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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Whether standing on a table in a village square in front of a crowd of more than 500 people, sitting under trees consulting with village leaders and health care workers, or handing out a special treat of bubble gum to several hundred school children spread out before her in neat, straight lines, Beverly Schol delivered a common message in Zimbabwe this summer. "I bring you greetings and love from the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference," she said.

Schol also brought a gift for the people of Munyarari, Chinyadza, Chitora, Juru, Dindi, Muradzikwa, Berzely Bridge and Gatsi, Zimbabwe, - 10,000 insecticide-treated bed nets, which were purchased, for $10 a net, with donations from area United Methodists through the Nothing But Nets Campaign.

These nets are designed to protect pregnant women and children under the age of 5 from malaria. This preventable disease kills one child in Africa every 30 seconds. Its prevalence is startling. "Everyone knows someone with malaria. Everyone knows someone who has died from it," Schol said. "The nets provide hope."

This is the second distribution of nets in Zimbabwe. In 2007, during a similar trip, 7,125 nets, also bought with contributions from the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, were handed out, said Jo Chesson, a project manager who oversees the conference's partnership with Zimbabwe.

This year the conference expanded its outreach, ensuring that the recipients of the nets received detailed instructions for their use, as well as a nail and string with which to hang the nets. In addition, follow-up to ensure the net's proper usage is being provided by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which, along with the United Nations Foundation, is working in partnership with the Baltimore-Washington Conference in the Nothing But Nets campaign (www.nothingbutnets.net).

Schol met with village chiefs and other leaders to undergird the importance of the nets in preventing the disease, which infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than a million.

Even though it is the leading cause of death among children in Africa, cultural customs dictate that a mother must first get permission from her husband and then from the village chief before her child can see a doctor. In many instances, children with malaria are sent to the area medicine man for healing, Chesson said.

In addition to providing protection from the mosquitoes, which transmit the blood parasite Plasmodium, the Nets campaign is also delivering life-saving education about the disease.

Schol was delighted this year, when she witnessed how those education efforts are beginning to take off.

When the Baltimore-Washington team arrived in the villages, they were met with singing and dancing.

"When we pulled up, the women sang praises to us, to the United Methodist Church of America and to the Baltimore-Washington Conference. They were thanking the Lord for sending us," Chesson said.

In a clinic in Chobi, at the end of the distribution, spontaneous dancing broke out. "Everybody came and we all danced and sang in celebration of the fact that we were delivering life," Schol said. "In the smiles of those children, God is present."

In Gatsi, the team was greeted by the children of the village, who performed a skit they had put together in school on what they had to do to be treated for malaria. Shantie Gora, 12, recited a poem he wrote, titled "I am Malaria."

An educator at heart, Schol said she couldn't help but be moved at how children were being taught to understand the disease. "In the children, there is the possibility of hope," she said.

While the expanded efforts to combat malaria brought joy, that happiness was tempered by the economic difficulties many in Zimbabwe continually face.

In 2007, one of the highlights of Schol's trip was sitting in the crowd of those who had come to receive nets, where she met a woman who had recently given birth to twins. Schol was able to hold the babies and get to know the mother a little.

This year, Chesson spotted the woman in the crowd again, but the babies weren't healthy and there was a sorrow and uncertainty that seemed to hang in the air around many of the mothers they met, she said.

While the nets are essential, providing food, education, seeds to plant and access to health care are important and Chesson would like to see the conference's partnership expand to
address some of these vital issues.

While in Zimbabwe, Schol had the opportunity to meet with several educators and clergy spouses and felt God
tugging on her heart. She is "going to the next level" in her faith by giving some funds that will provide tuition and uniform fees for 72 children to enable them to receive a public school education. A board will help select the children and monitor their progress.

"I had this deep tug from God," Schol said. "I had stepped away from the classroom and this is a small way back. I needed to do this."

She encourages everyone in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to listen for how God might be calling them to give to our partners in Zimbabwe. She is especially excited about how the youth could be in life-saving ministry with their counterparts in Africa.

"There are now 17,125 nets in Zimbabwe that wouldn't be there if it weren't for the Baltimore-Washington Conference," Chesson said. "That's really God in action."