It was quiet in the compound today. We spent an hour or so chasing a goat. This is a very sneaky goat. He sits outside the gates and waits for an opportunity to dash into the compound. We have no idea who the goat belongs to. We have to chase him out multiple times a day because he has figured out that he can dart in when the mothers open the gate to come to the Child Center. When we try to get him to go through a particular gate he dashes past it and is on the run. It would not have taken us so long to catch him today if we had more help. Steve and I were the only ones here today because Nazo took today off to go to the festival and today was Mr. Iddrisu’s day off. Steve and I are too old to be chasing a goat. He comes in here so he can eat our flowers. I have some flowers that we planted this year and they are only about 4 or 5 inches high; I know that goat would enjoy eating them!
Mr. Iddrisu came to the mission house this afternoon to let us know that when he took his son to the hospital yesterday they told him that they could not handle his type of case in Yendi and he had to send the child to Tamale. We knew that the child was sick, he is in middle school but we never knew what was wrong with him. Mr. Iddrisu said that he could not talk properly. When he tried to talk it made no sense and they could not understand what he was saying. It has happened twice; both times just before it was time for him to go to school. He has exams next week starting on Monday. We wonder if it is some sort of panic attack. After he rests for a while his speech clears up. Mr. Iddrisu’s nephew and wife went with the child to Tamale. They did not go to the regular hospital; they went to a private hospital. He said that the doctor at the hospital said that the child could now speak and that as soon as they paid the hospital bill they could take the child home. Of course Mr. Iddrisu did not have the money to pay for a private hospital. Thanks to your generous donations for “whatever comes up” we were able to help with the hospital bill and the transportation. We asked what the doctor thought was wrong with him and he had no idea but his personal opinion was that the child had some sort of “spiritual” thing going on. He was referring to an “evil spirit” or “evil eye”. The people here believe that you can annoy someone and they will put a curse on you. We tried to assure Mr. Iddrisu that there was no evil spirit but if the child continues to have these problems the family might take him to the Juju for traditional healing. Maybe we will know more after Mr. Iddrisu talks to the doctor in Tamale.
Steve spent the bulk of the day working on the annual Social Welfare report and I have been sewing! My job is more fun than Steve’s.
Enjoy your day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
