The bulk of our day was spent sitting at the computer trying to get the employees’ tax and the withholding tax entered. We have to do it online and while we are at it we have to pray that the internet connection holds! We ran into several glitches along the way. I had not planned on spending the whole day working on the accounts but that is what ended up happening. Before we could start entering the withholding tax we had to get all the receipts entered to make sure that we did not miss any receipts that we are responsible for the withholding tax. As I have told you before, it is not our responsibility to pay the tax; we have to collect it from the vendors that we buy from and turn it into the tax office. No one is going to agree to hand tax money over to us; they would rather miss out on the sale than to pay taxes so we just pay the taxes for the vendors. Why in the world they don’t tax everything at the point of sale from the warehouses is beyond me.
Nazo, “Donkey” told us today that the Ya-Na told him that if we did not stop calling him Nazo and start calling him Donkey he was going to fine us. That just shows you how important the chieftaincy is to the people from the palace. I still think Donkey is a silly name to call someone; it smacks of an insult.
Papa Zachariah, the old guy that used to be our night watchman came to visit us today. He retired from his night watchman duties because he was enskinned as a sub chief here in Yendi. He looked good and was happy to see us. He got the position as sub chief and left within 2 days. He left in the middle of the month and we figured he would come back and collect his pay for March but he never did. The money has been sitting in his file since he left so today when he visited we paid him. He was so surprised; so was his nephew who drove him out to the mission house on his motorcycle. Today was his lucky day! His nephew said that papa had been regaling him with the stories about how he had worked for my parents before he worked for us and how the late Ya-Na had loved my parents and all the struggles we went through to be able to stay and keep working in this area.
Red stopped by for a visit this afternoon and to pick up the metal pipe bender that we brought him from the states. When we were cleaning out our brother Buz and sister-in-law Shelly estate we found a pipe bender and scabbed onto it because we knew that Red was planning on starting a small business making crutches and walkers and would need it. Red was excited about getting it; he was also proud of his new aluminum welder. Red uses a regular welder; I am not sure how much difference there is in an aluminum welder and a regular welder but I imagine there will be a learning curve.
It has been raining off and on all evening. It has not rained heavily but just nice and steady. I am sure the crops will enjoy the rain. It has been a few days since we have gotten a heavy rain and most of the mud puddles have dried up.
Kwabena, the new night watchman grew sweet potatoes this year so he shared some of the starts with Donkey. Donkey was excited to get the vine starts; he has never grown sweet potatoes before. These sweet potatoes are more starchy than sweet.
In His service,
Steve and Kandie
