Mr. Iddrisu was here bright and early this morning because he had to work today to make up for one of the days he owed us. He asked if we could help him because there was no food left in his house. He said that they had used the last of the corn yesterday and he wanted to know if we could give him some extra work. He was looking for money to buy corn for his family. We told him that we would not have any overtime until they started building the training center. Steve and I talked and we decided that we could help with a gift of food. It has been a while since we gave the workers a gift. If we give one of the workers a food gift we are supposed to give all of them a gift. Mr. Iddrisu needed corn for his house. Corn is the staple food source here in the Northern part of Ghana. They grind corn and use it for porridge, TZ, Banku, Kenkey, fried dough balls and who knows what else. We told Mr. Iddrisu that we were going to gift him 10 bowls of corn which should last for several weeks. He said that if we gave him corn he would still have no money to grind the corn. Please! Give me strength! We were afraid that if we gave him the grinding money it would not be used for grinding so we decided to take the corn to the grinding mill and grind it before we gave it to him. We gave Donkey the same amount of corn and also ground it for him. The ladies, the evangelist, and the night watchmen do not need corn because the ladies’ husbands provide corn for them and the evangelists and night watchmen are farmers so they do not need corn. Instead of giving the other workers corn we bought each of them a gallon of cooking oil and a case of canned tomato paste. The ladies were very happy with their gift. Zorash went with us to the market and the grinding mill this morning.
Midway through our shopping trip Mr. Iddrisu called and said that his son Suwyene was sick and that he had left work to take him to the hospital. Well, if Mr. Iddrisu did not have any money to grind corn; he surely will not have any money to buy medicine and pay for a hospital visit. Around noon Mr. Iddrisu came back to the mission house and said they were treating his son for malaria and he needed money to buy the anti-malaria medicine which they were going to give him through his IV. The child will probably have to spend at least one night in the hospital.
The goats have been getting into the yard; they are coming in through the hole in the gutter we had the mason cut in the cement wall to divert the rain water. Steve spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to rig us something that would block the goats from coming in through the gutter but that would not block the water or get choked with leaves and debris. He thinks he has the problem solved; time will tell!
Thank you for the love, prayers and support!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
