John Hope Franklin
208 Pineview Road
Durham, NC 27707

June 2, 2005

Dear Friends,

I hope that you’re doing well and looking forward to the approaching summer. As we look forward in anticipation to summer in our culture, I’m reminded that in Africa it can be a time of great apprehension, as it signals the start of the rainy season that sets off swarms of mosquitoes that carry the malaria virus.

Malaria is a disease that has been virtually eradicated in this country. But in Africa, malaria kills between 1 and 2 million people every year.

When an African mother brings her child to a clinic to be treated for malaria, there is a good chance that the medicine she receives will not even work, and her child will get sick again and again, maybe as often as six times each year. Today in Africa, a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds – nearly 3,000 a day.

The problem is that malaria parasites are increasingly developing resistance to the drugs that are most commonly available in Africa. While there are malaria treatments that work, a single dose can cost more than what a typical African family can earn in a week.

The problem is huge, but I want to tell you about a group of citizens here in the Triangle that are determined to have a positive impact, however small, to ensure that more children in Africa have access to life-saving malaria medicines: the Bonjour Africa Malaria Project.

The mission of the Bonjour Africa Malaria Project (BAMP) is to raise money to buy lifesaving malaria medicines for African children and youth. In its first fundraising event – an African Dinner-Dance Party held in September 2004, BAMP raised nearly $3,400 – enough to treat more than 700 children for malaria – and oversaw the delivery of those medicines to the community of Linguere, Senegal.

BAMP is holding another such event on June 11, 2005, from 7:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. at Ivy Community Center, 4418 Fayetteville Road in Durham.

BAMP is currently receiving donations through IntraHealth International, Inc., an international non-governmental institution (NGO) headquartered in Chapel Hill with project offices in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Checks to support BAMP should be made out to IntraHealth International, Inc. and mailed to Bouna Ndiaye, 208 Pineview Road, Durham, NC 27707. All donations are tax deductible.

It’s a great human tragedy that so many lives are lost to malaria in Africa simply because affordable medicines are not available. The Bonjour Africa Malaria Project is doing a valuable service to give Triangle citizens the opportunity to contribute to alleviating this tragedy.

Many thanks for your generosity.

Sincerely,

John Hope Franklin
James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus
Duke University