The guy that Steve orders formula and baby cereal from called this morning to let Steve know that he was in Yendi. He always tells Steve where he is parked. When Steve tried to start the green pickup it would not start; the battery was dead. Steve took the van instead; after he picked up the cereal he stopped and bought a new battery. He then went to the tax office to make sure that everything was OK with the accounts because the network has been so terrible that he has not been able to log onto the system. The officer at the tax office pulled up both accounts and said that everything was in order. We still have a problem because we like to print a hard copy of all the transactions just in case the system has a fault since we are not able to log onto the accounts we cannot print the certificates. We hope that if we get the Star Link system up and running we will have fewer of these types of problems!
A new set of triplets came to the Center yesterday. I was working in the house and did not get to see them but Steve said they were doing well. This morning a new orphan was brought to the Child Center. She is a little girl. Only a few days old; she is being cared for by her grandmother. The grandmother said that she did not know why the mother died. She said the mother had been discharged from the hospital. She said she was not feeling very well. The grandmother had to go somewhere and when she came back the mother was almost in a state of collapse. She died shortly thereafter. The baby does not have a name yet so they call her Samatu which is translated “baby no name”. It is sad not to have a name. We gave them some of the small baby clothes, hats and socks. The grandmother was grateful for the clothes and the help with the formula.
This morning I had to go to Aminu’s hardware store and get green oil paint for Mr. Iddrisu. He is painting the trim and doors on all the buildings. While I was there I talked to Aminu about metal roofing sheets for the 2 round houses near the mission house. Currently they are covered with thatch but with all the building, development, farming and burning in our area the thatch is very hard to find so we are going to remove the thatch and put on metal.
There are several different types of roofing sheets and some of them are so thin that you don’t even have to have a cutter to cut them; they can be torn. We want to put on something that will last. Aminu said that he had several packets of very good roofing sheets that no one wanted to buy because they were too expensive. We decided to buy the best quality metal roofing that we could find. Each packet of 20 cost 400 Cedis more than the cheap ones which is about 35 dollars. It is well worth the difference! We bought them and Aminu hired someone to deliver them.
Later in the afternoon Abochi, the carpenter, came by and we paid him for the lumber that he will need to do the roofing. Abochi thinks he will be able to get the roofs on before Ramadan, the month long fast, starts.
Enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom and Dad worked on my jail cell today. They put up a new blind on the backside of the cage to protect me from the children that live on the other side of the wall. The old blind fell down and now the children are heckling me every day for hours on end. They throw things at me and use long sticks to try to get my attention. Mom is afraid that I will get mean and aggressive toward children! This time they made the blind stronger so maybe it will last longer. Instead of attaching wood between the trees to hang the tarp on they attached a piece of rebar to the trees. They only got one of them finished today; they will do the other one tomorrow. Mom said they might have to add a third one.
I had a grand time running and playing while they were working. Dad looked so funny when he was climbing in the trees! It is strange how hard he has to work to climb a tree; he has to get on a ladder; and my goodness he is the clumsiest thing you have ever seen! It is like he is going to fall down. I think he has no balance because he does not have a tail!
Today I went to the Child Center to work. I was a lot of help! I hollered at all the men that came! You know men seem to be dangerous and I have to scream when I see one! I scared Hakim, Meri’s little 3 year old boy; when he walked past me I reached out and grabbed his head. I did not hurt him but he was so scared that he cried for 2 minutes and hid behind his mother’s dress pointing at me while he rubbed his head! What great fun!
No more crying children!
Love, Skeeter
