I think I told you that while we were in Tamale on Thursday we bought a wheelchair.  We found out that Mr. Iddrisu’s mother has become blind and weak and is unable to walk around.  If she wants to go from place to place she crawls.  She refuses to go to the doctor to have her eyes checked because she believes that if you go to the hospital you will die.  She has cataracts which probably could be removed; that would improve her eyesight some.  We decided to take a wheelchair to her.  She was so excited with the wheelchair.  With assistance she was able to transfer from her mat on the ground to the wheelchair.  One of her grandsons wheeled her out into the sunshine and she was so happy.  She kept thanking us for the chair.  We took her picture and a short video.  Mr. Iddrisu was grateful for the wheel chair because it will make his job of moving her from place to place easier.

While we were in Mr. Iddrisu’s neighborhood we stopped to give Abochi, the carpenter/roofer a gift for his new baby girl.  Today was the outdooring (baby shower) for the baby Salama.  The Wanzam was there too.  A Wanzam is a professional barber.  As part of the outdooring / naming ceremony he shaves the baby’s head; both boys and girls get their hair shaved.  He is also the man who circumcises the baby boys.  The family keeps the same Wanzam for their whole life; usually when he becomes too old to do the job he will train his son or nephew to carry on for him.  He will also come to the family house and shave the men and cut their hair when needed.  Abochi’s wife was pleased with the baby clothes.

I have a problem with my cell phone.  I have not tried to use it since we had the number re-registered.  I can receive phone calls but when I try to call out I get a message, “You have active call barring”; whatever that means.  This afternoon we took it to one of the repair men in town.  They worked on it but could not get the “call barring” turned off.  They suggested I take it to the MTN office on Monday.  It is so annoying!

Nazo and Mr. Iddrisu got the 4 foot water containers moved this morning so we are one step closer to starting the wall project.

This afternoon Steve ordered 3,000 bags of filtered bagged water.  We use the water for cooking and for filtering for our personal use but we also provide cold water for the masons when they are working on a project at the mission house.  We know that we will use a ton of water once the men start raising the wall.

Thank you for all your help.

In His Service,

Steve and Kandie

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