I figured I would explain this week’s tagline at the top of the page, “the federal government washed my shoes.” It’s absolutely true!

When you re-enter the U.S. after foreign travel, one of the questions on the customs form asks whether or not you’ve been in an agricultural or farm area, handled livestock, or what have you. The Kisii team members definitely had to answer “yes” to the farm area question.

This means that, when we went through customs, we were asked to remove our shoes — and unpack any other shoes we might have worn during the trip. The customs staff then used a disinfectant to remove any potential crop pests or livestock diseases from our footwear. We were also instructed to avoid U.S. livestock for a certain number of days.