Day 123: 5 Minute Freewrite: Monday - Prompt: fumigate

in #freewrite7 years ago


Image: Baygon Kidlat Katol (Baygon Mosquito Coil)

My country always made headlines because of the continuous increase of death rates due to dengue and malaria. Though we have new techniques in fumigating our houses from insects such as mosquitoes, there is one product that comes to the minds of Filipinos when such dilemma arises.

It's the infamous mosquito coil, a Filipino housemaker's best friend in fighting deadly mosquitoes. Back in my toddler days, we lived near a farm with a HUGE water irrigation system. Mosquitoes and flies were a common problem for children like us. So my mom would always buy at least two boxes of coil, with one coil lasting from 38 hours before burning out, to as long as 10-15 nights, if spent wisely.

Plus the smell! My goodness, did it smell wonderful! No, I'm not kidding. It had a LAVENDER scent along with it. A good thing, especially for people with sensitive noses!

We had a name for that coil in the Philippines. We called it "katol". I don't see the rationality of it, but that's popular Philippine culture!

With the rise of bug sprays, the popularity of these coils has slowly started to decline. However, insect repellant manufacturers still make money selling it. After all, most Filipinos couldn't afford the luxury of aerosol bug sprays with those long, yellow, plastic tubes in the end!

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Products that can sell easily in supermarkets are actually lifesavers!!
Thank you for sharing this with us :)

Thank you, @mysecondself01! I agree! It's often the cheap products that sell out fast, and often they are the ones that actually work... #reality, indeed. God bless! Xx

funny how right you are about the cheap stuff being the best most times.

Thanks for sharing your story!!

Thank you, @snook! It's only during those times that value for money and product effectiveness work together... God bless! Xx

I hate the smell of any bug sprays. Thanks for sharing this :)

Thank you @honeydue! I agree, especially with those bug spray cans. My nose can still get by with the lavender coil, though. God bless! Xx