Former Miami soccer player Kristen Kenney was in Tanzania filming a documentary in 2009 when she contracted malaria, a disease eradicated from America back in the '50s but fatal to nearly 3,000 African children each day.
"I felt the pain shoot up my spine, my muscles weaken, my joints lock, and the fever seize my body," she wrote. "It was hotter than Miami on a summer day yet I was uncontrollably shivering from the fever."
Kenney nearly died in Africa, but fortunately, she could afford the $7 medicine to save her life. Struck by the fact that so few Africans can, and by its devastating effect on vulnerable communities, she founded Malaika For Life, and organization that sells beaded bracelets made by Tanzanian widows and HIV-positive women and priced to save one life each.
Malaika means "angel" in Swahili, and Kenney found a team's worth at her alma mater. The women's soccer team created a partnership called "Scoring Goals to Save Lives": for each goal scored, they would donate $10 -- enough to save another life from malaria.
Fortunately for those at risk in Tanzania, the Canes are led by senior forward Brittney Steinbruch, the most prolific goal-scorer in the program's history. Led by her team-high 8 goals, the 10-5 Canes have scored 29.
And inspired by their efforts, others have contributed another 157 matching donations.
That's 178 lives saved from malaria, just by playing soccer.
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"The simple concept of her organization makes you stop and put things in perspective and anxious to help immediately," said head coach Tricia Taliaferro.
Kenney will be presented with a check for $1,780 at halftime of the Canes' final home match today. And soon the funds will see more crucial malaria medicine delivered where it is needed most: to Africa, where a child dies from the disease every 30 seconds.
"My experience with malaria changed my life forever," says Kenney, who has so far saved 8,000 African children from malaria, and whose bracelets are worn by celebs like the Lakers' Ron Artest, Queen Latifah, and Christian Siriano. "My goal is...to continue to sell bracelets that save lives every day until a larger and more powerful organization can step in and find a cure, a vaccine, or an alternative method that is immediate, effective and sustainable.
"Until then, we keep plugging away everyday."
