We met with the Social Welfare officer this morning by accident. Steve was going to call him to get him involved in Adamu’s case, the little severely malnourished baby that was abandoned. We were surprised this morning when he paid us an impromptu visit. He said that he had not been to see us since we came back to Ghana after our leave and he just wanted to stop to say hello and to introduce us to one of his colleagues. We sat for a long time discussing Adamu’s case. He realizes how dangerous it is for the child when the family identifies her with an evil spirit instead of neglect and malnourishment. He is going to get in touch with the father and hopefully the mother to see if her problem can be solved without taking the case to court. He agreed with Dr. Owusu that the child might need to be removed from the Grandmother’s care and sent to the orphanage for her own safety. The problem is that we have to get her strong enough to be able to go to the orphanage. Zorash thinks that once the child starts to put on weight and starts to walk and talk the family will do a 180 degree turn and want to keep the child. We just have to get her over the hump and the hump is huge!
Zorash talked to the father of the intersex child and the child has been scheduled for surgery but the doctor wants to do another test before he does the surgery. The conclusions from the other tests are that the child is female so the doctor is going to do corrective surgery. The father told Zorash that he is getting pressure from his family to have the child killed because the child is not a real child; the child is a witch and will do harm to the family if she is allowed to live. If you remember the father was in a motorcycle accident and he broke his leg in several places; had to have surgery and a long recovery. Well, the family now says that the wicked child broke her father’s leg. The father and mother have agreed to go ahead and do the surgery but not let any of the family know because at any time they could take action against the child and harm the child. The father said that when he is ready to take the child to the hospital he makes a plan with the mother. She says her and the child are going somewhere and they secretly meet the father and he takes the child to the hospital. He also said that he is a teacher and that he plans on putting in for a transfer so that they can move somewhere away from the family and others that know of the child’s condition. This way they will get a fresh start and it will be easier for the child. We think that this is a great plan. We are trying to decide if we should let the Social Welfare officer be aware of this case too; it is really not a Social Welfare case; it is a hospital case but the parents could benefit from the moral support.
Mr. Iddrisu and Donkey carried a load of cement out to Kulkpeni so the masons will have enough to start on Sunday. We will not be around on Sunday to facilitate the project so we have to get everything in order before we go to the bush for worship.
Enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
Skeeter’s Monkey Business
Help! Seriously, someone has to send me to the Child’s Protective Services hotline! I have been abused and put upon today! I have been insulted in every means possible!
Today they put the bell back on my waist! It seriously hampers my style; I cannot jump as far or as high as I can without the bell! The bell is noisy and it is impossible for me to sneak up on the parents and jump on them. Today they tied a blue ribbon around my waist and tied it to the table leg so I could not jump on the computers while they were working on the receipts! Twice they put me in jail and one of the times they did not even have the courtesy to let me out of jail themselves; they sent Donkey to let me out; I had to run really fast to get past him and up on the veranda!
The worst indignation that I had to suffer today was going back to the vet! Yes! They took me back to the vet to get another shot. This time it was for distemper; do I look like a cat? Distemper is something that cats get, not monkeys. This time the real vet, not the assistant, gave me the shot; I think he might have actually known what he was doing. Then they held me down and forced the worm medicine in my mouth. Mom blew in my face to make me swallow the medicine. As if that was not enough, all the strange men that work in the office wanted to take my picture! Really do I look like I feel like smiling after all the abuse? I flat refused to smile at any of them and in most of the pictures I turned my back to them so they could not see my face! Honestly I am beginning to rethink this adoption thing!
Someone call 911!
Love Skeeter
