Poor Steve spent almost the whole morning in the Tax office with Mr. Iddrisu. We are not going to be here the next 2 months to file the employee taxes on line so today was a trial run to see if indeed the tax officer would be able to file them for us, produce the invoice and if Mr. Iddrisu would be able to go to the bank and pay them. At the end of the morning they were successful and everything looked like it would work according to plan but when Mr. Iddrisu went to pay the tax the amount was far more than it was supposed to be. The tax officer pulled April’s taxes and asked Steve if there had been any changes Steve told him no. There is always a language barrier. Steve meant no there were no changes, additions, gifts or bonuses for May but since the officer was looking at April’s taxes which included the farming gift the taxes were higher. He used April’s form instead of filling out a new form for May. Steve had to go back to the office and fortunately they got everything straightened out. It should be easier next month when everyone knows what they are doing. Mr. Iddrisu did not get back from the bank until 3:45. We are proud that it was him sitting and waiting, not us!
The Child Center had no electricity today. When Steve went to the VRA office to check on the problem they told him that we had not bought any electrical units for 100 days so they turned off the electricity. The meter is a pre-paid meter and the meter has over 200 Cedis of credit which will last the Child Center for almost 4 months. It is crazy; I don’t think that they would be able to cut off the electricity as long as the meter has credit. They say that if you go too long without buying units that you are cheating the electric company out of the taxes and the fees for street lights and infrastructure. Steve had to make 3 trips to the VRA office today to get the lights back on.
This morning when we walked out on the back veranda we could hardly stand the smell. It was the smell of something that was dead. We looked for flies which are usually a tell-tale sign that something has died. Steve hunted around until he found the smell. One of those big rats that is almost the size of a squirrel had died and in the gutter that runs under the steps leading off of the veranda. We washed out the gutter and then put antiseptic cleaner in the gutter to help mask the smell.
Simon worked today; when he closed for the day he asked if we would be coming to Kulkpeni tonight for Bible study. He said that his wife had decided that she wanted to be baptized. We are very excited for him.
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
