Chicken update, the haircut and farewell to Paola

The internet has been down for the last couple of weeks so I apologize for the delay in posting an update.

The first photo was taken during rush hour traffic on the road to the village. Mostly cows, bicycles, foot traffic and a few motorized vehicles. You can see the rain on the windshield which turned the road surface into a mud bath. We got stuck and had to stuff some branches under the wheels to get moving again.

The chickens are growing fast and are now 4 weeks old. Total count = 294/300, only 2% losses which is remarkable considering we have no experience in poultry farming. The food is being consumed faster than expected because the chickens are tipping over the food trays. I will have to figure out a way to solve this problem or we will not make any profits.

I decided to get a haircut(only about $2.50) and went into town looking for a men's barbershop. It seemed like a good idea until I learned that all of the customers get their head shaved. Alex was available to cut my hair so I asked for a regular haircut. He immediately took out the hair clippers and began buzzing my head. He didn't have a comb for straight hair so he used his fingers instead. You can see the results of his work since we took each other's picture. It'll grow out...

I found some chicken feeders at a local metal shop made out of recycled beer cans. They were durable, cheap and reduced my feed costs by limiting spillage. I put them on my desk until I could take them to the chicken coop. The handcraft market is a dizzying array of vendors who can fabricate just about anything out of recycled metal, wood and plastic. Amazingly talented and eco-friendly since nothing goes to waste.

And we said goodbye to Paola, our GSK colleague from Italy, who finished her three month tour of duty and returned home. Pictured from left to right: Nerissa, me, Melody, Paola, Janet. The OGRA Foundation gave her a little farewell pizza party and we danced to the rhythm of African music (well not all of us have rhythm). She will be missed.

A trip to the equator and looking for Obama's house

The internet has been down for over a week so I have not been able to update my blog. Africa is a challenging environment to work in and recently three of our laptops have completely crashed and seem to be infected with a virus. My laptop crashes weekly and appears to a have a faulty hard drive. Maybe it's all the dust or the humidity or who knows.

I took a picture of how my desk looks on a typical work day- laptop, internet cable, backpack, bottle of Gatorade, some vaccine stuff. The door to our office has a nice sign so I hope that more GSK volunteers are coming to continue our efforts.

Day 25 of the chicken project. Here I am teaching John and Rael how to use a syringe and needle to prepare the Newcastle disease vaccine eye drops. They enjoy learning new skills and seem to be taking pride in their work- look at the white lab coats!

After practicing several times with me they made it for real. Then the chicks were gathered together onto one side of the brooder. Next each chick was picked up with one drop carefully put into their eye. At the end they were released on the other side of the wood barrier. John and Rael worked methodically and I am confident they will be able to handle everything by the time I leave Kenya. The chickens have outgrown the brooder and now occupy the entire coop. At the rate they are eating I believe they will reach market weight in less than six weeks. Most of their fuzz is being replaced by white feathers and their combs are starting to appear.

Last week some of our GSK colleagues volunteering in South Africa dropped by to observe our work. From the bottom of the photo seated on the right: Dr. Hezron Mc'Obewa, Executive Director, OGRA Foundation; Dr. Mike Marks, Global Medical Director, Direct Relief International; Matt and Katrina our visiting GSK colleagues from the UK.

This week we visited the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) campus near Kisumu. We met with Dr. DJ Perkins from the University of New Mexico, who is studying pediatric malaria and HIV here in Africa. He is based in the USA but visits here several times a year to manage his research. Our first collaborative project is to open a pediatric malaria trial in our rural village clinic. This offers our patients a chance to receive free medical care and the latest treatments for malaria. In the current study we are giving two commonly used malaria drugs to see which one is superior. Until now, these drugs have never been tested head to head against each other so this kind of knowledge is lacking. DJ is also interested in sickle cell research and I know a hematologist at UCLA who is working on a new treatment that might be able to help him. It would be amazing if I could make this connection happen.

The next few pictures were taken at the Siaya District Hospital where the CDC, the University of New Mexico and KEMRI have already established a research program. We looked at how they do things and the informatics system they use so we can put a similar program in use at our little clinic. I thought it was odd to have a price list for medical procedures but maybe we will see something similar in the USA since the passage of the healthcare bill. (Note: 75 shillings = one US dollar). Doctor visits are free but an enema is about 67 cents!!!

On our way back to the office we saw a sign with President Obama's name on it. This sign marks the dirt road that lead to his grandmother's house in Kenya. We wanted to visit it and take a picture but it would have required a long detour. Maybe next time.

We crossed the equator at one point during our drive so we pulled off the road to snap a few pictures. I am straddling the equator and have one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere. There was nothing marked on the monument or on the ground to indicate which direction was North so I had to pull out a small compass that my brother gave me to get oriented. I expected to see a white dotted line painted across the earth!

A few more safari pictures then back to work

Our bush camp was located on the escarpment overlooking the Masai Mara and the entire Rift Valley. We had a view of the Mara River and stayed at an eco-friendly tent camp. There was no running water or electricity but solar panels were used to charge batteries for night lighting (you can see one of the panels perched on a pole near the tent). Our showers were canvas bags filled with 40L of warm water and after a long day of dusty off road driving it was just perfect.

The tents camps were nicely secluded and each had a small covered patio with lounge chairs. Nerissa found a bed to her liking so she stretched out for a quick nap. There were no fences to keep out any wandering wildlife so after dark we had to be escorted from our tents to the dining area. That way no one could get lost or have a surprise encounter with a wild game animal. The escorts carried a crude bow and arrow for protection but it was more for show and likely to enrage any beast which was shot at. I never saw any animals at night but I could hear noises outside the tent. One evening I found this giant millipede walking near our tent entrance.

All kinds of unusual trucks navigate the rough roads and this one looked like an ex-military vehicle.

At the OGRA Foundation where I work, we have been trying to upgrade the Ombeyi medical clinic located in a village about one hour away. The first photo shows the condition when we arrived and now how it looks with a fresh coat of paint. Also, the old concrete/dirt floor was replaced with a new tile floor to keep the clinic a little cleaner. Current projects include a pharmacy reorganization, lab enhancements, improvements to the documentation and medical record system, and a staff development program.

One of my new projects is to design a marketing brochure to inform the community about our improvements which will hopefully draw more patients into the clinic. You can see a photo taken during our weekly medical education conference followed by a picture of the lab (seated is William the lab director), a typical patient room and the pharmacy shelves stocked with lots of antimalarial and HIV drugs.

The next couple of photos were taken at the OGRA Foundation offices where I am based. We hold weekly conferences with the management staff to discuss the progress we have made on our individual projects. The OGRA Foundation is the local Kenyan health agency that receives funding from Direct Relief International based in Santa Barbara, CA. For 10 years GSK has been donating HIV and malaria drugs to Direct Relief International but this year GSK increased their commitment by sending employee volunteers to help out.

These last pictures were taken in my hotel room to show the items I have recently received from family and friends. I want to thank everyone who contributed to the relief effort in an attempt to supplement my African diet. All of us are enjoying the treats from the USA and my international colleagues are amazed by your kindness and generosity. And a special thanks to Myrna for organizing the entire operation and safely getting the goods into my hands- not an easy task in Africa. Although I have lost a little weight I want to assure everyone that I am healthy and enjoying my experience. I miss everyone and I am looking forward to returning home in a little over six weeks.

Chicken update to follow on Friday...

Safari to Masai Mara

This weekend we took a trip to the Masai Mara National Reserve, one of Kenya's most famous wildlife areas. It is one of the best places to view African animals since it contains mostly grasslands and rolling hills which makes it easier to see game animals. It is about 4 hours from Kisumu where we are located and it crosses into Tanzania where it becomes the Serengeti National Park.

We rode around in a 4WD safari van with a pop open roof which gave us room to stand up and move around for a good view. We stopped at the airstrip to meet one of our friends from Nairobi and then we set off on our safari. The safari drives are usually in the early morning and late afternoon since the animals are more active at those times. I found that it really didn't matter since we saw animals all day long.

It was nice weather all weekend and there were virtually no crowds as the rainy season is just about to start. This allowed for good game viewing and we were fortunate to see all of the animals except for the leopard. Leopards are nocturnal and difficult to spot in the trees during the day.

This elephant was right next to our van which made our driver nervous since he was chased by the same elephant not long ago. We stopped at the Mara river and were escorted by armed game wardens to look for crocodiles and hippos. You can see the hippos easily but the crocs are hard to see in the next picture. Look closely at the center of the photograph and you will see them lying on the river bank getting some sun.

The next picture is of a warthog kneeling down to eat the grass. It's a little strange to see it walking around like that. We saw cape buffalo, black rhinos, zebras, all kinds of different antelope and gazelles, a cheetah, a pride of lions with cubs, lots of giraffes and herds of elephants.

March 13th was my birthday so I treated myself to a hot air balloon ride. We lifted off in the early morning darkness and watched the sun rise over the grasslands. The ride is very similar to sailing on the ocean- you just glide effortlessly a few feet above the grass without any noise. Really beautiful experience. I took a picture of the shadow cast by our balloon and basket. We flew past some elephant herds causing them to scatter.