When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
They say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. That is what this experience is all about. My colleagues here tell me that It didn’t take me so much time to settle in and that it doesn’t seem that I am missing out on anything I left behind. That is not true. Yes I do miss home, mum & dad and the rest of the Shumo Clan, but here I am and am up to this challenge and wanting to make the best out of it while still living a realistic life.
The picture above is part of the road I walk up and down between my home and my icipe’s lab.
This capture tells it all, it might seem a long road, that seems indefinite and not very clear. The good news is that there is lots of sunshine towards the end of my way. This is the reason why I wake up very early in the morning everyday and walk to my lab, because I know that at the end, bright things are awaiting 😀
The past few weeks were a bit challenging and perhaps that’s why they went by so fast. I still can’t believe that we are around four months towards the end of 2015 which has proved by all means to be an awesome year. I did start preliminary experiments here and there. I spent a long time crushing my flies using a mortar and a pistol while pouring so much liquid nitrogen into them hoping that the crushing process would be a smooth one. However, I ended up with a swollen arm that kept me awake for a huge part of the night. The flies didn’t end up in a powder form and I had to think of a more motorized mechanical way to crush the black soldier flies. Luckily, my supervisor agreed to purchase a stainless steel blender that can tolerate the extreme low temperature of liquid nitrogen that can go below -280 degrees. The hunt for a stainless steel blender was not easy, we had to look around some shops until we finally found it.The trial was successful and in less than a minute, the blender crushed my flies into a very fine powder. FANTASTIC <3 I am totally in love with the new lab blender.
Working with insects can be a bit tricky. They are tiny, fragile and sensitive to external environments especially temperature because unlike us, they lack internal temperature regulating systems. They are triggered by chemicals and odors and I still find it difficult to go to work without putting a perfume on because fragrances can influence insects behavior.
I try to create a controlled ideal environment for my flies in the lab.I keep them in temperature controlled/ climate chambers to make sure they are warm enough. I move them from one plate to another using a no.1 fine camel brush to avoid smashing them. I cover them with wet sponges to make sure their surroundings are moist enough.
Because I deal with the black soldier flies since they hatch out of their eggs. I am happy to be equipped with an HD Leica microscope/camera that I can attach to my laptop, magnify my baby flies and capture their first crawls into this life.
On a personal note, I went for a nice supper at the Nairobi Java House with my fellow ZEF junior researcher, Juliet Kamau. Nairobi Java House is a Kenyan Café franchise that is dominating the Kenyan scene. If you ever visit Kenya, try their old fashioned strawberry milkshake, chicken pies and chocolate fudge cake. I am sure you will enjoy them just like the two of us did..
Till next time 😀