7/18/10 Monday Market Madness

After surveying a few houses about 2 miles out in Yakina, Melody, Enock, and I went to the weekly Monday market where many gather from surrounding towns and even Kenya to buy stuff at the huge market. Its quite a spectacle. There are tons of stands selling used clothing, fish, produce, etc. The last time I went to the Monday market, Melody and I bought fish, tomatoes, peanuts, and dahga (its like anchovies) for Babou, an orphan, and his grandma. This week, we decided to buy clothes for Babou. Apparently bargaining does not work here if you are a mzungu. Nevertheless, we got a bunch of clothes for less than $5USD. We bought Babou three shirts, two pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, and shoes. When we got back from the market, we listened to a talk from Dr. Machaga, the regional malaria director. He was describing how they will do indoor residual spraying for the entire area since the government is paying for it. This type of spraying involves using pesticides on the inside of households to eliminate mosquitoes. I think the process is quite expensive and spraying only lasts 6-9 months before it needs to be re-sprayed. During the lecture, I learned a lot about malaria control and mosquito elimination using different methods. I’m really glad to be doing our mosquito net behavior usage study since malaria is a top killer of children in the area and long lasting insecticide nets seem to be an effective way of not getting bit while sleeping. Education certainly plays a huge role for people to understand how malaria is caused and how to properly use nets to maximize protection.