We had a little good news in Adamu’s case. The nutritional nurse turned Adamu’s case over to Mr. Mark, the head nutritional officer. He called Adamu’s father and demanded a meeting with him. Adamu’s father said he could not meet with him because he was in Accra. Mr. Mark kept pressing and threatening to take the case to the police if something was not done. The father said that he had a friend that would come to the meeting and see what could be done to find a caregiver for Adamu since her mother is obviously not coming even though the father sent her transport. The friend met with Mr. Mark and when he found out that we were willing to hire someone to sit at the hospital and feed Adamu he quickly mentioned his own mother. She is an old lady and she goes to Kulkpeni every few days and picks green leaves along the river to sell in the market. She will make a lot more money sitting at the hospital than selling green leaves. She agreed to come. We were worried that she might know Adamu’s grandmother who wants to send her to the bush for local treatment and she might be running back and forth from the hospital to the grandmother’s house. When we talked to her today she said that she knew Adamu’s grandmother but she promised us that she would not take Adamu out of the hospital. The hospital has agreed to let Adamu stay in the hospital under the care of this new lady. Poor Adamu; she is once again being given to a stranger but maybe this stranger is not as dangerous as the last ones! The old lady’s name is Azara; she came to the hospital to see Adamu this morning and we hunted her down in the market this afternoon so that we could talk to her and pay her for her help. She seemed willing to do what we asked of her. We then went to the hospital to talk to the nurses. When we told the aunt that we had hired another caregiver she was annoyed! She said that she was not aware that anyone would be staying at the hospital with Adamu; and that she was supposed to take Adamu to the grandmother tomorrow. The aunt also thinks that local treatment is the only way to help Adamu. We are happy that there is not going to be a lapse in caregivers because we know that if Adamu goes back to the grandmother’s house she will quickly be handed over to the traditional men and no one will know where they took her. We are praying that this will work.
A small 3 month old baby boy, who is a patient at the hospital, was referred to the Center this morning by the nutritionist asking us to help with the case. We didn’t give the mother anything until we talked with the hospital personnel. While we were at the hospital for Adamu, we gave the small baby mother a can of formula. She is going to use it as a supplement to her breast milk. We are in hopes of weaning her off of the formula and onto 100% breast milk feedings.
We are in Tamale. We had to come to the bank and to get the oil changed in the van. We hate getting the oil changed at Japan motors because it takes them so long to change the oil! We came over to Tamale this afternoon because we had a couple things we needed to buy. We needed wiper blades for all the vehicles, I needed to go to the sewing shop and we needed to buy irradiated milk for Steve’s Cheerios. We had a very nice supper here at the Indian restaurant at the hotel where we are spending the night.
Have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
The Monkey Shines
Guess what? The monkey jail is not monkey proof! I figured that out this morning when I realized that I could turn my head slightly sideways and get it through the bars of the original monkey jail! Mom and Dad decided not to take me to the Child Center this morning because they did not want to put a diaper on me because of my diaper rash so I went back to jail! Well, I had other ideas; I was not going to stay incarcerated any longer than necessary so I made a break for it as soon as no one was looking! You should have seen the surprised look on their faces when I came bouncing across the yard. I love to bounce; I can run but it is much more fun to bounce; I can hop almost as good as a rabbit can!
They watched me for a while before they figured out that I could get out of every square in the burglar mesh on every side of my original jail cell. Dad started feverously working on adding another layer of screening to the all sides of my jail. I helped him by climbing out different holes on the sides he was not working on! It was great fun! But then he finished and the fun was over. There is only one place left that I might be able to squeeze my head through; it is in the door that they open to feed me. I am not going to tell them about that hole until I have an opportunity to try it and see if my head will fit through. Once my head is through my whole body slips right through behind it.
Mom and Dad left me all alone today; they went to Tamale around noon and they will not be back until tomorrow evening! I am beyond sad about this turn of events. Mom told me that she left 2 bottles of milk for me but I might be too upset to drink the milk! She also left me some of my favorite fruits and a date. Today she put a dry mixture into another dish! She put in all the things that I love, frosted flakes, Cheerios, shelled and unshelled peanuts, popped field corn, Kulikulee and fuzzy seeds. She knows I cannot resist the crunchy things. She said that if I starve it will be my own fault! I am not sure a monkey can starve in 30 hours but I am going to try!
Hunger Strike Here I Come!
Love Skeeter
