The welder that is making the peanut roaster out of an old hot water heater called this morning to tell us that he had got up early this morning and went to the shop; he was at his shop at 7:00. He said that he wanted to finish the peanut roaster earlier for us as a surprise because he knew that we needed to use it quickly. He said that when he got to his shop the electricity was off; he was so disappointed. He said that as soon as the electricity came back on he would finish the roaster. The lights did not come back on until 11:00. He called at 1:30 to let us know that he had finished. We thought that the roaster looked good and the fins inside the roaster were perfect. The roaster is slightly out of balance because of the hinge that he put on the door. It rolls very nicely but I know that it would roll even better if it was balanced. The welder told us that if after we use it we decide that it needs a counter balance on the other side he will add it for us.
Meri came back to work this morning. She is very distraught about her child. Aliu’s uncle is staying with him at the hospital to help take care of his personal needs. Later in the morning we got word that he was having a very good day and that he had eaten plenty of porridge for breakfast. He said, “The porridge was so good; porridge is life!” He is a teenage boy and you know how important food is to a teenager! Aliu is making plans for what he is going to eat next! He said he wanted Fufu (dough ball type food made from pounded yams) and light soup. His uncle said that his speech was much improved today and that he could understand almost everything that he said. He still cannot walk and his arms are weak but maybe that will clear up as he gets stronger.
This morning Steve finished cutting up the tree trunk of the tree that we felled a couple weeks ago. The trunk was almost more than the chain saw could handle but Steve kept plugging away at it and finally got it into pieces that could be picked up by 3 men. Nazo and Mr. Iddrisu’s wives make charcoal so they were happy to get the big pieces of wood. We told Mr. Iddrisu to divide the wood into 6 piles; one for each of the workers and that after he divided the wood the ladies that work for us would get first choice of the piles of wood. The ladies thought that was a great idea!
Simeon, Timothy’s brother, came to work again today. He finished all the backfilling around the fences and walls so we had him move on to trimming a tree. Thankfully this tree is not diseased but it had grown so wide that it was brushing against the metal roofs on the small round houses. It looks better now.
Hope you have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
