OH MY GOSH! MR. NIK NIK

CHRISTAL A.BULAYUNGAN relates her experience with a pesky nik nik.She belongs to the group assigned at Cayapes, Kapangan. They belong to Saint Louis University, Bachelor of Science in Nursing 3rd year-Oxygen, batch 2012.


At the Adenauer room 506, we received the endorsements of group three. As they endorsed to us their family clients and at the same time the place, they still seemed to be excited. It’s like they wanted to go back. A part of their sharing was the “nik nik”, a tiny insect which bites suddenly and leaves a dark mark on your skin. The bite is so itchy as described by the two previous groups. They have been cautioning us to bring insect repellants or the Vaseline Aloe Vera Skin Lotion. I was seated and smiling at the back that time. While listening, I started to wonder, where is Kapangan? What does it have?

It’s the 9th day of August, the first day of our community duty. Here we come Kapangan! Along the way, I can see the excitement on the faces of my group mates. By the time we stepped on the soil of Kapangan, one of my group mates was bitten by a “nik nik” on her forehead. It enlarged too fast that it looked like a five peso coin pasted on her forehead.

A few minutes later, before we started on our way to Lokot for our ocular survey, I felt something itchy on my ears. “This is it.” I said. Nik nik struck me too. I wanted to scratch them until the itch subsides but I tried to ignore the itch instead. After Lokot, we passed by Sadel, and “it’s like OH MY GOSH (I’m so in love…)”, there is nik nik everywhere. CAUTION! NIK NIK AT WORK. I really walked fast every time I pass by their group, flying freely in the air.

It’s now the last day of our first week and most of us, if not all, went home with a number of nik nik bites.

It’s August 16, and we’re ready to go back to Kapangan. This time, we will be staying for two days only. When we reached the place, we immediately headed to our assigned areas. “Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. Golden sun…” ooh, it’s so hot! So, my group mates and I rested under a shed for a while. The wind was cold and the green rice fields were beautiful. We haven’t stayed for five minutes yet and “Dang, nik nik na naman!” I said. How could they just bite you when you are wearing a long-sleeved blouse? Well, they are very tiny indeed and you can’t notice them stinging you. If I am to count the nik nik bites on my body, there would be more than 25 bites.

MR. NIK NIK! WHY DO YOU LOVE ME SO MUCH?