accomplishments. 

Then, everyone started to plan for the next step of the campaign, a 10 hour bus drive to reach out to the people in the Lesoma village, Chobe District, where malaria remains a significant problem for the people of Botswana.

Ms. Isabellah Tsheko, 18 year old student from Botswana GSS, gives special thanks to Mr. Meyers for his support of the SLAM and EM-BR programs together.

April 2008 

We also held a coin drive. A coin drive is where everyone brings in money to donate. The version we held separated all the grades and turned it into a competition/game. All of the students in the kindergarten – 8th grades participated. Coins counted as positive points, and paper money counted as negative points. You could put paper money in other classes’ jars to make them lose points they had earned from coins. The winner of the coin drive won a special pizza lunch.

We are working with students in Botswana on a malaria eradication campaign. The money we earned from the coin drive will go towards buying mosquito nets, which a few members of our SLAM group will help to distribute this summer when they travel to Botswana.

 As part of our collaboration with the students in Botswana we have also exchanged teddy bears.  The Botswana bears have been helping with our campaign.  Our students have taken them on trips to see more of the U.S. and to help spread the word on malaria.  To see more pictures click here.

September 2007

Tommie and his students were privileged to participate in the 2007 National Malaria Conference held in Gaborone, Botswana this past week. The National Malaria Control Program sponsored by the Ministry of Health of Botswana continues to praise Tommie and his students for their dedicated work in the fight against malaria and for becoming true community leaders. The End Malaria - Blue Ribbon Campaign was also recognized as a mean to promote malaria awareness to afflicted communities.

August 2007

Students traveled 1200kms from Gaborone city, Botswana, to conduct malaria public education.  

After the launch of the End Malaria Blue Ribbon Campaign, Tommie, Bill and the student leaders got to work. The communities were educated by the students from the Gaborone Senior Secondary School in Gaborone and after the session, the attendants received the End Malaria Blue Ribbon pin,  in Tommie's words: "treasuring the ribbons and feeling part of the life saving message.....". The students and leaders referred to their experience as  "electrifying". The launch of the campaign was locally called: "Kgotla meeting" in Tswana language. 

The students covered 1170 house holds beating their target of 500-1000.  The campaign has the potential of expanding rapidly through Botswana. "We shall cover the whole Botswana with a life saving message", Tommie said.

Banner and stickers used during the workshop to bring the message about malaria prevention.

Malaria Workshop in Gaborone at the school before leaving for Gumare.

Tommie’s students travelled 1200kms from Gaborone city to conduct malaria public education and promoting the use of treated bednets that were sponsored by their partner school from Allen Texas through their all weather teacher friend there Nancy Hodson. 

 Pictures taken in Gumare, one of the towns visited by the team. Tommie educated the children about mosquito breeding sites.

Return trip to Gaborone 

Pictures of the Gaborone Senior Secondary School team accompanied by visiting teacher from Colorado USA when the team paid courtesy call at Ministry of Foreign affairs and International cooperation's assistant director's office.

 August 2007

Teacher Tommie Hamaluba, from the Gaborone Senior Secondary School in Gaborone, Botswana and teacher Bill Meyers, from the Alexander Dawson school in Denver, CO, USA, are the newest supporters of the End Malaria- Blue Ribbon Campaign. Tommie was the recipient of the Malaria Award for Teacher of the Year in 2006 by the MFI.  

Teacher Tommie Hamaluba (left, second), from the Gaborone Senior Secondary School in Gaborone, Botswana, and teacher Bill Meyers (right, second), from the Alexander Dawson school in Denver, CO, USA.

Currently, Bill is in Gaborone to help kick off the End Malaria-Blue Ribbon Campaign. During their first day of activities, they met with Botswana's Ministry of Health officials to address particular issues regarding the Gaborone community. In the afternoon, Dr.Naresdine from Ministry of Health headquarters, Gaborone offered a training session on malaria, the disease, the diagnosis, the treatment and prevention, directed to student leaders from the Gaborone School in preparation for the Educational Brigade to the Botswana North 2 region.  The official launch of the Campaign will be on 13th August, 2007 by Her Excellency the American Ambassador to Botswana Katherine Canavan.

Supporters of this End Malaria Blue Ribbon Campaign include the Malaria Foundation International, the Alexander Dawson School, and the Global Giving (US$300). The MFI is working in close partnership with Choi Kwang Do Martial Art International to support this and other community- based projects worldwide. The Malaria Foundation has also equipped the Botswana Campaign with digital and video cameras and additional funds to help meet the campaign's needs.