Stick this up your IRB and approve it!

Oyawore Uru!
Greetings from Kisii, once again, where Fred and I have camped out in the efforts of finishing this IRB (institutional review board) approval process once and for all. The last thing we want to do is get in trouble with Vandy and/or the Kenyan government (goo!). So as they say in the South - gittteeerrrrduuuunnnn. Tomorrow we head out to Kisiien to try to plead/beg/seek approval from the Kenyan Medical Research Institute. Wish us luck!
As such, the poopology project has researched a bit of a stale mate. Since I last wrote, the following has happened.
1. returned to lwala, chock full of poop supplies, and sheepishly asked around to see if I could get some Ochieng' friends and relatives to give me some 'practice samples'. People seemed willing to participate, but i was concerned that they might be embarrassed or not "feel the urge". To my sheer delight, the next morning, I was awoken by Omundi, Fred's eldest brother (who is absolutely hilarious) at 6:30 am screaming, "Hey, jobaby! I have my sample! And I have packed the vile FULL! Hey! You People! Let me in!!" This was followed by 6 other eager vollunteers. It was great.
2. went to see my lab tech friend to help me analyze the samples... unfortunately... turns out, he doesn't know poop from petunias. I have to say, I was very pleased with my first year medical knowledge - which turned out to be good enough for me to call his bluff when he insisted thata neutrophil was a malaria parasite. no, no, my friend.
This was actually a really upsetting realization. Japollo, this lab tech is kind and helpful and very well intentioned. It is clear that his training is simply insufficient. As a result, he is prescribing medication to people who don't need it... or perhaps need something else. This is the frightening reality that we have been seeing over and over again here in Kenya. If you see a patient with fever, chills, aches, they are almost automatically treated for malaria... but the fact is, about 50% of the time, they have a simple virus. Think about all the costs involved in treating someone for the wrong ailment - only to have them return to the clinic a few days later because they still don't feel well. This is why fred's research will be so valuable to the clinic.
3. As a result, I dont yet feel comfortable with my worms-diagnosis skills - it's actually quite tricky (though I did correctly identify one case of round worm). So, on a whim, i went with fred to the Walter Reed Institute in Kisumu to see if they could help. They are an American institution doing some top of the line malaria research - and it was really nice to see such a well-run, well-organized, and well-trained facility. ps... they had toilets! with seats!
4. traveling to kisumu is quite an adventure... we walk 5.5 miles to the main road... ride a mutatu with about 15 people (and all their sacs of rice etc) for about 2-3 hours, and then either walk 20 minutes or take a bike taxi to Walter Reed. Yes, I rode a bike taxi - which can only be described in person, so as to recreate all my facial expressions... sorry.
5. We received some hope at Walter Reed - there is a doc comining this week who might be able to help me out - or even include Lwala is his big diarrheal study which would be great. If he can't help, some Peds. docs might be able to, so it looks like fred and i and maybe kate might go back to Kisumu on wed. Oy vey! But it's actually pretty fun - we spend a lotof time on our little hoemstead in lwala - so it's really nice to get out and see the rest of the country side.
6. we have to go backto kisumu anyway to fix the microscope... while it survived the trip toKenya a-ok, it blew a fuse recently. typical. But we're rolling with the punches as they say.
7. so then it was the weekend. Weekends are generally pretty quiet - not many people work, the clinic is closed, so usually, we just hang out around the house, do laundry, read, etc. But this weekend, kate and I were on a mission - a mission for soapstone. Allow me to sum up with this... 11.5 miles of walking... and NYC meets Kenya in bartering skills. Totally bad-a.
8. hung out with harrison our dholuo tutor who took us to a mountain that overlooked the village - made lots of friends - a few children who even insisted on holding our hands as we walked - and felt great seeing lwala from a whole new perspective. And now, I can count to 10 in dholuo.
ok - fred and I have much to do so I must run - but will report back as soon as I can...
tonight we hope to celebrate Fred's Birthday - and we have been tought how to Bake a cake the Ochieng' Brothers way - so it should be a hoot! can't wait
big smooches all around
Jobaby