The Cause - Spread the Net

Malaria kills as many as three million people a year. The majority of these victims are children living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Another half-billion people simply struggle with the disease. While some experience only minor symptoms, too many experience recurrent and crippling fevers. And some, especially children, suffer major developmental impairments. In short, it’s a terrible disease. And it’s also preventable.

Spread the Net is a Canadian charity with a rather simple goal: it wants to provide malaria nets to as many people as possible. Because malaria is transmitted principally by mosquitoes which bite at night, sleeping under an insecticide net can reduce the risk of contracting malaria by up to 50%. And it can reduce the mortality rate of children under five by up to 25%. And it only costs $10 to buy a net.

Our goal over the trip is to raise $5000 for spread the net. This will provide some 500 children with malaria nets. We’d like you to contribute, and you can do so at a dedicated website. Your donation is tax deductible and none of it goes to the financing of our trip. All money will go directly to the purchase of nets.

We will pass through 11 countries on our trip. We challenge you to buy one net for each country we navigate. Or, you could buy one net to celebrate our arrival in Cape Town. Or, you could imagine your own measure and buy 100 nets! Whatever the amount, we’d like you to join us in this challenge. Our trip will undoubtedly be hard, but nothing like the difficulty of living with such an awful disease.

Finally, we’ll be giving away a prize. For each net bought, we’ll enter you in a draw. The winner gets a picture of Sam and me leaving Cairo and another of us arriving in Cape Town. A small incentive, we know.

Let’s Spread the Net.