Pure joy! That is the only way to describe the expression on Khadija’s face this afternoon when we delivered the handicapped tricycle! As soon as she saw the tricycle she came crawling out of the house in the crab-like way she had to crawl to get from point “A” to point “B”. It took a little struggling on her part, a great deal of concentration and a little help from her family but she was able to get up in the tricycle. She was pleased with her achievement! It was like watching your child take their first step. When she got situated we were as excited as she was. We could tell that she was uncomfortable with the motion of the tricycle but she will soon get used to that. She has been stuck in their compound for years. A cousin of hers was there today; he said that he was older than she was and he is either 34 or 35 so she is probably in her mid to late twenties.
Khadija’s grandmother sells plantain to make money for the house. Before we left we bought plantain for ourselves as well as Mr. Oldman, our neighbor. We stopped and picked Mr. Oldman up on our way to deliver the tricycle; we needed someone that could interpret for us. We are passing the family’s thanks on to all of you that have an interest in the work.
One hundred fifty nine children passed through the Child Center this morning. About 1/3rd of them did not have a chart because they were brothers and sisters of those with cards. We never stopped until Steve locked the gate at 12:00. After we closed, we had to prepare the medicine for tomorrow’s rush. We spent part of the afternoon sizing and packaging more clothes. Tomorrow is a holiday so Meri and Amama will not be here to help but Zorash will. She took off today because she had a meeting; she will come to work tomorrow so we will be open but we will be understaffed. Nazo wanted to work to make a little extra money; we might have him come and help at the Center. He is a terrible interpreter because he answers all the questions we ask the mothers without waiting for them to speak but he would probably be good at finding out how old the children are and passing out clothes.
Have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
