Insecticide Hairdressing

A young mother, with three small girls, came over to see me in the playground one morning.  She looked a little distressed.   Apparently the middle girl, who was very active and always into mischief, had gone out into the veranda and tipped insecticide powder over her hair.    The mother then spent a considerable amount of time before school washing the powder out of the girl’s hair.   Not an easy job, considering the powder was very poisonous.  

 I worried about the little girl all day, but she seemed okay at the end of the school day, when the mother came to collect the oldest girl.

I became very close to this family, during my time at the school, and visited their home often.   They were very hardworking immigrants, who started with a two roomed house, which they extended over time, and made into a very comfortable five roomed house.    They also did the same with their greenhouses.   And all this was done without growing the plant that brought many people instant riches, and often a spell in prison.   

I admired them greatly, as a family, except for the insecticide incident, as I knew the powder should have been locked away.