Field Trip Fascinations

My Dear family,

I wish you could have been there Thursday. We arrived in Macha mid-morning and jumped out of the red Isuzu. “Jump” and “red” are key words in that sentence. If you didn't jump out, you’d be covered in red mud from the outside of the vehicle. As far as “red,” well, it was a white truck when we left Choma.

getting started with Dr. Thuma

Anyway. It was like being on a birthday trip without you, so I missed you. I missed learning all this fascinating information about malaria and aids research together, and it’ll never be half as good if I just tell you about it.

I missed Dad, because- while we weren't in a chemical plant- there were all sorts of high tech scientific machines, and though the scientists were working with more biological stuff than what’s done in PE, I’m still sure you would have like to see how they use hoods (in the TB room) and freezers and microscopes and liquid nitrogen and all the other equipment. Plus, I thought you’d like to hear about their poly-finish coating on the concrete floor of one of the special lab rooms…  

I took this picture for you, Dad. It's in their freezer room. There were probably about
10 freezers behind me on the other side of the room.

I missed asking questions together. Remember the time we stood in the truck bay of Jiffy Mix and asked the tour guide questions for a half-an-hour after our tour was over?

Within the past 10 years, the research and development at Macha (born out of the hospital work) has been unbelievable. They went from 30 or 40% of ALL people in the surrounding 5 to 10 kilometers being carriers of malaria (and thus, many deaths, especially of children, each year… sorry, I don’t have all the stats right here), to just one or two deaths each year from malaria, and less than 5% (or was that less than 1%... oh dear, now I’m forgetting…) of people being malaria carriers (one can be a carrier without being ill).

mosquitoes from the wild- kept for observation and study- all the way up to the 62nd generation so far...

He's the mosquito man! This room was hot (notice the heater on the floor). The lights
are also set to be on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours, gradually changing to replicate
a natural environment as much as possible.

I thought of Dr. Surfield, too… How not? With all those stats and charts and P-factors and data and numbers… it was better than “wing-bang-doodly.” What made it better than ordinary wing-bang-doodly is that this research has saved so many lives!

One of the coolest parts of field trips and tours is learning more about another world. I really have no interest in studying science and figuring out how to prevent people from dying of malaria, but I am fascinated that there are people who are passionate about this type of research. And I’m excited to see those passionate people making a difference in their world.

Imagine the challenge of keeping specialized scientific equipment operating in a rural area...

I have also realized that one of the coolest parts of field trips and tours is doing them together with you, my family. I love learning new things together. That’s why I missed you Thursday.

The research lab building. Those are mosquitoes and malaria parasites painted around the building.

Of course, I've now added a new birthday trip request: Macha Research Trust.

Don’t forget the British Museum is still on the list too.

Love you,

Julie