What's with the Moth Balls?
Maybe someone out there can solve a mystery for me…
A short while ago when I worked as a GED instructor, I was required to go into peoples homes and tutor them one-on-one for an hour, once a month. The job required me to go into some scary, sometimes hostile places. I had to visit a lot of project housing, and lots of places far back in the woods where sane people would fear to tread. Often, when visiting these places I would be affronted by the very strong smell of moth balls. Sometimes it would come from my student’s apartments, and sometimes it would filter over to their place from the apartments next door. Sometimes the smell would hit me as I was walking through the parking lot to get to an apartment. A few times my students would come into class (they had to come into the college for regular classes 4 days a week) and they would reek of it. Often their children (they had to have at least one child to be in the program) would have severe asthma and need frequent breathing treatments. A few times the smell actually burned my nose and eyes and I had to leave my students houses.
This weekend I was talking with a friend about her new job. She works with another government program that helps families pay their bills (once a year) if they have a great need. She mentioned noticing the moth ball smell as well.
My question, what is with the moth ball smell? Is that something to do with Meth production? Is it some sort of cover smell? Do I have any friends out there who know what’s going on with the extensive use of Mothballs in the projects? Even though I’m not at that job anymore, I’m still curious to know!
A short while ago when I worked as a GED instructor, I was required to go into peoples homes and tutor them one-on-one for an hour, once a month. The job required me to go into some scary, sometimes hostile places. I had to visit a lot of project housing, and lots of places far back in the woods where sane people would fear to tread. Often, when visiting these places I would be affronted by the very strong smell of moth balls. Sometimes it would come from my student’s apartments, and sometimes it would filter over to their place from the apartments next door. Sometimes the smell would hit me as I was walking through the parking lot to get to an apartment. A few times my students would come into class (they had to come into the college for regular classes 4 days a week) and they would reek of it. Often their children (they had to have at least one child to be in the program) would have severe asthma and need frequent breathing treatments. A few times the smell actually burned my nose and eyes and I had to leave my students houses.
This weekend I was talking with a friend about her new job. She works with another government program that helps families pay their bills (once a year) if they have a great need. She mentioned noticing the moth ball smell as well.
My question, what is with the moth ball smell? Is that something to do with Meth production? Is it some sort of cover smell? Do I have any friends out there who know what’s going on with the extensive use of Mothballs in the projects? Even though I’m not at that job anymore, I’m still curious to know!