Mr. Iddrisu’s son has been discharged from the hospital; the doctor said that Suheyne’s body does not like Malaria at all! Mr. Iddrisu said that boy was feeling better; he is not a small boy; he is about 13 years old. We had a long discussion about the importance of taking the weekly anti-malaria medicine. He said that he usually gives all the children anti-malaria medicine but he could not give it to Suheyne for the past few months because he was away at boarding school and he was sick when he came home on break. We told him to check with the headmaster at the school and see if he could send the medicine with the child when he returned to school. Mr. Iddrisu thought that was a good idea.
Donkey said that his wife was feeling better too. She was also suffering from Malaria. The doctors gave her a couple shots of pain medication in addition to 2 types of antibiotics along with the Malaria medicine. I guess they will either cure you or kill you! Ha!
Warihanna, the teenage girl with Osteomyelitis in her leg, went back to Tamale today for a review. The doctor said that he was going to do a blood test and see if she could stop taking the antibiotics. This poor girl has been taking antibiotics almost constantly for the past 3 or 4 years. The doctor is afraid if she stops taking the antibiotics the Osteomyelitis will come back. Her father called around noon and said that the doctor said that she has to take the antibiotic for 3 more months. This family is dirt poor and they do not have the money to buy the medicine. Steve gave Zorash the money for the medicine; she will send it to Tamale by mobile money so the father can buy it while he is in Tamale because it is cheaper in Tamale than it is in Yendi and we want to save all the money we can.
We were excited that the severely malnourished little boy with the mentally disabled mother had gained weight. The child had not gained any weight in the past several months. We loaded him up with all the food stuffs but we almost forgot to give her the beans. She was happy when Steve handed her the beans; she told Meri that last time she got beans she divided them in half and cooked them 2 times!
This afternoon we went to the lumber yard and picked up the benches we had commissioned the carpenter to make. Steve was well pleased with the benches. Steve said that the benches were made of much heavier wood than the ones we have been buying. I told him it might be because the wood was wet; all of the wood that we buy is wet; they have no means of drying the wood other than letting it sit outside. Since the wood is wet it is ugly even after it is planned but a few Sunday’s of children siding up and down and wallowing around on the benches they become very smooth.
Thank you for all you do!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
