“It’s like a thud to the heart” says Kingsley “when you get to a village and a mother is screaming, not knowing what to do, her child dying from malaria – 2 days by dugout to the nearest clinic. I know what it is like, I’ve had malaria well over 40 times and when you think these lives can be saved by a simple mosquito net.”

Show your support to end Malaria by purchasing a colourful beaded Malaria bracelet.

It’s more than a string of beads. It’s a lifeline

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For only R25 you can help eliminate the number one killer of children under five and stop 850 000 preventable malaria deaths each year on the African continent.

Cape Union Mart supports the United Against Malaria campaign attached to Kingsley Holgate expeditions. You can become part of the winning team that will make malaria history in Africa – all you need to do is purchase a colourful United Against Malaria bracelet available at all Cape Union Mart stores. It’s more than a string of beads – it’s a lifeline. 

R10 from the sale of each bracelet will be donated to the Global Fund for malaria prevention efforts such as anti-malaria mosquito nets. Each net will protect two children for up to 3 years. Kingsley Holgate led expeditions will continue to distribute life saving nets to pregnant mums and to mums with children under the age of five years.

Our aspiration is to ensure a maximum reduction in malaria deaths by 2015 as a major step toward ultimately eradicating malaria.

Ending malaria will improve maternal and child health, education and will significantly reduce poverty in Africa.

Each bracelet carries a small pewter signature bead which is mark of authenticity and ethical business practice.

The United Against Malaria bracelets are handmade in Africa as an employment project to give dignity and hope to unemployed, unskilled people, many of whom are HIV/AIDS survivors and caretakers of HIV/AIDS orphans. Proceeds from the sale of this bracelet go to support these heroes and to protect children from malaria across Africa.

The Story Behind the Bracelets

A simple string of beads makes up the United Against Malaria bracelet – but the symbol of being part of the effort against malaria in Africa was not always a beaded bracelet.

Initially, it was a blue strip cut from the material which is used for malaria nets and which is also used to pack the nets into bundles of 20. Kingsley and his Malaria warriors – the men and women who travel from one African community to the next distributing malaria nets and educating people about malaria prevention and treatment – tied the blue strips around their wrists and those of the people they met as a sign of belonging to a common cause.

The making of each bracelet?

Each beaded Bracelet is handmade by the Relate Trust – a philanthropic non-profit organisation in Cape Town. By partnering with Ikamva Labanthu (an NGO), they offer dignity and employment to senior citizens who would otherwise be marginalised and unable to support themselves. They operate out of community centres in local townships and are able to earn enough to provide food and shelter to themselves and their family. Elders often act as primary caregivers in Africa, as whole generations are wiped out due to HIV and malaria.

Success

To date, the UAM Supporter’s Bracelet has:

* Raised over US$250,000 (about R1,75 million)
* Purchased approximately 30,000 nets, which means that 60,000 to 90,000 children now sleep safely at night
* Enabled the creation of sustainable employment for 100 people who themselves are feeding another 5 mouths on average
* Connected over 200,000 people around the world to each other around a common cause

Income from the sale of bracelets is shared on the principle of about two-thirds going to production (including the fee to the maker) and one-third to the mosquito net fund. The price will vary slightly from country to country, but it will ensure that every bracelet generates about US$1 for the malaria fund. Ten bracelets buy one net – and provide protection for two children for five years.

Friends in adventure please buy a bracelet or two and help save a life.

Siyabonga and best wishes

The following sponsor partners currently assisting Kingsley Holgate expeditions are: