When Stella was younger her future was uncertain. Her family in Malawi struggled just to have the basic necessities.

“Life was very hard for me because sometimes we had food to eat, and sometimes we didn’t,” she says. 

Then when she was four years old, Stella joined Children of the Nations and her life began to change. She had enough food to eat, she could focus on school, and she was excited about what God had in store for her.

“Joining Children of the Nations changed so much for me,” she said. 

With nutritious meals every day and the chance to attend school regularly, Stella began to thrive.

“What I like the most is that my school fees are paid for and I don’t have to worry . . .  All I can do is work hard [in school], which I’m doing,” she says.  

Stella is also thankful that she has a mosquito net to protect her when she sleeps. Many children where she lives don’t have access to one. 

Getting bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito can be incredibly dangerous, even life-threatening. Using a net is one of the best ways for children to protect themselves against mosquitos.

 

 

“[A mosquito net] protects me from mosquitos and catching malaria, which is a deadly disease here in Africa,” she says. 

Even if a malaria infection doesn’t seem serious enough to require a hospital visit, if left untreated malaria can last for weeks and have long-term impacts on a child’s health. Children can also become susceptible to repeat infections. Without access to mosquito nets, children living in poverty sometimes struggle to attend school regularly—they have no way to protect themselves against repeat infections.

But with mosquito nets, Stella and her peers can wake up every day knowing they are protected from disease. They can focus their energy on school and growing up healthy and strong. 

By dedicating herself to school and working toward her goals, Stella can pursue a future that won’t be defined by poverty. Today, she’s in Form 3 of secondary school (11th grade) and is doing well. Last term, she scored second in her class! 

“I would like to say that Children of the Nations has changed my perspective of how I see myself and my future. I have hope for the future, and I like to think that my life would have not been this way if it weren’t for Children of the Nations,” she says.

You can help protect children from the dangers of mosquitos by giving a mosquito net today!