It takes 10 minutes to make a bracelet.

It takes $10 to save a life.

And that’s what NETwork Against Malaria means to do.

NETwork Against Malaria is a national nonprofit organization that makes and sells beaded jewelry to raise money and buy mosquito nets for children in Uganda, said Margaret McGlynn, Arts & Sciences junior and co-creator of NETwork Against Malaria.

The organization has chapters in six states and at three universities. Creighton’s chapter was approved as an official Creighton student organization this semester.

McGlynn, a member of Residence Life’s global awareness committee for sophomore programming, helped plan a jewelry-making event, held on Tuesday, to create products for NETwork Against Malaria as part of the Africa segment of Global Awareness Week.

Students met in McGloin Hall’s lobby to make bracelets and necklaces with fair-trade beads. If they liked what they created, they could purchase their jewelry or make a donation.

“It’s something fun to do, and you can help out a nonprofit at the same time,” McGlynn said. “You can help people while having fun.”

Catherine Wolfe, Arts & Sciences sophomore, said she enjoyed the event.

“I had a problem deciding at first because there were a lot of beads,” Wolfe said. “But it was a really cool cause and a fun idea.”

NETwork Against Malaria purchases their beads from two other nonprofits.

“The main beads are from BeadforLife from Uganda, and then the filler beads are from a nonprofit organization that raises money for battered women in my hometown in Belleville, Ill.,” McGlynn said.

The beads from BeadforLife, an organization that creates employment for Ugandan women, are handcrafted from colorful recycled paper. BeadforLife sells the beads, pays the workers fair-trade prices and uses the profits in community-development projects in Uganda.

“Most of them [the beaders] are associated with AIDS in some shape or form,” McGlynn said. “I think most of them have AIDS, but it’s not a necessary condition to be a bead maker.”

McGlynn said a few stores around the country carry NETwork Against Malaria’s jewelry, and the organization also sells its creations at different events.

“We make bracelets and jewelry in groups because we actually sell a lot, and everyone always seems to enjoy just making it,” McGlynn said.

All proceeds go to buying mosquito nets for people in Uganda. Each insecticide-treaded net costs about $10 and can protect a whole household from the mosquitoes that carry malaria. The disease is the primary cause of sickness and death in Uganda and kills more than 1 million people each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maria Doyle, a first-year occupational therapy student and member of the global awareness committee, helped with Tuesday’s event and explained how NETwork Against Malaria helps prevent the spread of malaria in Uganda.

“They have classes to teach them [the Ugandans] why the nets are important, and then they give them the nets,” Doyle said. “It’s a really good cause.”

For more information or to make a donation, visit networkagainstmalaria.org.

NETwork Against Malaria also has donation boxes in all of Creighton’s residence halls.