As most of you know, over the past 3 weeks, in conjunction with Contest Corner Challenge #60: That Bites, we partnered with the Canadian Red Cross in a fund raiser called ‘Malaria Bites.’ The purpose of the fund raiser was to purchase specially-treated mosquito nets for children in Liberia. These mosquito nets help to keep children safe from malaria-carrying mosquitoes while sleeping, when mosquitoes are most likely to bite and spread malaria. For $7 CDN (about $5.50 US), we could purchase a net through the Canadian Red Cross. Every $7 we donated could save a life. Instead of buying little trinkets and stuff this holiday season, as a community, we decided to save lives instead.

A couple of weeks ago, along with the announcement of Contest Corner Challenge #60: That Bites, we started a site-wide fund raiser called “Malaria Bites.” Our goal? To raise money to purchase mosquito nets for children in Liberia to help prevent the spread of malaria by partnering with the Canadian Red Cross. You can read all about the Malaria Bites campaign here in our initial blog post.

As I’m sure you well know, every three weeks a new Contest Corner Challenge is announced. CCC#60 was announced yesterday, but this one is a little more special than most. Not only is it a photography contest, but it’s also a fundraiser. In addition to having an excuse to go out and practice photography, submit a photograph, and maybe even win a prize; but you also have the opportunity to save a life.

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease that attacks a person’s blood supply. It is transmitted by mosquitoes at night, striking silently while people are asleep. The more times a person is bitten by infected mosquitoes, the greater their risk. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of malaria and can die as quickly as 24 hours after first experiencing symptoms. Symptoms include recurring chills, fever, and sometimes jaundice and anaemia. Although malaria is not always fatal to adults, the debilitating symptoms often prevent those stricken with it from working or taking care of family members–causing a serious economic burden to people already vulnerable to the effects of poverty.

So what does Malaria have to do with photography? Not much really. I've been trying to come up with a good way to tie this into the Corner (and there is a tie in, but you'll have to wait until Contest Corner Challenge #60 is announced), but what it honestly comes down to is that if you're into photography, that means you have some disposable income (let's face it, photography isn't a cheap hobby), and the most proven and cost-effective way to prevent malaria is by sleeping under a long-lasting insecticide-treated net (which we can purchase for only $7 each). I'll get to more on that below.