We spent several hours this morning on the back part of the property working on the soakaway pits. We lined the pits with aluminum roofing sheets. We wanted Mr. Iddrisu and Donkey to start filling the pits with rubble today but after the heavy rain we got last night the ground was too soft. Steve did not want to spend his day pulling the motor king out of the mud so we moved to “plan B”. We had the guys move the dirt that the men dug out yesterday. We had then put the dirt against the foundations of the bathhouses to help with the erosion. Mr. Iddrisu has a bad back and he was finding it difficult to move the dirt so we gave him a sit down job. We gave him a small sledge hammer and had him start breaking up the rubble into manageable pieces. Many of the broken blocks were still joined to other blocks with the mortar. While he was breaking up the blocks he saw a big rat. He wanted to catch it but he could not figure out where it went. I imagine Donkey will set the rat trap near the rubble in hopes of catching something for supper!
Meri did not come to work today; we did not figure that she would. There is so much involved in the funeral process and everyone must participate or people will say that you are wicked and not attend your funeral when you die. Zorash had to run the Center by herself for a little while this morning because we were in the back field. Fortunately they were not too busy today.
On Monday a mother brought her 11 month old baby girl to the Center. The baby could not stand; she did not even make an attempt to stand or put weight on her feet. The mother said that she did not crawl either. We told her to go to Tamale to the orthopedic doctor and see if they could figure out what was wrong with the child. The mother went the next day. The doctor said that she needed surgery on her hips; he did not tell her what was wrong with the child. He told her that the surgery would cost 3,500 Cedis which is about 250 dollars. That does not seem like a lot of money to us but it is an awful lot of money to a poor Ghanaian family when the minimum wage is only 2 dollars a day! The mother’s side of the family said they could not help because the mother is sick and has used up all their money but the father’s side of the family said they could help with 800 Cedis. Thanks to those of you who give us money for “whatever comes up” we will be able to give the family the rest of the money they need for the surgery. The doctor said that after the surgery the child would be able to stand and learn to walk. We sure hope he knows what he is talking about.
Thank you for all you do for us and the folks in Ghana. Without your help we would not be able to help either.
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I am getting bolder and bolder, especially when it comes to being outside. I can stay outside in the big mango tree for 5 to 10 minutes by myself before I have to jump down and hang on the screen door begging for help!
I usually hate going to the back of the property when the parents go back there to check on the work. Normally I just make someone carry me all the way but today I decided that it was not so scary after all, besides there were no strangers working back there today. I was surrounded by my favorite people, Mom, Dad, Donkey and Mr. Iddrisu; I felt safe.
Every once in a while when something scared me like those incredible big birds I would run and climb up on someone’s shoulder but it did not take me too long to jump down and walk by myself. I discovered a fun new game. The dirt road is lined with tall grass; the grass is 3 times taller than I am. I figured out that if I jumped into the tall grass no one could see me so I made a game out of running ahead of Mom and Dad; jumping in the tall grass and hiding. I would wait until they walked by and then jump out at them. A time or two I nipped Mom on the back of the heel! Could anything be more fun than scaring the ones you love the best? I think not!
Mom showed me a big black ant; she wanted me to eat it but when I picked it up it bit me! Even after it bit me and I had to drag my little hand over the dirt because it hurt she still wanted me to eat it. She mashed its head so it could not bite me; she said that it was a good source of protein and calcium. Well, I don’t need protein and calcium that badly! I refused to even look at that ant!
BOO! I SCARED YOU!
Love Skeeter
