Mosquito Net Treatment

Saturday was the first day of impregnation for the rainy season. Impregnation= a biannual mosquito net treatment, in which each family brings their nets to get treated with mosquito repellent. It was also the first time that I felt that I was really contributing to the organization. The fact that Ben and I, two tubaboes were at the treatment site, attracted herds of curious children, pushing their way through the crowd to see what was going on. Finally, we were putting the spectacle of being tubaboes in Sikoroni to good use. All of the bloq (the chemical for the treatment) was used within the first few hours, and the rest of the treatments for the other sectors of Sikoroni will happen in the next few weeks. Each tablet of bloq that we used came with a brochure of how to handle the treated nets (not to keep them in direct sunlight, bring them back to get retreated within 6 months, etc). Ben and I handed out the brochures to the crowds of children, most of whom didn’t speak French and had no interest whatsoever in proper mosquito treatment. Yet, the brochures became an item to fight over. By handing them out, we had given these condescending didactic brochures Sikorni street value. Children pushed their way forward, and begin to tap my shoulder pointing at themselves to get the next brochure. They didn’t ask or bother with attempting to get my attention with the little Bambara I understand. Instead, they just crowded closer and closer together and began to gesture more and more frantically. Some of the more precocious children began hoarding them, and it wasn’t until after I realized that I gave one boy multiple copies of the brochure that I realized that mosquito net treatment cards were the Pokeman of the summer.