PermaNet (Mosquito Net) Given to a Single Mother of Two

Most of the stuff I was giving away my family and I bought ourselves. During my trip there, I paid and distributed 50 locally-made mosquito nets to families that couldn't afford to buy one themselves.

But, I've also been lucky to have received donations to give away while I'm here. A company in Switzerland called Vestergaard Frandsen was kind enough to donate a couple of these high-tech mosquito nets called PermaNets. PermaNets are dirt resistant, tear resistant, and - most importantly - treated with an insecticide. The insecticide helps to kill mosquitos (including those carrying malaria and other diseases) upon contact with the net. Vestergaard Frandsen was kind enough to have donated a lot of other stuff to give away too - I'll definitely be talking about these great guys again.

This photo is of a family in Modiphur that received one of those PermaNets. She's a single mother of two - her husband died and she was left to raise her children on her own. The oldest is in Grade One (Class One) in a Bangla medium school. The mother works as a construction worker (building brick roads) to help pay for his way through school. This mother actually came earlier in the day in the hopes of getting one of the 50 locally-made (non-insecticide treated) mosquito nets that I was giving away. When I heard her story - I asked her to go back home empty handed (at first) and that I would come visit her where she stayed.

After all the 50 locally made mosquito nets were handed out, I ducked into my room and grabbed one of the two PermaNets I had brought with me to donate. Her home is a small hut made of mud and straw. The house literally had less space than a parking spot. Inside there is no running water, no electricity, and a small window that hardly brings in any light. Not only did I give them the PermaNet, I also gave them a camping flashlight I purchase and brought with me from Canada. The flashlight runs on a hand-crank which powers three LEDS - they don't need to buy batteries for it or have to worry about changing the bulbs. This will hopefully make it easier for her son to study in such a poorly lit home.

The next day they told me how happy they were with the net - apparently they found a dead cockroach on it in the morning. Without the net the cockroach probably would have been crawling around on their bed as they slept.

I'm not a charity or affiliated with any NGO - I'm just a guy trying to do my part to make the world a better place.

Find out more about The Uncultured Project at uncultured.com.

More on this particular story at:
uncultured.com/2007/09/17/one-difference-at-a-time/