Mosquito Zapper

Mosquitoes are more than just a nuisance here in Morogoro. Some carry malaria so whenever I see one I hunt it down and kill it with our high tech mosquito killer. I went out looking for a conventional fly swatter soon after we got here but didn’t see any so I told a shop keeper what I was looking for. I didn’t know the Swahili word for it so I said that I wanted something to kill mosquitoes and made a swatting motion with my hand. “Oh, we have those,” she said, and pulled down something hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a tennis racket with a Harry Potter-like lightning streak through the strings. Do you want it with regular batteries or rechargeable ones, she asked. I didn’t want a tennis racket, not even a rechargeable one, but I looked closely at the printed material on the wrapping and it clearly said that it killed mosquitoes.

Does it ever?!! It’s the greatest invention since sliced bread and much more fun. Turn it on, press the red button, swing that “tennis racket” at any insect and when it makes contact in mid-air, “ZAP!” You don’t have to wait for the insect to land on the wall. It’s not even a contest. Hear a buzzing around your head? Zap! See a mosquito in the wash room? Zap! See one lurking over the sink? Zap! Is a mosquito on the bedroom wall? Put the tennis racket over that beast and Zap!

I’ve been much bitten by mosquitoes but never had malaria so when I’m here long term I don’t take preventive meds for it. The risk of malaria is fairly low and the side effects of the medication can be problematic. Doxycycline, for example, makes one prone to sunburn. Side effects of other meds range from vivid dreams to mild nausea. When I’m here short term, though, I’ll take doxycycline and put up with the minor inconvenience.

We have a malaria test kit at our house and a dose of the meds, if needed. The test kit is cool except for the part where you have to prick a finger to draw a smidgen of blood. That’s when I want to call in the nurse. Dave had malaria when we lived in Congo back in the late 70s, and it was scary when his temperature shot way up but he felt cold and wanted blankets piled on top of him. At least he could stay in bed. The administration at the boarding school where we taught then made their students come to class every day, even when they had malaria. As a lowly teacher, I couldn’t do anything about it except let my feverish students keep their heads down on their desks and not give them work to do in class.

Malaria is worst in low-lying areas but we are about 2,000 feet above sea level so it isn’t the problem here that it is along the coast. In most of sub-Saharan Africa the land rises quickly as you leave the coast so the inland climate generally is cooler and less malaria-ridden than coastal areas. That’s one reason, much as I love the ocean, I’m glad we live in Morogoro and not in coastal Dar.