Behind Lisa’s house, there was a small pond. Though it had stagnant water, the family adored it because it had been there for a very long time. It was located underneath tall trees and every now and then, leaves fell off the trees and floated on the water pond, there were fish too.

"Though these leaves make my artificial lake dirty, I can’t drain it. This pond is one year older than you,” Lisa’s mother explained.

Lisa’s mother adored the pool; it was an artificial treasure that reminded her of her late mother who loved sitting under the trees near the pool.

On the contrary, Lisa detested the pool and the trees altogether. She believed that they only made the ‘would-be’ beautiful compound bushy.

Meanwhile, Lisa and her sister were always ill. While other kids enjoyed school or holidays, one or two of Lisa’s sisters was sick. Doctors had secured space for the sickly sisters; they expected to see them anytime in the hospital.

"We are unfortunate. Perhaps someone has cursed this family. I should think of consulting a pastor or a wizard soon,” Lisa’s Mum lamented.

Despite her mum’s confusion, Lisa suspected that it was malaria torturing them, though she didn’t know what really caused it. One day Lisa was listening to the radio and she found out that Malaria kills 3000 children worldwide every day.

While at school, Lisa decided to borrow a Health & Science text book from Charity, her friend. The first thing she came across as she read was that the anopheles female mosquitoes that cause malaria breed in stagnant water.

"….aha…stagnant water! That adorable pond should have killed us by now,” Lisa exclaimed.

Immediately, Lisa and Charity rushed home to show their mum and dad what they had discovered. But they had gone to check up on Lisa’s bigger sister who was admitted.

"Oh goodness. You’ve always been right Lisa. We have to clear the bushes right away and drain the pond too. God has been too kind not to let us lose any one of you,” said Lisa’s dad.

Since that day, Lisa’s family has never suffered from malaria because they slept under medicated mosquito nets; thanks to Lisa’s discovery.

Lisa and Charity also formed a Book Club at their school and have discovered many more different things through reading.

Ends