We could barely get out of bed this morning because of our “jet lag”. We stayed up until after midnight last night because that is just the way it is. At 7 this morning when the alarm went off it was only 2:00 in the wee hours of the morning in the states.
Since today is Saturday the only person who was supposed to come to work was Nazo but Mr. Iddrisu was here too; he was still paying back the loan he took for corn in November. They were happy we were back.
Mr. Oldman stopped by for a visit this morning. We were surprised that his 2 youngest children were not with him. He caught us up on everything that has been goings on in Yendi since we have been gone. The Balogu chief died. He is one of the most important sub chief’s (kings) in Yendi; he is the chief that is in charge of the land the Child Center sits on. We will have to attend his funeral and take a gift of some sort. Nazo said that he would talk about it with the other workers and decide what is the best thing for us to do. They buried him right away but because he is such an important chief they will have a final funeral for him hopefully sometime next month. It will be carried out in the traditional way with lots of sacrifices, soothsayers, drumming and dancing.
They have started resurfacing the main road that passes through Yendi. It is a mess! They are pulling up the black top and preparing the road bed. They are also widening the road; the original plan was for the road to be 4 lanes but the government ran out of money so they are just making a 2 lane road with gutters on both sides. Many of the kiosks have had to move and some of the cement houses are being demolished. The saddest thing is that they are cutting the big trees! I guess that is the price of progress.
This afternoon we went to the market and stopped to say hello to several of our friends. Mr. Adams, the fix-it man, was working on an old generator. He said that he believed the generator was from the 60’s but I am not sure that it is not older. It was very cool; it has a hand crank starter like those on old automobiles. He said that it was a diesel engine and that it was 50-60 horsepower. The thing is a beast! He said that it took 4-5 men to pick it up and get it in the back of a pickup truck. He is going to rework it and use it at his own house.
Have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie