“I got the picture of the lion! Drive Ken! We gotta reach the rhino grazing grounds before the cars block the road!” Our safari driver, Ken Sab, pushed the pedal to the metal, causing our minivan to lurch forward, deeper into the tall grasses and winding dirt roads of Nairobi National Park. We made it out just in time! A few seconds later, a caravan of safari trucks raced past us, headed straight for the road where the lions had crossed. Many tourists are eager to see these kings of the jungle, but few have the luxury of being graced by their beauty before they disappear into the tall grasses for their afternoon nap. It was the Madaraka holiday weekend in Kenya and my roommates, Emma and Colin, and I had decided it was high time to see the animals in a world renowned Kenyan safari. Why go to the zoo in America and see a giraffe locked behind bars when we could witness a giraffe in Kenya step over our minivan on its way to the nearest tree. I was not expecting to be so lucky, but we drove past a lioness with her 6 cubs, a mother and child rhino, impalas, zebras, ostriches, crocodiles, hippos, chickens, monkeys, and water buffalo in the span of one Sunday morning. It was so relaxing, feeling the cool breeze blow through the minivan windows while watching the wildlife walk by. In Nairobi National Park, it was easy to forget the chaos of the big city and live in the moment in that piece of untouched nature. After leaving the national park, we bought some unique souvenirs at a local Maasai gift shop, then drove through the Nairobi slum district on our way to our Westlands apartment. Ken explained over 1 million people live in the slums of Nairobi, surviving on a few shillings a day, selling goods on the side of the road, and working at any job they can find in the city in order to provide for themselves and their families. While looking at the rusted tin roofs covering the shelters and kids darting between allies, I realized Kenya has more economic challenges than the United States. Over time, I hope that political reform and better economic opportunities will help more people in Kenya to have a higher quality of life.
Throughout the rest of Madaraka weekend, we dined on delicious French cuisine at Le Grenier a Pain Westlands, watched Lilo and Stitch at the Westgate Cinema in the Westgate Shopping Mall, and went grocery shopping at Naivas. I enjoyed the French bakery so much that I ordered an entire passion fruit vanilla sponge cake for my birthday the following week. It was so much fun to celebrate my 24th birthday with my Drop Access coworkers. Nothing is more delightful than an office party filled with bright candles, delicious desserts, joyful music, and smiling faces. Just when I thought my week couldn’t get any better, the Kenyan government announced that Friday, June 6th, would be a public holiday due to a Muslim religious day. My roommates and I decided to make the most of the 3 day weekend by having a bowling night at Pins Entertainment in the Sarit Center, going on a 10 kilometer bike ride through Hell’s Gate National Park, and sharing a delicious dinner at the About Thyme restaurant with Rice University students in the iSEED program and GMI faculty member, Casey Howard. I lost miserably to my roommates during both games of bowling, and I’m still sore from huffing and puffing over the rocky roads of Hell’s Gate, but it was a very memorable weekend. I learned that Hell’s Gate National Park has its daunting name because a nearby volcano erupted many years ago, killing many people of the Masaai tribe in the land near Lake Naivasha. Those who survived the volcano’s wrath declared the land was cursed. A European explorer who later visited the land translated the Kenyan phrase for cursed land into the English word hell. Present day Hell’s Gate National Park is filled with plump zebras, long legged giraffes, speedy warthogs, leaping impala, mischievous hyraxes, and rowdy baboons, not demons and fire. Dining on creamy risotto and scrumptiously sweet apple pie while listening to a live saxophone performance at About Thyme was the perfect end to the weekend and a friendly environment to meet other Rice University students living in Kenya this summer.
When it comes to Drop Access projects, the production team and I have been very busy over the past week. Today, I was finally able to download and activate the SolidWorks software I will use to redesign the VacciBox gasket and lid. I need to help the production team redesign the refrigerator lid because we want to increase the holding time of the refrigerator to more than 1 hour. In case there is a power outage at the hospital or a cloudy day that prevents sun from reaching the VacciBox’s solar panel, the refrigerator needs to be able to maintain an internal temperature between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for multiple hours. Vaccines need to be stored at a specific temperature to ensure they don’t spoil. Next week, the Drop Access team is planning to install a VacciBox at a local hospital. They are currently building 2 VacciBox units: The first VacciBox has evaporator coils zig zagged across each interior face of the refrigerator while the second VacciBox has evaporator coils wrapping around all 4 interior faces of the refrigerator in a corkscrew pattern. The production team showed me multiple steps of the VacciBox building process such as how to weld the refrigerator walls, how to mix the insulation chemicals, and how to attach the compressor. Once the building process is complete, both VacciBoxes need to be run through a series of tests: Refrigeration test and electrical testing, cool down time test, compressor run time test, IoT communication test, loaded test, power consumption test, battery charging test, and continuous operation test. The data collected from these tests will help the production team determine which evaporation coil wrapping pattern best maintains a uniform temperature in all parts of the VacciBox interior. The best refrigerator will be installed in the hospital. With the original VacciBox design, one side of the refrigerator interior would be slightly warmer or cooler than the other side during the holding period. Redesigning the refrigerator in order to achieve a uniform temperature in all parts of the refrigerator interior will help ensure products stored in the refrigerator maintain the correct temperature at all times. Additional progress has also been made on the VacciBox monitoring system, a wireless way for users to track the internal temperature of their refrigerator at any time of day. The first prototype of the sensor involved splitting the electrical components between 2 plastic boxes that were mounted on the wall above the VacciBox. The latest version of the prototype contains one plastic box with all the same electrical components and sensors neatly organized inside. Additional testing will be conducted on the sensor in upcoming weeks to ensure refrigeration data is properly collected and uploaded to the associated Drop Access data tracking platform. This Tuesday through Friday, I will meet up with Rice GMI students, Rice iSEED students, Rice 360 students, Kenyatta University students, and university faculty members and participate in clinical observations at Kiambu, Thika, Kiandutu, and KUTRRH hospitals. Touring the hospitals, talking to medical staff, observing surgeries, and engaging in needs finding training sessions at Kenyatta University will help us learn to identify unmet clinical needs, develop potential solutions, and explain our medical innovation ideas to diverse audiences. That’s all I’ve got for you this week folks. Look out for my blog next week to see more of my weekend adventures and exciting encounters in Kenyan hospitals!
Evaporator coils attached to each refrigerator face
Evaporator coil wrapped around all 4 refrigerator faces
Pouring insulation chemicals into VacciBox walls
VacciBox condenser coils and compressor pump