Kisumu or bust?

So to appease my need for field work I was sent out to collect fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and sandflies from a small town outside of Kisumu called Asembo/Lwak. I met some awesome animal technicians that work at the field site out there (Mike, Julious, Asembo, and Pauline). I know it sounds like a am an exterminator but really we were collecting these creatures to see if there are any vector borne diseases that they might be carrying (WNV, Rift Valley Fever, Malaria).

This is us trying to find something they called chiggers, but were really super tiny fleas, in a pan of omo tainted water with a vaseline edge (it was a method of capture).

tearing down the mosquito traps for another day

the ghostbusters contraption that sucks up mosquitoes from the wall

After about a week of vacuuming mosquitoes and dragging blankets on the ground for ticks I left for the town of Kisumu where I got to spend the weekend going to their local museum and seeing how the natives live...

i don't know what is going on here... this man has one really short arm and a black eye. this is an add for a driving school.

Tilapia Beach

confusion in the museum - attack!!!

My second week was spent in the lab with Victor teaching the lab how to run the HA/HAI assay...

the lab crew...

did it work?

The highlight was laughing buddah's sizzling brownie and our terrible karaoke night where I sang Cool and the Gang's 'Celebration' by myself (obviously there was no celebration) and had to be rescued by two drunk men who earlier yelled at a woman for not dancing with them.