‘Storytime with Dr. Mosquito’, Let’s make bedtime the most important time to learn about malaria prevention through magical storytelling and endearing characters who are doing all they can to talk to children and their families about malaria and how to prevent it. Mosquitoes should not be your typical mosquito, but rather a mosquito whose mission is to teach children and their families about malaria and how to protect themselves. Our magical stories will be both informative and entertaining; they will bring knowledge and first-hand experience of what it means to know and fear malaria. On this extraordinary mission, we will travel through stories of adventure, friendship, and the courage it takes to overcome even death.
1. Dr. Mosquito and the Magic Bed Net
There was once a mosquito called Dr Mosquito who lived in Mosquitoville in the middle of a verdant, green forest. He was very clever and nice, and he cared deeply about helping his friends live healthy, happy lives.
The doctor had invented a magic bed net, akin to a blanket draped over the world, a net big enough to fit a cattle herd, and one that chased the planes or vinegar-swilling mosquitoes away. In the story of a poor child, this magical net fends off the powerful (invisible) enemies who relentlessly nip the narrator.
One evening when the Sun went down, Dr Mosquito paid a visit to his friend Little Lily the Lizard, and to Benny the Bat. ‘You know, I hear you have heard stories about malaria. Am I right?’ they asked him. ‘How can we prevent this disease? I am so scared, I honestly do not know what to do,’ he said.
Dr Mosquito buzzed his wings with excitement. ‘I have a gift for you,’ he said. ‘A magic bed net, so you may sleep safely under it from mosquitoes and malaria.’
Little Lily stared at the net in astonishment. ‘How does it work, Dr Mosquito?’ said Benny.
“This bed net is coated with medicine. If you sleep under it, mosquitoes can’t reach you,” Dr. Mosquito said with a quick smile. “It has medicine that repels and kills mosquitoes, so you won’t get bitten or catch malaria.”
Little Lily and Benny beamed with joy. They promised to use it every night and spread the word to everyone they knew.
And so, off they slept to the gentle strains of Dr Mosquito’s musical magic, safe in their bed net, healthy and happy.
2. Dr. Mosquito and the Great Malaria Adventure
Down deep in the Enchanted Forest, where the trees talked and the stars twinkled, Dr Mosquito and his friends set out on an adventure. They’d heard that the dreaded Malaria Monster was lurking in the nearby village.
Fully prepared with backpacks full of bed nets and medicine, Dr Mosquito, along with Tilly the Turtle and Freddy the Frog visited each village eager to stop the Malaria Monster and teach the locals how to prevent malaria.
When they got to the village, many people weren’t using bed nets properly. Some bed nets had holes in them, some people had forgotten to use them completely. Malaria Monster is sneaky and he’s spreading disease wherever he goes, even when people aren’t protecting themselves.
Dr Mosquito gathered his staff and began the lesson. ‘To drive away the Malaria Monster,’ he told the audience, ‘you have to use your bed nets every night. Check them to make sure there are no holes and that they are hung properly. If there are any holes, repair them quickly.
The villagers paid rapt attention as he showed them how to hang the bed nets and check them for holes; he had the little white puppet Dr. Mosquito nurse a tangled one back to health. The equally diminutive Tilly the Turtle helped with the repairs, while Freddy the Frog reminded them to keep the pesky blood-suckers out of the house.
So when night fell, everyone in the village did exactly what Dr Mosquito told them to do. Night after night, there was no one for the Malaria Monster to bite. Bit by bit, it went away. There wasn’t a single person left in the village who had malaria. Everyone in the village came to thank Dr Mosquito and his friends.
3. Dr. Mosquito and the Mystery of the Missing Bed Nets
One morning in Safeville, the sun was just breaking the horizon when Dr Mosquito got a phone call from panicked families reporting their bed nets missing. So he went to investigate with Sally the Squirrel and Gary the Grasshopper.
Dr Mosquito and his assistants, Sally and Gary, set out to find the missing bed nets. They talked to the families, listening to their stories, and they plotted the path of the missing nets. As they did, they found that teasing kittens and playful young monkeys were shuttling the bed nets a kilometer away, and nobody could figure out why.
Sally the Squirrel finds the bed nets in a secret burrow where little animals have been playing with them as if they were toys. ‘So, the bed nets couldn’t repel the mosquitoes away from the family’ Finally, Dr Mosquito gets a chance to talk and educate the animals about the best practices of using bed nets to protect people from malaria.
‘These bed nets are not toys,’ Dr Mosquito explained. ‘They keep people from getting sick. If you use the bed nets, then everyone can stay healthy and safe.
And they listened carefully. When they finished the story, the little animals felt so sorry for what they had done they promised to return the bed nets and not take them again.
Dr. Mosquito, Sally, and Gary gathered to rehang the nets and ensure everyone understood their importance. There was an extra session just for the little critters! The residents from Zambia learn about malaria prevention and bed nets.
4. Dr. Mosquito and the Tale of the Brave Family
The family lived in the quiet settlement of Brightland, surrounded by a strong community that made it a safe place to call home. Papa Mike and Mama Mia followed health and safety rules by using bed netting to prevent malaria.
One day the heavy rains wreaked havoc and the wind blew hard, ripping some of the bed nets. Mama Mia and Papa Mike said: Rufus, the Malaria Monster took advantage of this and was about to enter Onyourcase but God protected us.
Dr. Mosquito rushed over to Brightland with his assessment kit and some spares of bed nets, arriving just in time to help this family’s torn nets back together and reinforce its defenses.
‘Mama Mia, Papa Mike,’ said Dr Mosquito, ‘I come to fix your mosquito nets so that you and your family don’t get sick.
Under Dr Mosquito’s watchful eye, the family patched and strung the nets – reinforcements for which Dr Mosquito had arranged for them to receive. Suitable strong thread was salvaged from ripped nets or other damaged items. Patches and replaced strings secured the holes and hemmed the nets securely. Papa Mike constructed a complex new system to keep the nets tightly in place through the season’s storms.
The storm subsided, and the family sang a little song every night, proudly hanging up their repaired bed nets. They were also grateful for having learned from Dr Mosquito new lessons about bed net maintenance and watchfulness against malaria.
The knowledge that the family had acted with courage spread throughout the village of Brightland, and ensured that everyone put their bed nets through the fumigation process, just to be safe. Dr Mosquito poured them a celebratory drink for having chosen health over all odds.
5. Dr. Mosquito and the Secret of the Healthy Garden
Meanwhile, we continued with the mixture of clay and water in the rich town of Greenfields though we didn’t find it to our liking. The mosquitos kept biting us and stopped us from working in the garden.
The indefatigable Dr Mosquito finally implanted himself at Greenfields. On discovering that mosquitoes were breeding in stagnant water lying about the garden, he came and talked to the gardeners.
He has said: As an alternative, if you wish to avoid the mosquitoes in your yard, please remove all standing water where the mosquitoes can breed. To protect yourself, please use bed nets while working in your garden.
The gardeners started working to tackle the mosquito problem, following the doctor’s advice. They cleaned up stagnant water, slept under bed nets when working outdoors, and planted mosquito-repellent plants around the garden. The garden subsequently thrived, and the mosquito problem was greatly reduced.
The gardeners themselves were delighted and thanked Dr Mosquito for his advice. In that way, a healthy garden showed how good practice, along with the use of bed nets, could keep people and plants safe from malaria. Dr Mosquito drove away from Greenfields happy, content that his work had made a difference.
By turning drab messages about malaria avoidance into a bedtime story, Hatcher helps young children and families remember important lessons in a fun way. Kids can hear about the noble quest of Dr. Mosquito and friends to demonstrate the ‘virtues of using bed nets properly, taking care of them, and creating a living environment that keeps mosquitoes away in the first place’.
