The Whine of Doom by Javier

The Whine of Doom by Javier - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

Everyone who lives in South Florida knows the high pitched whine of summer:the mosquito. For most of us, the mosquito is just a summertime annoyance causing itchy bumps. For my high school biology teacher, infected by dengue fever in Costa Rica, the mosquito was a carrier of unimaginable pain. For my relatives in South America living with the threat of the virus, the mosquito is the harbinger of doom. All it takes is one bite to be faced with the deadly consequences of mosquito borne illnesses. My relatives, all Argentineans, live with the threat of a variety of diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and most recently, the Zika virus. As a South Floridian, I live in constant fear of contracting the Zika virus. While the threat exists, it is easy for people in more developed countries like ours to simply wear mosquito repellant and long sleeves, but for the less fortunate, there is no shield. Sub-Saharan Africa for example, harbors nearly all of the known mosquito borne diseases. It is an extremely underdeveloped region on our globe and consequently has the highest mortality rate due to the variety of mosquito borne illnesses. People living in this region are predominantly impoverished and lack access to even a simple flu vaccine. They have no means to protect themselves from these diseases It is an atrocity.
In the winter of 2015 I travelled to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for malaria prevention at the offices of various senators and representatives, most notably Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Most voiced strong support for the cause and endorsed a foundation I am involved with called “Nothing but Nets.” This foundation uses donations to send bed netting to third world countries. This bed netting can cover up to four people and protects against mosquitoes during the night which is the most common time for contraction of malaria. One net costs ten dollars.
Back home, I took initiative as well. As vice president of my synagogue’s youth organization, I took the liberty of creating donation boxes to distribute throughout the campus. Every ten dollars donated saved four lives. It was an incredible feeling. I finally felt that I was making the world a better place. This project became a tremendous success. I soon realized that if a high schooler in Miami can put five boxes around a synagogue and save hundreds of lives, who knows the limit to what can be accomplished? My dream is for more people to take initiative. Unlike most endeavors, the results really did come overnight, and still continue to do so. I dream about the day that I wake up, have my morning coffee, and read the words “ Last Case of Malaria: Cured”, in The New York Times. But until that day comes, all we can do is more.