Wednesday, April 1

Fighting Malaria in Sierra Leone: A Grassroots Approach to a Global Challenge

On April 1, 2009, I attended the LGS “Globalization and International Politics” Guest Speaker Series with Mathias Esmann. His presentation titled “Fighting Malaria in Sierra Leone: A Grassroots Approach to a Global Challenge” was inspiring. A sophomore at Princeton University, Mathias is only a college student just like us, and yet he has experienced so much more through perseverance and belief in himself. Going from a first world country to a third world country is a drastic change, and trying to improve one’s lifestyle without having experienced anything even close to it before is a challenge.

Mathias started his own organization GMin, which stands for Global Minimum, with a couple of high school friends in order to fight malaria in Sierra Leone by distributing mosquito nets. At first glance, it does not sound like anything extraordinary, but GMin did what was necessary for Sierra Leone. Thousands of people die because of malaria in the country, and the initiative that they took of educating the locals about using mosquito nets improved the life chances of many in the community.

Mathias and his friends made use of the opportunities that they found before them. The speaker, instead of learning how to drive, diverted this money towards his organization. His organization also worked with UNICEF to distribute these nets, and took on the hard role of actually going into the communities, interacting with the people, and teaching them all the techniques and ways of setting up the nets. They were only a bunch of recent high school graduates, but they still succeeded in accomplishing their goal.

The presentation made me aware of the small ways in which we can make a difference. It is not always necessary to have large sums of money to be able to help those in need. There are always ways around gathering funds. The actual work is to make sure that these funds are appropriately used. For instance, the speaker gave an example of mosquito nets in another country being neglected in the harbors after they were donated because there was no one to distribute them. If we start something, it is important to follow up until the end and not quit half way. This is what these college students did; they went all the way to Sierra Leon to help people by taking surveys and identifying their needs before implementing their project, and kept in touch with the communities after the project was completed.

It made me hopeful about being able to make a difference in whatever small way possible.

Written by Anu Shrestha, LGS sophomore


"I think Mathias is a perfect example of what an LGS global scholar should be, self motivated, passionate about changing the world, and innovative. I think that even though his efforts are small, he did a good job proving that they work. He made a good point when he said that video making and picture taking is key to prove legitimacy. People want to see where their money is going and there are plenty of people who would like to make a difference but simply do not have the time. They are understandably hesitant because non profits are sometimes known to be phonies. If I were to participate in an organization like his, I would be inclined to follow an environmental route."

Written by Electra Jarvis, LGS sophomore