Maria Monologue

While seated in my nan’s hospital room, my attention was quickly drawn to the room across us. The door had been left ajar, and I could not help but gawk at what was going on there. Laid on the bed, was a seemingly young gentleman who looked like he could not muster the strength to hold a needle in his hand if he wanted to. Though sweating profusely, he was simultaneously quivering under a mountain of blankets. He was extremely debilitated to the point that he had to be held up by three nurses just, so he could throw up in an emesis bag. I would later glean from nurses whispering in the hallway that he had Malaria. Considering the disease was rather novel to me, a five-year-old, I queried my grandmother who briefly described it as “a mosquito borne aliment.” Even though ill-appearing, he had the physique of a professional bodybuilder; the gentleman was at least 6’2 and must have weighed over 300 pounds. He was a giant- a giant that had sadly been rendered a sick weakling by the tiniest of creatures, the mosquito. At that age, I could not fathom how a mosquito could vanquish the gargantuan man. Since then, I have been intrigued by the intricate complexities of the human body and its relationship with other organisms. …show more content…
I spent my early years in Takoradi, Ghana, an area known for its tropical climate. The tropical rainforest, though suitable for growing cash crops such as cocoa, is plagued with mosquitoes, consequently, instances of people falling ill to Malaria is not uncommon. To aid me in fully comprehending…, my nan would supervise and help me conduct experiments to determine suitable breeding grounds for mosquitoes. We would walk around the neighborhood and take note of what areas hosted