Zorash got stuck in one of the outlying areas of Yendi today; she is still doing the TB screening; she said that she went early and had planned on coming back in time for work but it started raining heavily and she had to wait for the rain to stop before she could come back into Yendi. I guess one excuse is just as good as another.
I spent almost the whole morning washing clothes. I try to only wash them once every 2 weeks because it is such a chore! We had 2 loads on the line when we heard Mr. Iddrisu shouting that it was raining! Steve, Amama and I all rushed to the clothes line and started pulling off the clothes. It was just a passing shower and by the time we had finished washing the other 3 loads the rain had stopped and we had all the clothes back on the line. In case you are wondering, we do not have a clothes dryer; we are just proud to have an electric washing machine and water to wash with!
We were sad to hear that Mr. Alhassan, our Social Welfare Officer, was being transferred. This is the time of the year that we need him to write a letter of recommendation for the Child Center. We include the recommendation in the annual report. When Steve called him to ask for the letter he said he was no longer our Social Welfare Officer but he would get us an introduction to the new officer and get a letter for us. The new officer came to the Child Center this afternoon. This is the first time we have had a lady for a Social Welfare officer; she seemed very nice and she wrote a very nice letter for the Child Center. We sat and visited for almost an hour. Another guy came with her. We presume that he was the office secretary.
When Meri came to work this morning she said that she had a problem that she needed us to help her solve. Her son, the one that has sickle cell disease has been accepted into one of the universities and she wanted us to help her pay for his school fees. We kindly declined to help her because we do not put our hands into school fees because it is a bottomless pit! A few years ago we capped the amount of money that the workers could borrow because the loans were getting out of hand! We told her that the best we could do was give her a loan for 500 Cedis if she did not already have a loan. She said that she needed almost 4,500 Cedis just for the entrance fee; that does not include books, food or transport. She was sad and down trodden after we finished talking to her. We asked her what her husband said about the school fees. She said that he has not said anything. Her husband is a teacher and he also has a business selling sugar and other things in the market; they have a huge house that is very nice; it has indoor toilets. He has enough money to have multiple wives; I think he has 3. Excuse me! There is no need for him to send his wife out begging for school fees! Needless to say we did not solve her problem.
Enjoy your week!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
The Monkeyshines
This morning while Mom was doing laundry I was left to amuse myself and amuse myself, I did! She put me on a short leash or I could have had even more fun! Mom has a display of American flags on top of one of the cupboards; they have wooden sticks; I had them strewn all over the place. I found the straws; some of them are stainless steel; they make the nicest sound when they are dropped. I dug stuff out of the garbage can. Mom has a nasty garbage can that has food scraps and then she has one for paper and plastic; I got in the paper and plastic one! Everything was going well until I got hold of one of the sachets that used to have laundry soap! Oh! That tasted awful! Now I know why kids don’t like to have their mouths washed out with soap! I had to eat a whole banana before I got that taste out of my mouth. Mom has a cloth bag that hangs inside the kitchen door that she keeps used plastic bags in. I had never noticed that bag before today! I delighted in pulling out the bags and watching them fall on the floor. Whenever Mom walked by she picked them up and stuffed them back in the bag. She didn’t mind picking them up because she knew how much fun I was having pulling them out. Amama tried to get me in trouble. She told Mom that I was the one that was pulling them out! Mom just laughed and said, “Oh! Well it is keeping him busy!” Nanny! Nanny! Boo! Boo! You did not get me in trouble! I was sad when Mom finished washing the clothes and cleaned up the mess!
Making messes is my business!
Love, Skeeter
