One of the nice things about living in Seattle is that we are a medical research hub.

We also have several large international charities based here (Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, PATH, Mercy Core).

So I saw this article and immediately sent off an email telling them I want to volunteer. Part of it is the money (I’m not gonna sneeze at 2000 to stay in a hotel and get the what amounts to a bad case of the flu). But also, malaria is a major killer of children under 5. It’s not a sexy disease. It’s not a disease of wealthy countries. Without big charities like the Gates Foundation, there would be no research into a vaccine.

So if suffering with a weeks worth of chills, fever and aches means that little kids in Africa and Asia and South America will have a better shot at living to be grown ups, I’m down.