Vets in Kenya 2010 Wrap-up

February 11, 2010

So, the last of our exciting adventure is occurring; the packing is going on around me and concerns are expressed with the amount of wood products that we are bringing home. Reflecting on the past three weeks, I think the best experience was finding a strongyle egg on fecal floatation with Rosa, the laboratory technician at the Wakulima Dairy. We spent an afternoon going through how to perform a fecal floatation, but kept finding no eggs on the floatation. We were very frustrated with the whole process. Then we discovered that we were being incredibly smart and using the improper concentration of the floatation solution. Ah the hilariousness of it all. (I do enjoy my science dorkiness, don’t judge). Anyway, the next day we were very excited to find a strongyle egg (a very common parasite egg of cattle) under the microscope. Needless to say, there was much exclamation and hand slapping, all for a ridiculous strongyle egg (Rosa looked on with a smile of enjoyment in our elation, but I do think there was a hint of, these kids are crazy, where is the nearest line of help). The point is, we felt like we had really accomplished something there that afternoon because Rosa had not been identifying parasite eggs correctly. It was such a gift to know that we were able to help, even in a very small, parasitic egg, sort of way.

I would have never dreamed of the experiences that we have had in this country. We’ve met so many wonderful people here and have experienced such beautiful countryside and dewormed so many cattle. It certainly has been a life experience and I know that I will never forget the time I’ve had. My greatest wish is that the people we have interacted with have gained either some knowledge or help with the health of their cows and that their lives are a little easier.