We got back from Tamale around 5:30. We stopped by Red’s to give him the money he needed to pay for the aluminum welder my brother Paul loaned him. He wants to start making walkers, crutches and canes for the disabled and those who have broken limbs. Red is always full of money making ideas. Of course he plans on selling them to the Child Center.
We went out to GILLBT (the company that is in charge of printing Bibles in the various languages of Ghana) this morning to see if they had any news about when they would be printing more Konkomba Bibles. The news was not good. The lady told Steve that they were ready to print the Bibles but they lacked the funds to make it happen. She said they need $100,000 dollars before they can start the process. This is probably another case of mismanagement of funds because GILLBT does not give the Bibles away; they sell the Bibles so they should at least have part of the money left from the last time they sold them. It does not sound like we will be getting Konkomba Bibles any time soon.
We found some things today that we never expected to find in Tamale, in the way of food items. We went to each little shop to see what we could find. We found Tabasco sauce, cinnamon sticks, saffron, a large bottle of pure olive oil (usually they only sell tiny bottles because the faith healers use the oil as an anointing oil), Ching’s green chili paste, dill pickles, parsley, red radishes, pink Himalayan salt, pita bread and some sort of squash/pumpkin thing that we have no idea how to cook but we are going to give it a try. Not bad for a day of hunting and gathering!
We were happy that they were filling some of the potholes on the Tamale road. They have been putting off doing any repairs because they have a contract with the Chinese to put in a new road from Yendi to Tamale. They are busy working on the road and the places that have been resurfaced are very nice but they are putting down such a thin layer of tar and gravel that it probably will not last very long. But something is better than nothing.
Speaking of something is better than nothing, as we were getting ready to pull out of our parking space in front of the row of tiny grocery stores we noticed the parking attendant. There is no fee for parking in that area but we thought we would be generous and give the man a few Cedis anyway. Ghana is doing away with their 1 and 2 Cedi notes and have started making 1 and 2 Cedi coins. I tried to give the man some of the coins as a gift and he very indignantly said, “I don’t want coins! I want notes because I want to chop (eat)!” When he refused the coins I turned and got in the truck and we started to leave. When he realized he was not going to get anything he came to the window and said he would take the coins. That situation took a turn the guy was not expecting! Ha!
Please keep us in your prayers.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
