Net Strike Ends: The Good, the Bad, and the Incredible

As of Wednesday afternoon/early evening on October 27th, nearly as abruptly as it all started, Net Strike was over.  A very surprising and incredibly generous donation "saved" me from sleeping under a bednet for the seventh night in a row, putting me well over my goal of $10,000 raised for Malaria No More.  Although I was very happy to return to my bed inside (sheets!  comforters!  no rain splatters!), part of me couldn't help but think along the lines of "Could I do more?  What if I tried this?  Or that?"  At the end of the day, no matter what "my success" may be, I'll always want to do more because, well, there's so much more to be done.  This isn't like a research paper, for which you might just do the research, put in the effort, hand it in, and wipe you hands of it.  Fighting malaria is an on-going endeavor, with new challenges always cropping up as the parasites evolve and country policies change, and will continue to be so even after the disease is technically eradicated from the world. 

My second thought - after the fleeting joy of swapping my sleeping bag for a real bed - went straight to Zambia, to my good friend who lost his baby to malaria nearly a month ago, and to all of the countries (and their malaria burdens) I analyze each day.  Even with Malaria No More's incredible fundraising feats, athletes' dedication to fighting against malaria (a special shout-out must go out to my local MLS team, the Seattle Sounders!), and celebrities drumming up support through their creative campaigns (e.g., "Malarity," Ashton Kutcher's infamous Twitter-off with CNN), significant gaps in malaria treatment and prevention remain.  And these gaps will persist until we maintain the successes in control we achieve and ensure consistent access to medicines, preventative interventions, and adequate malaria-specific financial support in affected countries.  I have no idea where my future work and career will take me, but one thing's for sure: malaria and Africa will always have a place in my mind, heart, and creative energies.

And so, to summarize Net Strike:
The Good:
- discovering I'm actually capable of sleeping relatively comfortably in sub-45 degree temperatures and the occasional splash of water or violent wind gust
- feeling as if I was really "walking the talk" in my fight against malaria (i.e., "sacrificing" something and working to achieve my goal as I was asking people to do a comparable thing by donating their hard-earned money)
The Bad:
- losing quite a bit of sleep - and then a few training days due to exhaustion - from Seattle's howling winds and heavy rains, all of which may ultimately have less than ideal consequences for the NYC Marathon
The Incredible:
- without a doubt, all of the amazing people who either financially or emotionally supported (or both!) this nutty venture, from Net Strike to the beginning of my Lives for Lubomba fundraising campaign. I clearly couldn't have done any of this without you and your generosity, and I can't thank you enough for it all.
 
After two nights' of deep sleep, whatever fledgling cold I started to develop has subsided and I'm becoming increasingly excited about making my trip out east and running my second NYC Marathon!  Thank you so much again for all of your tremendous generosity and I will be thinking of every one of you as I take on those 26.2 miles next Sunday, running for Lubomba and all of the children's lives we hope to save from malaria because of your support.

Take care,
Nancy

Night 6: Digging Deep

Alright, Net Strike gets real now: last night - Night 6 - was actually quite hard.  For previous nights of Net Strike, I could get fairly comfortable - and a decent amount of sleep! - in spite of the Seattle occasional deluges and wind gusts.  Last night, however, achieved a new level of windiness.  My bednet amazed me with its tenacity, especially because it was nearly ripped off the wall a few times.  What worried me the most was whether the deck's awning would make it through the night: the wind caused the awning to make terrifying noises, creaking in a sickening way, to the point that I was really convinced it would break in half and crush me.  I eventually gave up on the minimal protection provided by the awning and rolled it up, leading to full-on exposure to last night's winds (which for the Puget Sound area, apparently reached up to 50 mph??!!).  Needless to say, sleep was rather minimal last night and I think I may need to add an extra shot to the latte I plan to get in a few minutes.  I'm venturing into the triple latte world, folks - perhaps now I'm a true Seattleite.

While I'd certainly prefer not to have more nights like last night, no one ever said going on strike was easy - especially if you're doing it to fight malaria.  The malaria parasites are very tricky buggers that can evolve very quickly against antimalarial medications and thus render them ineffective.  Right now, one line of antimalarials - artemisinin-based therapies - remains "completely" effective against malaria, though artemisinin-resistant strains of parasites are showing up along the Thai-Cambodian border.   (Matt and I are checking out some parasites at the Macha Institute (Zambia) in the picture to the right).  Recently, scientists indicate that the malaria-carrying mosquitoes - Anopheles Gambie - may actually be splintering into two different genetic types, which may make malaria control just that much more difficult in the future.  It just means that I'll have to dig deep and tough it out through these windy nights in Seattle, and hope that my faithful blog readers will do the same in order to support my and Malaria No More's fight against malaria.


To a tired Tuesday!
Nancy


Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 5: 'Twas a Tempest Indeed

Well, I stand corrected: Night 5 of Net Strike was definitely far worse than Night 4.  Although it rained less (i.e., rain amount is always relative in Seattle), the wind was certainly whipping up a good storm. The awning over my deck protected me from direct rainfall, but then the wind would cause the awning ends - which somehow collect copious amounts of water - to project sprays of water over me and my poor bednet.  Speaking of my bednet, it probably fared the worst out of the Net Strike team: as I lay looking up at my deck awning, wondering if it was going to blow away and then take me with it (i.e., essentially like this girl's poor red umbrella), the wind would make my net swirl around above me like a mildly agitated tornado.  Luckily, I've perfected my pillow-fort-and-blanket-over-my-head combat strategy against the elements, and it's worked pretty well thus far.  Sure, my blanket is soaked each night, but that's what bathroom racks and dryers are made for.  Bring it Net Strike, this is for Lubomba.

In spite of the inevitable rain and wind tonight for Night 6 (e.g., my boyfriend's office building has been creaking all day due to the wind and I've watched a steady deluge flood the streets from my own workplace), I'm in a stupendous mood.  Why, you may ask?  Well, aside from making steady progress on a work project this afternoon and highly anticipating my return to Roar Yoga tonight, Net Strike got featured by Malaria No More news blog - right above the likes of Ed Helms, Elizabeth Banks, and BJ Novak (!!!!).  Now if only I was also featured on a great Thursday night comedy, we'd have an NBC sweep at MNM. :)  Hopefully Malaria No More's generous shout-out will help move the strike along - if you've never been to Seattle in October, it's not exactly the best camping weather.

Happy - and soggy - Monday,
Nancy




Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 4.5: Preparing for the Tempest

This afternoon's weather does not bode well for tonight's strike.  Save me!  Please?

Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 4: Yes, that was a "Potent Pacific Storm"

Sadly, I have no pictures or videos of surviving the Seattle Tempest last night - I was too focused on huddling up against the deck wall, trying to be as far away from the windblown deluge as possible.  I've never heard rain pour so hard in Seattle - I actually wondered whether the awning overhead would somehow get seared open from the rain's force.  Completely irrational I know, but the rain was nuts.

I actually woke up this morning warm and cozy, but my blanket was definitely soaked and the sheet over the air mattress featured a few water pools.  I imagine this will be the most difficult night of Net Strike, but with a weather forecast like this, promising of "rain, thunder, and wind," it's anyone's game. Bring it Night 5.  Bring it Net Strike.


Take care,
Nancy




Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 3: Bracing for the Storm

Although I slept wonderfully last night (which may have been partially attributable to a very tasty and filling dinner at Coastal Kitchen with Michael), I woke up to a steady rainfall and decreased temperatures...which of course bodes well for the "potent Pacific storm on Saturday night [that] will bring gusty winds on the coast and parts of the interior of Western Washington."  Awesome.

Here's the latest YouTube rendition of Net Strike.   After listening to this clip, as well as earlier ones, I've realized it sounds like I have a lisp with my "s's" - and perhaps that I'm wearing a retainer? (my mom asked me about that)  I think this sound issue is a result of me making these video clips with my point-and-shoot camera, but I guess there's always the possibility that sleeping under a bednet brings out unknown speech difficulties.  A hard correlation to fully accept, but stranger things have happened I suppose.

I've missed out on the last couple nights' trivia tidbits, so here's a morning for you:

(non) Nightly Net Strike Trivia Tidbit 

So when you donate your hard earned money to "Lives for Lubomba" and Malaria No More, where exactly does it go?  For instance, if you give $10 and it goes toward an insecticide treated bednet (ITN), how is it spent?  (hey, this is all about responsible investing - beyond trying to "save" me from spending the next 11 days outside under a bednet of course)  For me, this is a really important question - especially after spending my summer in Africa trying to understand where exactly health interventions were going.  Your $10 donation to Malaria No More is split into two costs: $5 for the insecticide treated net itself, and $5 for the actual delivery and administrative services associated with getting the net to its ultimate recipient.  Providing for a net's delivery cost is particularly important because without it, it's very possible that the net will never get to a child who needs it.  Supply bottlenecks happen all of the time in Africa, whether it's a fuel issue, road problem, or human resources shortage -  health interventions will be purchased, but never reach the people requiring them.  That's why I like working with Malaria No More, and why I hope you'll support the organization's very worthy - and financially responsible - cause of protecting children from malaria's toll.

Alright, it's time to get some work done, and in particular, writing my practicum paper about my summer fieldwork in Zambia.  I definitely will touch more on this experience in future posts, but for now, I'll say this much: a lot of friends, coworkers, family members, and my boyfriend think I'm crazy for undertaking this Net Strike.  "Your marathon is in a few weeks - what if you get sick?" they ask.  A valid point I suppose, but an equally valid response is "at least it's not malaria." My time in Zambia spent researching the country's malaria policies really showed me how devastating the disease can be, and perhaps most unnervingly, how easily the disease can bounce back, even after years of successful control and reduced cases, as soon as there are medicine shortages, diagnostics stock-outs, or particularly heavy wet seasons.  Lubomba, the child to whom Lives for Lubomba is dedicated, died very suddenly a few weeks ago because the health worker couldn't provide the medicine - ACTs - the child needed to combat malaria.  His parents did everything right by promptly bringing the 6 month old baby to the health facility.  The health center isn't at fault because they didn't receive the medicine stocks they ordered, which is a frequent occurrence throughout Zambia.  The problem is at a broader level, part of which includes a greater demand for malaria interventions than what supplies can fill.  That's where the likes of Malaria No More can help fill the gaps, and if I can help them by sleeping under a bednet for a few nights in rainy Seattle, then that's the very least I can - and should - do to help in the fight against malaria.


So what are you waiting for - help "save" me from Net Strike today!


Take care,
Nancy




Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 2: Let the Rain Games Begin

After a day full of excitement (i.e., I was within a foot of Obama when he decided to greet people near the Top Pot Donuts 1.5 blocks from my work - AND a coworker, who was there when he actually went into Top Pot and ordered 2 dozen assorted for his crew and a pumpkin old fashioned for himself, snapped the photo to the right) and lows (i.e., I managed to lose both my phone and wallet over the course of two days, with the latter occurring on the bus - exactly what I need as I'm heading off to NYC soon) at the office, I hoped that Night 2 of Net Strike would be uneventful - in spite of Seattle's ominous weather forecast.

While I ended up sleeping quite well, I definitely woke up a little dewy, and if not downright wet in some places (may my NYTimes Crossword Puzzle book rest in peace).  You can see where my mattress was - and clearly wasn't on - my deck this morning.

Well, I do live in Seattle and it is October - it's going to rain.  Hopefully some generous souls will think of "saving" me soon...or I'll just get a good soaking for the next 12 days.  Either way.


Alright, I'm off to work and a day spent looking forward to a misty sleep under the Seattle rain clouds...

Happy Friday!
Nancy


Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 1.5: Snuggling Up in Seattle

I'm ready to tuck myself in for a few minutes of crosswords before bednet sleeping and anti-rain hoping...all while my loving and supportive boyfriend enjoys a large bed to himself.  Inside.  And alone.  Poor guy.  Almost makes you want to help the kid out...or you know, "save" me. :)

Sweet dreams,
Nancy


Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 1: Success! And Shockingly Cozy.

Although my neck and back are sore in a few places (apparently my air mattress doesn't compare with my wonderful bed for back support), I woke up this morning to find myself surprisingly warm and cozy - and decently well-rested!  Of course, we've got several days of rain coming up in Seattle, so we'll see how warm I remain soon...

Here's the latest YouTube clip from last night right before I went to bed.  My aim will be to get my boyfriend to snap pictures of me during the night so you can see that yes, I'm actually under there, but at least for tonight, we swapped his iPad for my sleeping bag in his car and he booked it home.  I wonder what people would pledge if he were to sleep under there for a night too...the air mattress is queen-sized...ah the cogs are whirring. :)

Have a great Thursday!
Nancy



Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.

Night 0.5: The Set Up

Who doesn't like a nice comfy air mattress and non-insectide treated bednet to come home to...on a brisk October night in Seattle?  I know I am!  Check out my accommodations for the next - potentially - two weeks.

My sleeping bag remains MIA, so I hope one can be found either in my apartment or in Will's abyss of a car trunk in the next few hours.  Otherwise, this will be a much chillier first night of Net Strike than I originally anticipated.  Good thing I took advantage of REI's fall member sale a few weekends ago.

Blogger's video-blogging feature isn't working tonight, so YouTube comes to the rescue. 
My first YouTube production! (side note: my mom has successfully navigated YouTube multiple times before I even tried, including the most recent screening of a wild turkey "chase" around our front yard in Duanesburg)

Nightly Net Strike Trivia Tidbit  
(or the grimace-inducing NNSTT if you prefer acronym-ing, as we frequently do in the public health world)
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)'s latest estimates, an African child dies of malaria every 45 seconds.  So every minute you spend mindlessly surfing facebook or checking out the headlines of nytimes.com (both of which are an occasional past-time of mine), somewhere in Africa, a child loses his or her life to malaria's lethal grasp.  At least two children have been struck down by malaria just in the time it has taken me to type these few sentences, edit a few misspellings, and briefly think of what writing such a statement means.  Every 45 seconds.  A new grave is dug.  A new family mourns the loss of a child, most likely one who hasn't even reached his or her fifth birthday.

Do you remember your fifth birthday?  Although I can't say with this 100% confidence (ha yes, this is my IHME training coming through - we're never 100% sure!), I'm pretty sure I had a wonderful fifth birthday.  A fifth birthday filled with giddy and sugar-crazed friends, manic playing, bountiful gifts, and excitement for the upcoming school year.  Many - if you can call nearly 1 million each year simply "many" - children in Africa never see that fifth birthday, never see a future that you and I have thus far enjoyed, all because of malaria.  The disease accounts for over 20% of all childhood deaths in Africa, which is a horrible statistic in itself, but what makes it unequivocally unacceptable (from my perspective) is that every one of those deaths are preventable.

We have effective medicines to treat malaria.  We have prevention methods - like bednets and indoor spraying of insecticides - that work.  But due to factors like high costs, poor distribution chains, and inadequate information transfer, these medicines and these preventative interventions frequently fail to get to the people who need them the most.  I will speak much more to these issues in future posts, but these are the obstacles that organizations like Malaria No More seek to overcome with their innovative fundraising campaigns and implementation activities.  I care deeply about these malaria control - and ultimately policy - problems, and because Malaria No More uses such creative approaches in engaging the public about malaria and improving malaria control at the community levels in Africa, I have happily worked with them through Team Malaria No More and the Malaria Griot program for the last two years.

And with that, I best finish up some readings and start layering up for my first night of Net Strike!  Again, please forward this blog to whomever you think may be interested; after all, when you're sleeping under the frosty Seattle skies to raise money for malaria, any support - financial or otherwise - is immensely appreciated.  Remember, I'm sleeping under a bednet in Seattle for the next 14 days or until "Lives for Lubomba" raises $10,000 for Tanzania's malaria control programs.  You get to decide.

Good night!
Nancy



Net STRIKE!  I'm sleeping outside under a bednet in Seattle so children in Tanzania can too.  I'll sleep out on the deck, bednet overhead, until November 4 (i.e., when I leave for the NYC marathon) or $10,000 is raised for my Team Malaria No More fundraising campaign, Lives for Lubomba.  To support this campaign, simply scroll down the page to the button "Click Here to Donate Now."  Thanks so much for your support, "saving" me and children's lives in Tanzania.