Mosquito Net Mission of Mercy

Eckhard Christen will be traveling to northern Tanzania and is hoping to raise enough money in donations to bring 100 or more mosquito nets with him to distribute to the people there. The nets will likely be distributed by a local orphanage and by Christen himself with the help of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ARDA).

Susan Thompson
Express staff

McLennan town councillor Eckhard Christen is returning to Africa for the third time this summer, and this time he’s hoping to help fight the spread of malaria.

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites usually carried by mosquitos.

There are approximately 515 million cases of malaria in the world each year, killing between one and three million people.

Christen will be traveling to northern Tanzania and is hoping to raise enough money in donations to bring 100 or more mosquito nets with him to distribute to the people there.

“If I can buy 100 mosquito nets, they can probably save 400 people from getting malaria,” Christen says. Each mosquito net can usually cover four children and two adults.

It’s especially important for children to have mosquito nets since the majority of malarial deaths are children.

“Mosquitos land on them, they don’t necessarily swat them right away, they let the mosquitos feed and then carry the malaria from one person to another,” Christen explains.

Christen is paying for his own travel expenses, and only needs donations for the mosquito nets. He will be buying the nets in Africa, since nets sold there are made by the same manufacturer as those sold in Canada but are about three dollars cheaper. Buying the nets in Africa also saves money on freight and duty costs.

The nets will likely be distributed by a local orphanage and by Christen himself with the help of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ARDA).

“It would be more cost efficient to just send the money over there, but you don’t get the satisfaction of seeing what your money is doing and meeting the people,” Christen says.

Before distributing the mosquito nets, Christen will be the only Canadian participating in a “ShareHim” International Campaign. Every year about a thousand campaigns are organized by ShareHim, an Adventist missionary organization, around the world, mainly in Africa, India, the Philippines, and Central America. Students from Adventist colleges and universities in North America and Europe often participate in the campaigns.

Christen will also be hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world.

But Christen’s main focus is saving people from malaria, especially children who have already lost parents to war or disease.

“To me the most important thing is the children.”

Anyone who would like to donate money to buy mosquito nets can call Christen at: 780-523-8835

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