Nothing But Nets

Co-authored by Dave Burton

Part 1: Sunday, July 11
On Friday night, United Against Malaria hosted a reception for all of the partners to wrap up a great collaboration over the last year, ending with the World Cup final games this weekend. It was a great opportunity to meet the different partners, and hear about their involvement. A true highlight was listening to the stories of Kingsley Holgate's expeditions up and down the rivers of Africa distributing bed nets.

From there we headed down to the concert. This was a truly proud night for malaria. Our malaria PSAs had the full attention of 12,000 people, who also heard personal stories from two soccer players and a passionate and beautiful presentation from South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka. It was great to see the United Against Malaria logo up on the screens throughout the concert - a fantastic tribute to how far this partnership has come. We also heard from singer Andrea Bocelli and a children's choir.

With the Boy Scouts, Concerts, and the Colorado Rapids, we had a great time in the mile-high city. Though three days of straight rain had us feeling like we were back in Seattle, we kept on trucking—and on the one day the sun came out, so did the camera crews! Here’s a clip of Mozzie and crew on the evening news!

Co-Authored by Dave Burton

From the very humorous comment made by the KLM pilot leaving Amsterdam that "We will be able to get going as soon as the last of the vuvuzelas are loaded," to the decked out airport, to the international flags lining all the major roadways, it is clear that World Cup fever is everywhere.

We are now down to the final two teams in the tournament, and the talk turns to who everyone is now rooting for. No matter your favorite, being here in South Africa is a source of great pride for the country, and a fantastic chance for the world to focus its attention on the continent of Africa, both for its enormous beauty and its struggles.

Tonight, during the finale concert, we will have the opportunity to share important stories about malaria throughout the performances. I hope that along with football fever, team loyalty, and a great time, people are able to see that now is the time to get involved and make a difference. We are united against malaria. Send a net. Save a life.

It’s only July and we’ve accomplished so much already in 2010. World Cup ends in just a few days, so we wanted to share some highlights from our United Against Malaria partnership, the Buzz Tour, and of course, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

• More than 27,000 supporters signed soccer balls, petitions and messages to show they are United Against Malaria, and are committed to end malaria deaths by 2015.

This past Sunday was World Refugee Day, and in honor of that, we wanted to say thank you one more time for all of your support in helping us to achieve our goal of sending one million nets to refugees in Africa by the end of 2009.

We’re proud to honor our commitment to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), because at the end of the day the UN Foundation and Nothing But Nets are here to help the UN to solve global problems. We are committed to helping the UN end malaria deaths by 2015.

As the song in this video says, “The Time is Now.” The time is now to make a difference. The time is now to say thank you. Thank you again from the UN Foundation, Nothing But Nets, and thank you from the refugees who received your nets and messages of hope. 

The Washington Mystics did not wait for the last buzzer to pull off an impressive win against the New York Liberty a week ago. Instead, they pulled ahead in the first quarter and sustained their advantage. That is exactly the same strategy the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Mystics are playing in the matchup against malaria.

WNBA star and Nothing But Nets™ Champion Ruth Riley is not a stranger to medals and awards, with a shelf of hardware to show for it. She led the Detroit Shock to WNBA championships in 2003 and 2006, clinched the NCAA title with Notre Dame, and secured an Olympic gold medal. Now that’s quite a list of accomplishments! In fact, she’s one of only seven WNBA athletes who can boast of all three honors. Yet Nothing But Nets™ knows that what truly sets Ruth apart is her off-the-court performance, which has recently turned heads as well.