Getting the study going

This past Wednesday, we started the sensory trials, where we feed children the fortified cereal and assess whether or not they like it. It's a full morning at the study site, a clinic downtown. The coordinator and I drive from our neighborhood (Yoff) at 7 am down the Corniche to Medina and meet the local study staff from the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD) at the clinic, where we set up and anticipate mother-infant pairs arriving anytime after 8 am. I'm in charge of portioning out the cereals and making sure they're correctly randomized (one is high zinc, one if low zinc) for each subject. We spend the morning filming mothers mixing the cereal and feeding it to the infants and it's pretty funny to watch some of the kids' faces. There are some absolutely adorable ones, too. Given the energy of the children, the quick pace of tasks to be done while mothers are present, and all conversation in French (or Wolof, but I have only learned the equivalent of "Hi, how are you?"), there's never a dull moment.

We finish up by about 1:30 in the afternoon, and then enter the data from the handwritten forms into the computer database, clean all of the materials and get paperwork and materials ready for the next day. The mother-infant pairs come to the site each day for three days, and then we begin another group tomorrow. It's exhausting but I like the hands-on nature of the work and the interaction with the subjects and local staff.

Yesterday I went downtown to do some shopping with a couple of new acquaintances here - I bought some linens and cotton fabrics to have some clothes and sheets made, as well as a couple of household items. I looked at a couple of apartments that would have been fine for me, but then a colleague of mine in the office offered for me to live in her spare room for the 6 months I'm here ... the same apartment where I stayed in November (i.e., the apartment on the beach!), so I have a place to call home and only need to get a few things to feel settled. For now.

Just excitedly anticipating Obama's inauguration in 2 days ... !!!