Donkey and Mr. Iddrisu worked on the erosion that is in the lane that leads to the back of the property. We still had rubble left from the cement wall that fell down so we had them first put down a layer of rubble then they topped it with a layer of gravel. We hope that the rubble will help retard some of the erosion. We have fresh gravel here in the compound but we did not let them use the fresh gravel. We had them pull the gravel from the burn pile. When Donkey rakes the yard he not only takes the leaves but he takes gravel too. We have tried to explain the problem to him but he does not believe he is the one that has made the mound of gravel that is in the burn pile. Every once in a while we have the guys redistribute the gravel. We don’t really have dirt in the yard; it is mostly native gravel and stones.
The mother of the little eleven month old girl who is in the process of getting corrective surgery so hopefully she can walk called and said that the doctor had done the first part of the surgery and that he was preparing for the second phase but they needed money for the drugs they would need for the surgery and they also needed the money for some sort of waist belt/ brace that the child needed before she could start physical therapy. One would have thought that the hospital would have made a full disclosure of what the surgery and recovery entailed but they did not. We immediately sent the money for the medicine and we asked the mother to check with her family and her husband’s family to see how much they were willing to add to the cost. The mother’s family has no money because her mother has been sick for a while and depleted their resources. The father and his family said that they did not want to add anything to the cost of the treatment because they had already spent enough on this child and they told the mother to leave the hospital and bring the baby home. We presume they would have the baby treated by the local Juju man. There is no way we could allow the mother to leave the hospital with a baby that has just had surgery, get on a bus, ride for 3 hours to bring the baby home. What good is half of the surgery going to do? We were extremely annoyed with the baby’s father but our hands were tied. We sent the mother the money that they needed for the brace/waist belt so they could proceed with the baby’s treatment. We may have to get Social Welfare involved in this case because we all know that babies grow and it won’t be long before she outgrows her braces or needs additional treatment.
When Zorash and I went to the market we bought some goat. When we were inside the meat house buying the goat I could smell something rotten. I questioned the man selling the goat. He assured us that the goat was fresh and that it was slaughtered this morning. Zorash agreed that it was fresh. When we were in the truck driving back to the mission house I could smell the goat. I told Zorash that I thought it was spoiled. She said that is the way goat smell. When I took the goat out of the plastic bag it about ran me out of the kitchen. I thought about discarding it but decided to try to salvage it. I washed it well and I rinsed it 6 times; it still smelled awful. Then I decided to soak it in salt water. I soaked it twice in salt water; it still smelled! I decided to parboil it and see if it smelled better. When that meat hit the hot water it was all I could do not to gag! I poured off the water it was boiling in and washed the meat again. It still smelled! I put it back on the fire and boiled it until it was almost done. I had to turn on the fans, it still smelled. I decided to throw it out but then I changed my mind and called Zorash and told her the meat was rotten. She said that she wanted the meat and that she did not believe it was spoiled. When she came to the house to get the meat I made her come into the kitchen. She still thought the meat was not spoiled; she asked if I had ever cooked goat meat before. I told her I had cooked it many times and it never smelt that bad; she then asked me if I had ever cooked a male goat because they smell bad. Excuse me this did not smell bad, it was rotten! When she walked in the kitchen she asked me what was the bad thing she was smelling? I told her it was the goat! She said “Goat does not smell like that! I think it is spoiled!” Well, duh! She said she still wanted the goat, she said she was going to take it home and fry it very dry. The next day when I asked her about the goat she said that even after frying it had no taste but it still smelled bad! They ate it but they did not enjoy it!
Thank you for all the love, prayers and support!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I sort of like to ride in the truck but it sort of scares me at the same time. It is not the truck that scares me but all the people and stuff whizzing past my face! Mom wants me to get used to riding but it is difficult! Sometimes I get so scared that I crawl inside Mom’s dress and hide! I usually keep part of my head out so I can look around but last week I crawled in her shirt and never looked out; I decided to take a nap hoping that when I woke up it would all be a bad dream. We went for a ride this afternoon but Mom was smarter this time. She has this cloth baby carrying sling that she wears around her neck and I sleep in while she is sewing. She decided to bring it on our ride today. After a few minutes of jerking and jumping at the things that flew past me I jumped into the pouch and hid my face. It was very nice because I could look out when I want to and hide when something scared me. I felt much safer in the pouch! I only screeched and had a “come apart” once on this trip and that was when we were parked and a strange man walked right next to my window! It was awful!
Have baby sling will travel!
Love, Skeeter
