Now for the cousins!

Have you ever interviewed someone so annoying, you killed them before the interview was over? No, I don’t mean Cristiano Ronaldo, but Ozzie the Mozzie, whom I zapped with insecticide a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he was immediately replaced by his cousin, Mitch the Itch. This incident came back to me later when I read a thought-provoking post by Roni at Losing Screws about donating to charity. And this in turn reminded me of Channillo.

My weekly series What a Life! What a Day!, similar in tone to the Thursday Interview here on this blog, but with different protagonists, starts there next Monday. Here’s the blurb: How does Mona Lisa spend her day? What does Mr. Plod have for breakfast? What does the Man in the Moon think of us here on earth? Find out in What a Life! What a Day! A spoof of the UK’s Sunday Times series, A Life in the Day, WaLWaD asks famous mythical, literary or biblical figures, or even objects or concepts, to describe a typical day. Humorous, irreverent, instructive, or just plain wacky, WaLWaD will have you thinking outside the box even as you chuckle.

What, you ask, does this have to do with mosquitoes? Simply that Channillo authors, if they wish, can donate all proceeds to the charity of their choice, and coming so soon after Ozzie, Mitch the Itch annoyed me so much that I’ve chosen the Against Malaria Foundation. This is one of GiveWell’s  top-rated charities, i.e. each dollar donated has a significant effect in combating the problem. It’s actually very difficult to eradicate the millions of Mitch’s cousins, so for the moment, the cheapest, and most effective way of fighting malaria is to provide LLINs – long-lasting insecticide-treated nets for people to sleep under. This is the action the Foundation pursues. Each net costs about $3, lasts for 3-4 years, and protects, on average, two people.

The Channillo subscription rates are here. Subscribing to WaLWaD on its own would buy about 10 nets in a year, which may not sound a lot, but as the Foundation says, every net counts. So the object of this post is not to ask you to subscribe (though if you do, that’s wonderful!) but to share the information wherever you can. Spread the word, spread the love – stop malaria from spreading!