How can you use your own hobbies to support the fight against malaria? Just ask Oceana Rain Fields.

When the Pacific High School senior told her aunt that she wanted to be an artist, her aunt offered an unusual response: “That sounds selfish,” she said. “How are you helping other people making art?”

These words inspired Fields when she entered the Vision 2010 high school art competition at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon. The idea for her pastel and charcoal painting came from a photograph she had seen in National Geographic, which showed a young African boy suffering from malaria on a hospital bed. Fields said of the photograph: “It just blew me away. I think the picture he took was 50 times better than the piece that I did.”

Her own criticisms aside, the painting, entitled “Malaria,” won first in show. When Fields accepted her award, she used the opportunity to raise awareness about malaria and spoke about different organizations that are leading the fight against the disease. “[Malaria] is something more or less preventable. A mosquito net costs practically nothing.” It costs only $10 to provide a mosquito net to protect two children from malaria in Africa. You can make a donation here.

The painting will remain on display at the Coos Art Museum until April 10^th.

Have a hobby? Put it to good use!

Marisa is the new Communications Intern – a.k.a. Super Intern since she divides her interning time between MNM and Sesame Workshop.