Ghanaians continue to amaze us! This morning we noticed that one of the large mango trees behind the Child Center had a serious amount of fire blight. I mean serious! Probably ¾ of the trees are affected. We know that we are in danger of losing the tree if we did not do something. There is no cure for fire blight but pruning helps. We have been cutting it out of the big mango in the front yard every time that we see it. Some of our neighbors have lost full grown 40 year old trees from the fire blight. The tree is 40 or 50 feet tall and there was no way that Steve could reach the upper branches. Many of the limbs were also diseased. Steve called our friend Mr. Oldman and asked if he knew someone that was reliable with a chainsaw. He brought the man around 11:00. The man showed up with a machete (cutlass) and an ax. We told Mr. Oldman that the job was a big job and needed to be done with a chainsaw. He told us to just let the man look at the job and see what he could do. He went on to say that the man with the chainsaw was not available; he had gone to the bush. The man walked around the tree and said very little. He kicked off his shoes and started climbing the tree without a ladder. He was like a monkey. He climbed to the top of the tree and started hacking away. He had the sharpest ax we had ever seen. He was using it to cut though limbs that were 16-20 inches across. He was a beast! I was a nervous wreck! He had no harness and no protection. At one point I holler up and ask if he had ever fallen; he laughed and said no! I told him we did not have time to go to the hospital today! He butchered the tree which made me sad but if it survives I guess it will be worth it. He finished shortly before 1:00. We want him to do some lighter trimming on one of the other trees. He said that he could have done them all but he is fasting and has had nothing to eat or drink since 5:00 this morning. When he finished he took off his shirt and squeezed out a literal cup of water. He charged us 300 Cedis to cut the tree which is about 55 dollars; the best 55 dollars I have spent in a long time!
Steve put 2 benches together this afternoon. We will take one to the church we are visiting tomorrow and drop the other one off at the congregation that we will be passing by on our way to service. We don’t get out that way very often so we want to greet them when we pass.
Dawda, the mason came by today; he is waiting on Red to finish making the metal doors and windows for the buildings at Kulkpeni. Red still has not finished them. Red is also making us a gate for the back wall of the property. He has some of the doors and windows made but we want to plaster them in place all at one time. We will have to get them painted before they can be set in place.
Thank you for the love, prayers and support.
In His service,
Steve and Kandie
P.S. Please keep our son Aaron in your prayers for a successful surgery on Monday. We would be there if we could but with your prayers and God’s help we know he is in good Hands.
