Day 18: Walewale Field Day

Wednesday - August 25, 2021

Today was the day we had been building towards for the entirety of the trip - seeing mosquito identification in the field! You are probably asking, why is this such a big deal? Well, today is our first time (minus Spencer) seeing the exact step in the malaria vector surveillance process where we aim to make an impact! A quick reminder, our product is a hand held field tool that deskills the mosquito speciation process which is a crucial step and a major bottle neck in vector surveillance, and today we got to see the small but crucial step in action.

Before you can id a species you need to collect specimen... so first thing in the morning we headed back to the Kata/Banawa, the same village we visited last night with Sylvester and his team. Last night we observed the human land catch (HLC) method of collecting mosquitoes which provided a large yield of samples for us to work with. In addition to HLC, Sylvester's team used a protopack (think of a vacuum cleaner for mosquitos) to suck up mosquitoes from rooms where people slept, from animal shelters, and from the depths of man made holes where mosquitoes gather. The specific locations were determined before hand and the site features were methodically recorded on a tablet. For a couple hours Summer, Spencer, and I watched as the team worked respectfully and efficiently to collect samples throughout the community.

While observing mosquito collections in the home we stood in the middle of courtyards where families were busy getting ready for the day. Mother's bathed their children with a pale of water, Mother's cooked breakfast in a large metal pot over a fire fueled by sticks, children stood together eating their porridge from a local grain, some kids got dressed in their school uniforms, other older kids whisked in and out on motorbikes, and many other activities unfolded around us sucking up mosquitoes. Goats and chickens harmoniously roamed in the courtyard and maize grew in between homes. In the middle of the community stood a Mosque built in a similar style to the homes, which are made out of clay with a layer of cement lining the outside. One of the more unexpected sights of the morning, or should I say sounds, was the cry of a cow. We stopped and stared at the cow as it mooed, but it was no where close to the sound of a moo you hear in the USA or on american TV. I knew I had many subconscious assumptions before visiting Ghana but I would have never guessed I had a false assumption about what a cow sounds like.

Anyway, back to the mosquitoes. After collecting bugs using standardized methods across sites, we headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast and then headed to our colleagues' hotel down the road. There our colleagues converted the hotel's dining room into a field lab serving multiple field sites for the next 4 days, they run this operation once a month. On one table they placed two microscopes under which they identified the species of the mosquito and noted a couple other attributes before packing mosquitoes for further testing. Thousands of mosquitoes in cups and jars from HLC and protopacks were stacked around the room. Frank, a skilled entomologist, walked us through their systematic sorting and identification process and answered dozens of our questions. For something as complicated as determining the effectiveness of malaria interventions and inferring the transmission of Malaria through mosquitoes, the team runs a very organized data collection process.

For the remainder of the day Summer, Spencer, and I used our prototypes alongside the expert entomologists to collect image data which will later be used to improve our algorithm! Frank and Summer were the MVPs of the day as they ensured we got plenty of images of mosquitoes that will later be run through PCR to further identify the species.

In between collecting data we took a few noteworthy breaks. During our first break we walked along the main road towards the center of Walewale. Motorbikes and cars honked, people waved, and some took photos of us, all of which have become common occurrences. Spencer took a walk by himself earlier in the day and was surprised to see the added attention now that he walked with two women. We went past a shop where a half dozen teenage girls sat in front of looms creating beautiful colored textiles. They waved at us and we walked over to take a closer look. The familiar giggles and excited shouting of teenage girls filled the air as they took their hands of their looms to grab their phones. A few girls had their photo taken beside us and in exchange we got a closer look at their beautiful work. We continued our walk down the one lane road past shops and took in the scenery. It was exciting to see Walewale on foot and take in the details that just fly by in a car.

Our second break was in the form of a shared snack with the entire entomologist team prepared by Daniel, one of the drivers. We were told Daniel was an incredible cook and that he was! He prepared a traditional dish of cooked plantains and garden eggplant stew. We washed our hands and took turns using the plantains as a delicious vessel for the cooked plantains. This was easily one of my favorite meals made only better by the company of new and old friends. Spencer also drank bagged water for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed his experience!

The third break was more like a phase of the day. The afternoon rains started to come down hard dropping the temperature and creating a tranquil scene in the midst of the violent downpour. Spencer and I sat outside, staying dry under the overhang. I found the clanking sound of the raindrops hitting the metal roof and the sight of concentric circles bouncing against each other in the puddles to be deeply relaxing. This is when Summer earned her title of MVP, while Spencer and I rested under the melodious rain Summer continued to collect valuable data. As the rains faded so did the light. The clouds broke and the red dirt road just beyond the hotel/ lab pointed us to a vibrant sunset.

After the sun dipped below the horizon the entomologist continued their work and we took a few more photos before calling it a night. After today, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the hard work, training, organization, and many other efforts that go into making vector surveillance across an entire country possible.

For the remainder of night Spencer, Summer, and I decompressed from the long day in the field and in the lab, even though it was punctuated by a few breaks. We had dinner at the hotel, fried rice with guinea fowl, and are pretty sure we were the only guests at the hotel with our driver and Sylvester.

- Janis