TAKE THE CHALLENGE!

Before you present the Net Night Challenge to your kids, be sure to preview the video and read through all the activity options. The goal of the challenge is for your kids (and you) to understand the hardships associated with living in an unsafe environment where a single mosquito bite can end a life. Please be mindful of the words you choose when speaking to younger children.

You want to choose an activity (or activities) that will challenge you as a family, but not cause anxiety in your younger children or interfere with any health needs. You may wish to do this on a weekend night when you don’t have to leave for work or school in the morning.

For even more ideas and activities or to learn more about Bite Back visit www.theparentcue.org/compassion

This is what life is like for many kids in Africa. Where they live, mosquitoes can carry a disease called malaria. That means one tiny mosquito bite can make a kid very sick with a high fever, aches, and vomiting—so sick they might actually die. In fact, more than 750,000 children around the world die every single year from malaria!

That’s the scary part. But here’s the amazing part: There’s medicine that can make kids with malaria get well.

And even better, there’s an awesome way to stop mosquitoes from biting in the first place! When kids sleep under special mosquito nets, they stay safe during the night, when mosquito bites usually happen.

Bite Back (a project of Compassion International) is an opportunity for us to make an incredible difference in the lives of people in Uganda and other countries where mosquitoes carry malaria. Through Compassion, we will be sending mosquito nets to kids who need a safe place to sleep at night, so they don’t get sick.

The Net Night Challenge will help you, as a family, begin to understand what’s it’s like to live under conditions where a mosquito bite is a lot more than an irritation—it could actually mean the difference between life and death.

Take this opportunity to spend time with your family and experience some of the hardships a Ugandan family faces to help understand the need for mosquito nets. Set aside one night for the Net Night Challenge and turn your living space into a 10’ x 10’ square on your floor. Or incorporate several of our activities into your next few weeks. (You can even do both!) Finally, decide how your family will get involved in raising funds for the Bite Back initiative.

IMAGINE YOU LIVE IN A VILLAGE IN THE AFRICAN COUNTRY OF UGANDA.

You come home from school, but you don’t really have much space to play—because your entire house is only one small room where your whole family eats and sleeps. The walls aren’t very sturdy, so mosquitoes sneak in everywhere!

You try to focus on your homework, but it’s hard because there’s a tiny mosquito whining right in your ear. You keep slapping, but you can’t catch it.

You finally go to bed on the mattress on the floor you share with your two brothers—but you can’t sleep, because there are even more mosquitoes now.

And you know that if just one of them bites you, it won’t just be itchy. It could make you very sick, too.

Share your family’s Net Night experience online using the hashtag: #BITEBACK2015

1. CATCH THE VISION.Before dinner, pull the family together to watch the video, found on www.theparentcue.org/compassion, to help you and your kids to understand what it’s like to live in cramped, unsafe conditions—and how a mosquito net can make a huge difference.

2. DINNERTIME!

During dinner, use the discussion questions provided in the first Bite Back MealTime Card to talk about what life would be like if you had to live in a house the size of one of your bedrooms—with no electricity or running water. Also discuss which activities you plan to do this evening.

3. START THE CHALLENGE. After dinner, set up for your Net Night. Grab a roll of painter’s tape and mark off a 10’ x 10’ area somewhere in your home. This is the size of many houses in Uganda! Inside that space, set up an area where your whole family will sleep that night.

Rig a way to hang a “net” over your sleeping area. This can be an actual net, a parachute, a light sheet, or anything else that drapes. Make sure that everyone is covered – and that if anyone gets up during the night, the net is re-adjusted when they return.

Now choose one or more of the activities for your family to do during your Net Night. We suggest you plan to camp together the whole night, but do whatever works for your family and schedule.

4. BREAKFAST!

Take a short time to sit down together this morning. Use the second Bite Back MealTime Card to discuss your family’s experience and how it has changed your perceptions. As a family, determine your Action Plan. What will you do to raise funds for Bite Back? Every dollar will go toward changing the life of a family in Uganda by providing mosquito nets and education in preventing malaria!

5. TAKE ACTION. Put your family’s plan into action and deliver the funds to your church. Pray daily for the families you will be helping in Uganda.

If your family was moved by this experience, we encourage you to explore further connection with Compassion International.

1. As a family, you may wish to sponsor a child on a monthly basis; around $50 provides food, education, medical care and other forms of support for a child living in poverty.

2. Consider Compassion’s “Step Into My Shoes” kit. This 4-step experience, plus blog and free 1-year magazine subscription, lets your family walk alongside a family in poverty and explore the important question “How much is enough?”

Visit www.theparentcue.org/compassion for more details.

ACTIVITIES• It’s a Small World. Have each

family member bring the three things that are most important to them into your 10’x10’ space. Then add a plate, cup, and a few school books. Pretty crowded, huh? How do you think a whole family lives in such a small space? Talk about sharing and how families who live in homes like this don’t have all the things your family does.

• Net Relay. In some places, kids not only sleep, but do their homework under a mosquito net! Choose several everyday activities like putting on sneakers, brushing your teeth, or making a sandwich. Time each person doing these activities as fast as they can. Then, time each person doing these things as quickly as they can – while draped with a sheet or blanket! The person who comes closest to his or her original times wins.

• Toss Out the Mosquitoes. Grab a sheet and a bag of cotton balls. Tell each family member to hold the edges of your net (the sheet). Dump the mosquitoes (cotton balls) into the middle of the net and then bounce them out of the net as quickly as you can.

• Bite-sized Bedtime Snack. Make a bedtime snack in bite-sized pieces like cut-up fruit or s’mores made with small graham crackers and mini marshmallows. With each bite, share one way that your life would be different if you lived in a one-room home with no running water or electricity.

• Nightlight Story. Read a bedtime story by flashlight or camping lantern. Remind your kids that families who live in a home like this probably don’t have any other kind of light at night.

NET NIGHT CHALLENGE

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.ThinkOrange.com

DAY 1

Read I John 4:19:“We love because he loved us first.”

God loves. And not just you and me. God loves the world—the whole world. And because He loved us first, we can love. We can love those who God loves, which is. . . you guessed it: everyone!

Check out this map of the world. Find Uganda. Color it red to remind you that God loves the people living in Uganda. Then use whatever colors you’d like to color every country that has people God loves. (Hint: every country should be colored!)

Hang the map somewhere that will remind you to pray for the people of Uganda and people all over the world who need to know about God’s love. Take some time now to ask God to help you love others the way God loves you, and to show you how you can show compassion to the world in His name.

Uganda

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com

Read Romans 12:15“Be joyful with those who are joyful. Be sad with those who are sad.”

Have you ever heard the phrase “walk a mile in their shoes”? It means that in order to understand what someone is experiencing, you have to imagine what it would be like to be them. And when you can imagine what someone else is experiencing and feeling, it’s hard not to feel those emotions and experiences yourself.

Go grab a pair of your shoes and put them on. As you do, think about all the things you will do in those shoes today. Will you go to school? Will you run around on the playground or gym or during a sports practice? Will you walk to the bathroom and to the refrigerator to get food?

Now, imagine you are a child in Uganda who doesn’t have access to an indoor bathroom, or who doesn’t get to go to school because you have to work to help support your family. Instead, when you put on your shoes today, you’ll be walking water back and forth from your community’s well to your family’s small dirt home. Instead of kicking a ball around, you’ll run around looking for firewood so your family can cook a meal. Life would look very different, wouldn’t it?

DAY 2

All day today, try to imagine how you would feel if you were walking in the shoes of a Ugandan child. Then tonight, ask God to help you think of ways you can help them and bring the love and joy of God to their lives.

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com

DAY 3

Read Deuteronomy 15:7, 11“Suppose there are poor people among you. And suppose they live in one of the towns in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Then don’t be mean to them. They are poor. So don’t hold back money from them. There will always be poor people in the land. So I’m commanding you to give freely to those who are poor and needy in your land. Open your hands to them.”

Now that you’ve thought about what it means to love the world like God does, and you’ve imagined what it looks like to live in a country like Uganda, what’s next? Your church is likely collecting money right now to buy mosquito nets to protect children in Uganda from disease-carrying mosquitoes. (If your church isn’t doing this service project, check out www.compassion.com/catalog/protect-child-from-malaria.htm.) You can be a part of this important project by donating money yourself. Do you have some money you’ve saved from allowance, chores, or birthdays? Consider giving some of it away as an act of love and obedience to God. But it can be even bigger than that! You can raise even more money with a good idea and a little work. Brainstorm some money-making ideas below, and then ask your family to help choose one and make it happen! We’ve given you a couple of ideas to get you started.

P.S. If you raise money by selling something to other people, be sure and let them know the money will be protecting kids in Uganda from disease-carrying mosquitoes – it might inspire them to be more generous!

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com

What you could do: What you need to make it happen:Lemonade/hot cocoa stand Lemonade or cocoa, sign, a table

Bake sale Cookies, a sign or flyer

Extra chores for additional money Cleaning supplies

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DAY 4

Read Matthew 22:36-39“‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘which is the most important commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind.” This is the first and most important commandment. And the second is like it. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”’

What is the most important thing you can do with your life? Any guesses? If you guessed “love,” you are right. Jesus Himself said the two most important things you can do are love God and love others. So how do we love? It looks different every day, in every situation, and with every person. But ultimately love isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. It’s compassion: caring enough to do something about someone else’s need.

In the crossword puzzle below are things that you can give to others to show compassion. (Hint: you don’t have to have a lot of money to show compassion!)

D N V P K R N K E F W Q T S Y V O X U R K U Y Y G J N A P D Y Y O J A A T D G J E E L L Z T Y N F Z U Y A V M U Q E E Y C L O T H E S E E V N G N H Y U F X D Z L D G R A W I T W M W K T U R J A U A S F I S O K Y J N L K R P E T C Z Z N S D C Y Y C U M J F Y D A E R Q J U F P O E M I T W K Y J R C I C K C T F Z D R J V W Y L F C D N M P Y Z E I O A L F T Z F E H W W F Q Y O O Q D T B L H X Z Q W S E I C O I C I J J R T U I O E J G A H E S D W U Z

Use a crayon or marker to circle one thing that you can give to someone else to show compassion today (or come up with a new idea on your own!). Then pray and ask God to help you find opportunities to meet someone else’s need, both in Uganda and in your own house and community.

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com

Answers: time, clothes, food, prayers, encouragement, money, talents, help

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

DINNER

HEY, DID YOU KNOW…It’s hard to believe that something so small—on average, only 1∕8 to ¾ an inch long—could be so scary and potentially deadly, but when it comes to mosquitos, you don’t want to mess around. Even if the mosquito that bites you doesn’t have a disease, it’s annoying and itchy! In Uganda and many other countries, though, a mosquito bite is more than just a nuisance. Mosquitoes spread diseases like malaria, and they prey on the most vulnerable in poverty-stricken countries: children and the elderly. In fact, mosquitos are the number one enemy in the fight against global infectious diseases around the world. Thankfully, there is a way to fight—or bite—back. Mosquito nets can keep you protected while you sleep, preventing bites and disease!

ASK A KID: → During the summer—or mosquito season

where you live—what are some of your

favorite places/activities that pesky

mosquitos often invade?

→ For most of us, mosquitoes are just a

nuisance, but in some parts of the world,

they’re deadly. Why do you think that

should matter to you?

→ What is one thing your family can do to

help “bite back”?

ASK A PARENT: → Have you ever experienced a time as a parent when

you couldn’t protect your child from harm? How did

that make you feel?

→ Besides protecting people from disease, what do

you think are some other positive outcomes that

could result from providing communities with

mosquito nets and life-saving malaria drugs?

→ The countries where mosquitoes spread diseases

like malaria are often among the poorest. What are

some other things that families living in extreme

poverty might have to worry about?

JUST FOR FUN…THAT LITTLE RED

BU

MP

AN

D THE ITCHINESS THAT COMES AFTER A

MO

SQU

ITO B

ITE IS ACTUALLY AN ALLERGIC REACTION

TO TH

E MO

SQUITO’S SALIVA. PRETTY GROSS, HUH?

©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

BREAKFAST

HEY, DID YOU KNOW…It may have been a challenge for your family to camp out in such a small space, but there are people around the world who live and sleep like that all the time. If you live in the United States, there’s a good chance you live in a home made of bricks or wood—supplies that make for a sturdy and safe place to live. But in many other countries, people live in less protective homes, such as houses made of mud. You probably also got up in the night to go to the bathroom or get a sip of water—in many places around the world like Uganda, there is little access to plumbing and clean water.

ASK A KID: → What was the hardest part about sleeping

in such a small space?

→ Sleeping together in cramped quarters for

one night may have been pretty fun, but

take away your central heating in the winter

or air conditioning in the summer, along

with your running water, and it doesn’t

sound nearly as enjoyable, does it? What

do you think would be the hardest part

about living in such a situation?

→ How did your experience last night change

how you think about your own home, bed

and water?

ASK A PARENT: → Take a look at what everyone is eating for breakfast—

is that something you would be able to make or eat

without running water or electricity?

→ There is one thing you didn’t have to worry about last

night as you camped out—mosquitoes. How would

mosquitoes have made things more uncomfortable for

your family? → Now that your family has spent a night bonding in such

close quarters, it’s time to team up again. What can

your family do to help families who don’t have a choice

but to live and sleep in small spaces with too many

mosquitoes and no electricity or water?

JUST FOR FUN…HOW DID YOU SLEEP?

DID

AN

YO

NE SN

ORE?

IF SO, EV

ERYONE CAN TICKLE ATTACK THE SNORER!