Mr. Iddrisu did not come to work today because one of his sons was sick and he had to take him to the hospital. There are no real doctors’ offices here in Yendi. If you need to see a doctor you will either go to Yendi hospital or to the clinic. We are at the end of the rainy season and the mosquitoes are everywhere. We figure that he has malaria. The mosquitoes tried to carry us off at the Child Center this morning. We usually run the ceiling fans but there was no electricity today; Steve finally went to the mission house and got the spray insect killer. It slowed them down but did not kill all of them. Meri killed more than anyone else so we labeled her “The Great Mosquito Killer”.
Today is the first day of the last Damba festival. Thursday of last week marked the First Damba festival. Today the men gather at the palace and pick rice (they literally sit on the ground and pick the stones out of the rice). This is traditionally done in the morning of the day before the festival starts. The rice is then given to the ladies so they can start cooking for all the strangers that visit the palace for the festival. People will come from all over Ghana to participate in the festival. The president of Ghana will send representatives and gifts to support the festival. They will drum and dance all day tomorrow and tomorrow night. Then on Saturday they will “Bye-Bye the festival” which means they will go around to all the important men that came to help celebrate and thank them for coming.
Nazo said that his niece was doing better. Oh! Speaking of doing better, I need to give you an update on Meri’s oldest son, Aliu. Aliu is the one that has Sickle Cell disease and if you remember he was in the hospital for several months earlier in the year with what appeared to be a stroke. He lost the use of his arms, legs and speech. Well, he has had lots of therapy and he has relearned how to walk, his arms are stronger and now they can understand almost everything that he says. He is able to feed himself too. He is now at home; he has not gone back to school yet but Meri thinks he will go at the beginning of next term. We have not seen him yet but he is making great strides!
I forgot to tell you that a couple Sunday’s ago when we were visiting the Church at Duni we were standing around talking after worship. I was encircled by a bunch of teen and pre-teen girls. Timothy started laughing and I asked him what was so funny. He said that the girls wanted to touch my skin and see how it felt. I promptly flung my arm out for them to feel. They ran their hands up and down my arm and all over my fingers. They laughed and giggled; they were having the best time! I asked them if they wanted to feel my hair too. Oh! Yes! I pulled off the scarf I was wearing to keep the wind from blowing my hair while we traveled and tilted my head over for them to feel. I got a good scalp massage! A couple of them found a loose hair and they were so excited. They said my hair was so soft and slippery! I told them that I too like to feel their hair and I stuck my hand on top of one of the younger girl’s head to feel her hair. It was a good time had by all!
Have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
