We had several visitors today. Our friend Mr. Oldman came over. While he was here we also were paid a visit from one of the Mallams (sort of like a leader of the mosque). He is the guy that has an ulcer; we bring him “Tums”. I think he can buy antacids here in Ghana but they do not seem to be as tasty as ours. I guess the fruit flavor helps the chalkiness go down easier. Then Zorash came with a mother and child that needed help. The little boy is a hydrocephalic (larger than normal head with lots of fluid). We are afraid that they have waited too long to get help for the child. The child is a twin; the other twin is a little girl and she is fine. He is 4 months old. We asked the mother if she noticed the head getting bigger and bigger; she said that she had known for some time but she was afraid so she just kept the child at home. She even stopped taking him to the mother/baby clinic to get immunizations. She said the girl twin was up to date on her vaccinations. So said; many times there are superstitions surrounding these special children. The baby had been taken to Tamale to the hospital and the doctors said they could do surgery but health insurance does not cover the surgery. The cost of the surgery is going to be 8,000 Ghana Cedis which is about 1,750 dollars. The family has 2,000 Cedis to put toward the surgery and they have a plot of land they are going to sell. They need 5,000 Cedis by Tuesday in order to proceed with the surgery. Thanks to your generous donations we will be able to help the baby get the surgery. The minimum wage in Ghana is 2 dollars a day; not 2 dollars an hour but 2 dollars a day. That would be like us trying to come up with 10,000 dollars for surgery. The relief on the mother’s face was priceless!
After the mother left we had Zorash help us divide the onions for the workers. Mr. Oldman was still around so we bagged him up some onions too. He was very happy with the gift. Steve gave Tichak, one of the watchmen, his onions this evening. The rest of the workers will get theirs on Monday.
This afternoon we got the suitcases unpacked and everything put away. Now you can almost walk through the living room.
We got a small amount of rain last night so it was much cooler this morning when we went for our walk. It was 85 degrees at 8:00; so nice. It has been cloudy all day; maybe we will get some more rain this evening.
We met Divine, the evangelist that helps with the church registration, in town this afternoon. He gave us a handful of receipts; this saved him a trip to the mission house.
Thanks for all you do for us and for the work!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
P.S. Don’t forget to “spring forward ” your clocks tonight !
