I arrived to Ghana a little over a week ago and I just got my first mosquito bite. In order to prepare to the trip we were given a packing list including items such as malaria pills, sunscreen, walking shoes, and mosquito repellent (at least three cans each with deet, which I still don’t know much about). Walmart and the Dollar Tree are some of the stores I went to buy the items in such list, but Walmart only had two cans left. I told myself that would be enough and not to stress out because I would be able to buy more repellent in Ghana.

It wasn’t until I was at the airport’s check point that I realized I had the mosquito repellent in my carry on and because of airport’s rules I had to take it out from my luggage. Once I arrived to Ghana I had to borrow mosquito spray from my peers until I got the chance to go grocery shopping. Finding mosquito repellent with deet was impossible and I had to buy the only repellent available in the store (a lime-scented lotion). I have been using the lotion everyday but not as frequently as most of my peers are using their repellent and I was still one of the few without mosquito bites. I was amused by the ‘effectiveness’ of the Ghanaian repellent I was using, especially taking into account that I have not been able to set up the mosquito net that I am supposed to use at night and I haven’t been using anything to repel bugs.

Throughout the week I was constantly hearing my peers talk about getting mosquito bites despite using repellent, which is supposed to be stronger than the one I am currently using. For a moment I thought I was the lucky one for not getting bitten. It was only a matter of days, now I can no longer stand the bites, but I know this is only something I would be dealing with for a short period of time. Although it is uncomfortable, little situations like this make the Media in Ghana a unique program that I know has so much to offer me in these five weeks.