No man is an island, entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. (John Donne, 1624).
“The #WATWB (We Are The World Blogfest) was inspired by a simple conversation about how all the negativity on social media was weighing on us. Wanting to make a difference we decided to try to do our part to infuse social media with all the good stories that are out there, the stories that show kindness, compassion, hope and the resilience of the human spirit. With your help, we hope to change the current landscape of social media, blogs, and news.”
Many thanks to Damyanti Biswas and other hosts of the WATWB. I hope I haven’t deviated too much from the guidelines, as mine is less about an individual good news story than a global one. Malaria. Oh, it’s far from done for, but it’s down 60% since 2000 – the link here gives a 3 min audio overview of the global situation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p032q9r4 Despite the challenges, the figures show that with experience, rigour and determination, it can be defeated, as has been the case in Sri Lanka.
Can I end with a plug? I think so, as the guidelines say we can link to charities we support. There are many different types of action needed, but as Dr. Tibenderana says, the main contribution to the decline of the disease has been the distribution of a billion or more long-lasting mosquito nets. Every net counts. The Against Malaria Foundation, which distributes nets, is consistently ranked as among the most effective in the world. And thanks to the buyers of the short story anthology, Cat Tales, they will have 17 nets distributed in Malawi.
Donations can of course be made to the charity directly, but I hope the WATWB hosts will forgive me for adding that throughout April, Cat Tales is available at the reduced price of $1.99. However the donation is made, the point is that these nets help to beat malaria – and that is surely good news.
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Reblogged this on Space, Time, and Raspberries and commented:
A small thing you can do to make the world a better place.
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