The Improbable Journey of Ghanaian Basketball Star Jeremiah Nyarko

March Madness has arrived! And to celebrate, we’re excited to introduce our new campaign ambassador, Jeremiah Nyarko. A native of Ghana, Jeremiah is a budding basketball star who will play for Arizona State University next season. Amazingly, Jeremiah has only been playing basketball for six years; he grew up playing soccer in the suburbs of Ghana’s capital, Accra. For Jeremiah, growing up in Ghana “was an amazing feeling” despite some of the challenges he and his family faced — one of them being malaria. “I used to get malaria two or three times a year. We lost a lot of loved ones to [malaria].”

Watch the full film below.

Jeremiah wants to use his basketball platform to make an impact in the fight against malaria. “I’m willing and wanting to make an impact back home to provide those kids, like with things to prevent them from getting malaria like mosquito nets, screens.I feel like helping beating malaria is going to change our lives. We’re going to live longer, you know. I feel like our life really matters too. So I want to help you guys beat malaria.”

You can follow Jeremiah on Instagram (@jeremiahnyarko_) and stay tuned for more collaborative content with our new Beat Malaria ambassador!