Today has been a whirlwind of activity! The list of things “to do” seemed to go on forever. We have not stopped all day except to eat! We had to eat to keep our strength up! Ha! We have almost marked everything off the list so we might get to go to bed at a decent hour tonight.
This morning we went up to the hospital to check on Adamu, the severely malnourished baby. We wanted to talk to the nursing staff and see if we could get them to keep Adamu at the hospital for a little longer because the mother is concerned about what will happen when she is discharged. She does not know if her husband will invite her to come back to his house or if she will be going back to her parent’s house. The nutritional nurse had taken the day off because her uncle died. We talked to the in-charge nurse. He said that he did not think staying another month would help anything. He said that she would face the same problems in one month as she is today. He said that he wanted to invite the mother and the father for a conference so he could help them make the decisions that would be in the best interest of Adamu. He said that he would call the father to come to the hospital sometime this week. He said he would have to wait until the nutritional nurse came back to work. Adamu is supposed to be discharged on the 25th of June.
Adamu was doing much better today; she recognized us and she wanted me to hold her; so we played “pat-a-cake” and “pee-a-boo”. We were very pleased that she was so engaged with the games. We encouraged her mother to play with her. In the past she was too weak to do anything but eat and sleep. Today we got several real smiles, a giggle, and some cooing. Even Adamu’s mother and the other mothers on the ward were surprised to see how much she was enjoying playing! We told them that we would be going home on leave but that Zorash and the other workers would be at the Child Center to supply the food. Adamu still has diarrhea; the nurses think it is from all the antibiotics that they gave her.
While we were at the drug store Zorash noticed a sewing shop in the corner of one of the buildings. She asked them if they had fabric scraps that they wanted to sell. They had lots of scraps but not all of them were cotton. We sat and sorted through the scraps and pulled out all the ones that were cotton. We got half a garbage bag full of scraps for less than 5 dollars. Of course I did not have time to wash the scraps but they will be waiting on me when we come back.
The workers who are Muslims asked if they could be paid early this month because they have some sort of celebration on the 16th of this month. They wanted their pay early so they would have money to buy food items on market day this week. Steve told them that if they get paid early they will be very poor before payday next month. They did not seem to care.
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
The Monkey Shines
This will be my last message for a very long, long time! Mom and Dad leave tomorrow and my heart is breaking! They will not be back for 2 months! I don’t really know how long 2 months is but I know it is a long time! I am going to miss them so much! Who will I have to harass? Who will I chew on? Who will I snuggle with to take my naps? Who will teach me how to eat bugs, who will laugh at my antics? Who will protect me from all the strange people that are in this compound?
I am suspicious about these men that they are leaving in charge of me while they are gone. We had another problem today! Mom and Dad had a meeting with the workers today and told them that they did not want anyone to tease me and that if children or strangers came into the compound they were not allowed to get too close to the cage. They also told them how important it is for me to have clean food and fresh water every day! They told them that they were not to jump at me or make faces at me while I am inside the cage. Mom showed Mr. Iddrisu where my extra food was. Everyone said that they understood. Today was Mr. Iddrisu’s day to feed me. Before he left work he gave me my bottle but he forgot to change out my old stinky food from yesterday. When Mom noticed that the food was old and covered with fruit flies she had Dad call Mr. Iddrisu and asked him to come back and feed me. Mom was so anxious; I still have diarrhea from the last old food that was left in my cage. She told Mr. Iddrisu that she was afraid that she was going to come back to Ghana and I was going to be dead! Mr. Iddrisu apologized and said that he had forgotten to feed me before he left. He felt bad that Mom was so upset about it! Mom told him that she was going to call him every day while she was in Accra to see if he remembered to feed me!
If you see my Mom and Dad while they are in the states give them a hug from me!
Love Skeeter
