This morning Zorash brought her cousin to the mission house. He is much older than Zorash and he is in need of hip replacement surgery. Zorash said that she was surprised when the doctors said that they could replace the hip and he would be able to walk without pain. The family had about half the amount of money that they needed for the surgery. They had come to us to see if we could assist. The total cost of the surgery is going to be 8,000 Cedis which is about 800 dollars. That sounds like a bargain to us but it is difficult for a poor family to find that much money. Thanks to our faithful supporters that gave us money for “Whatever Comes Up” we were able to give him the money he needed to get the surgery done. He is supposed to go to Tamale Thursday to have the surgery so maybe it won’t be long before he is able to get around better. I am not sure what they do about physical therapy after hip surgery in Ghana; we will have to ask him after his surgery.
This afternoon we went back to the market. Amama and Zorash accompanied us. The back end of the pickup was filled with rice, corn and beans. We bought 900 pounds of rice, 310 pounds of dried beans (sort of like black-eyed peas) and 50 pounds of field corn. This time we bought smaller bags for the grain and rice. They like to pack it in 100 kilo bags (220 pounds) but it takes 2 strong men to move the bags. We packed everything in bags that weighed about 50 pounds; most people can pick up a 50 pound bag. It will be nice for the ladies that are cooking too because the grains will already be measured out for them. It was so hot in the market today! I thought I was going to cook! Of course we were there from 12:00 – 1:30 pm which is part of our hottest time of the day. The high temperature for today was only 98 degrees but the heat index was 117 degrees.
Later this afternoon we went back to town to buy phone units and to get passport pictures made. We have to have passport pictures to turn in with the annual Social Welfare report which is due at the middle of next month. As always the passport pictures were awful! We looked like we had some terminal illness! Of course it does not help that they make you take your glasses off and never give you heads up that they are snapping the picture so you have no chance of smiling or even looking pleasant. Today the old guy that was printing the pictures pushed the wrong button on his printer and made a huge close up of me! No not only do I have ugly passport photos but a very close up glossy 4X6 photo! Lucky me!
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
