Donkey was here at 6:00 this morning. He was the first one to arrive so we set him to sweeping and blowing out the round house that the carpenters were going to start roofing. When they pulled down the thatch it made a serious mess! We thought that it would be easier to clean it out before the roof was put on.
Abochi brought 8 men this morning. There was not enough work for 4 men, much less 8 men. Some of them are his apprentices. By 9:00 they were all laying around trying to sleep; they had no energy because they were fasting! Please! They were ready to leave at 12:00. I still had to give them chop money even though they are fasting. They got part of the rafters put on this morning. At the rate they are going it is going to take them a week to do a 2 day job!
The guy that removed the thatch came with a motor king today and started hauling off the thatch that was usable. We were happy to see it go. We told them that they had to stack the old thatch outside the compound because we did not want to have to work around it and it would always be available for the guys to haul it off even if we were not around.
Divine called this morning and asked if we wanted to buy 200 pounds of shelled field corn. We told him that we wanted it if the price was good. The price was 100 cedis higher than we can buy it in the market so we rejected it. Divine brought it to the mission house anyway. He said that he decided to sell it to us for the market price. Of course I had to give him a little money for bringing it in from the village. We will use it to make weaning mix for the small children.
A sad case came to the Center this morning; a mother came rushing in. She said the baby was sick so we directed her to the Clinic next door. She refused to go and insisted that we look at the baby right now. The mother was obviously distraught! When the mother uncovered the baby’s face we could immediately see the problem. The baby had a cloudy film over his eyes and his eyelids were split sort of like a hair lipped child. It was most likely a birth defect. We explained that we see children that have all kinds of birth defects from clubbed feet to webbed hands to hair lips. We told the mother that we were not doctors but that we would help her with the transport and treatment of the baby if she wanted to take him to Tamale; the doctors might want to refer her to another hospital or they might want to do surgery. Relief washed over the mother’s face. She said that she would take the child immediately. We told her not to listen to the people in her family and village that said the baby was not a human being but was rather a witch and needed to be killed. The mother started crying and said that they had already been saying it and that she did not know what to do and that she had no means to help the baby. She said that all she can do all day is sit and cry. We talked to her for a long time and explained that this was probably a problem that happened when the baby was growing and that it was not her fault; it was not a curse and it wasn’t because she watched a bad movie. We told her that the baby might be blind but that was not a problem. We explained that lots of children are blind and that Ghana even has a school for the blind children. We told her she would have to be strong and that we would stand behind her and help her. She said that her breast milk production had gone down. We educated her about the importance of eating well, not fasting and drinking plenty of water. We told her that it is not unusual for a mother’s milk to go down if the mother was worried and stressed! I cannot imagine the stress she is under trying to fight for her child’s life! She was not a young mother; she has had 5 other children and all of them are alive and well. We got her some baby clothes so the baby would look nice when she took him to the hospital. She said that she had a hard labor and that she was at the hospital for 11 days trying to deliver the child. She said that the doctors were planning a C-section but decided to give her another big dose of the drug that brings on labor. She said that when the baby was born the nurses told her nothing; they just sent her to the eye nurse at the hospital. The eye nurse gave them antibiotic eye drops and sent them home. She came to us because the pressure to destroy the baby is too much! We told her that if her husband or family has any questions about the child that we would be happy to talk to them. She was happy to have an advocate and a plan of action. Please keep this little one in your prayers.
Now that I have totally depressed you; have a good day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
It was another scary day in the compound; even scarier than yesterday! Today more than 12 men were in the yard roaming around doing this and that! I think they had no business being there! I personally think that we should send them all home and lock the gates.
They left the gates open this morning and not only did the goats try to come in a full grown dog came in! It was great fun to watch the grown men chase his scared dog all over the compound. This was not the first time the dog had been chased because he had great moves and dodged all over the yard! They finally got the dog to go out by throwing green mangos and stones at him! Poor Dog!
Mom bought the worst watermelon; it was mostly green and had no flavor. Mom cut it yesterday and every time I turn around she is trying to get me to eat another piece of it. I am a polite monkey so I take it, smell it, take a nibble and drop it on the ground when she is not looking. She stepped on a piece of water melon today and a slice of banana; she was not happy about that!
Be careful where you step!
Love, Skeeter
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