Amama did not come to work today because her mother sent her to visit one of their relatives. I really could have used her today because the dust is terrible. We are in the middle of the dry season and the air is thick with Harmattan dust. The dust blows into Ghana from the Sahara desert. The Harmattan is a double edged sword. The dust filters out the sun and keeps things a bit cooler. At times the dust is so thick that you can look straight at the sun at mid-day and not have to squint. The dust covers everything. We can wash the dining room table in the morning and by evening you can write your name in the dust especially if the wind has been blowing. Wet mopping the floors is a daily event.
Nazo was in and out of the compound today. Today is one of his off days but he is helping Red and the men mold the cement blocks. We are FINALLY going to raise the height of the walls around the mission property! We are so excited! Hopefully this will put an end to the people climbing over the wall to poop, pick mangos, burn the grass and hunt on the property. It will also keep prying eyes at bay! Red has a team of men that are molding the cement blocks by hand. They make the blocks 1 block at a time. We estimate we will need 7,000 blocks for the project. The block will be watered every day for several days to make sure they cure properly.
Steve and Mr. Iddrisu spent most of the morning at the tax offices. The IRS office now wants everyone to pay the monthly taxes online! Can you imagine? They set up an account for the Child Center; each month the taxes will be paid with “mobile” money through the cell phone network. How secure does that sound? The network is so unpredictable and the electricity is so sporadic that it is hard to imagine that it will work very well. Can you imagine how overloaded the system is going to be at the beginning of the month when everyone all over Ghana is trying to pay their bill? We have no choice but to give it a try.
Zorash brought us up to date on all the people that were helped while we were gone. It is nice to know that even when we are in the states none of the serious cases go unattended. Divine, the evangelist’s son, got bitten by a snake and had to have 2 vials of ASV. The teenage boy with the gunshot wound that we helped with surgery to repair the shattered leg/hip bone last year went for another surgery to help and they had to remove all the pins and plates so he would not walk with a limp. Shamuna, got a new artificial leg. He’s the little boy that was hit by an automobile several years ago and had outgrown his artificial leg and needed a replacement. We were not happy that the little girl who needed the umbilical hernia repair did not get the surgery. The doctors want her to wear a special hernia belt for a few months to see if they can get the hernia to shrink.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. Please say a special prayer for all those that are helped through the Child Center.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
