Amama came back to work this morning; if you remember she had been off last week because someone in her family died. It was good to have her back but we were still understaffed because Meri took the week off because one of her Uncles died in Accra. They had a funeral for him in Accra and now the family has brought the funeral to Tamale, the birth place of his family and they are going to have a memorial celebration here in Yendi. Meri is required not only to attend the funeral but to cook for the funeral too.
Zorash was late coming to work today because she was in the police station. One of the men that lives near her family house has a quarrel with her because a group of men sit in front of her family’s house each evening. Zorash is in the process of adding a room onto her family’s house and she needed to dump the load of sand to make cement blocks from in the place where the men sit. One of the men became very annoyed at Zorash for interfering with the place they like to sit and he threatened her and drew his fist to hit her when the by- standers intervened, held the man and made him leave Zorash’s family’s property. Zorash thought that would be the end of it but he has return 2 more times with threats and insults. Zorash asked her Uncle what she should do and he told her that it had now turned into a police case because the man appears to be unstable and could turn violent at any moment. Zorash’s mother is afraid that the man will go to the Juju (witch doctor) and put a curse on her and / or the family.
Steve and I went to the electric company today on behalf of the church at Kulkpeni. They have let their electric bill go so high that their electricity was turned off. We went to the electric company to see if they would give them a pre-paid meter. The manager said that the pre-paid meters are scarce but that if they paid the bill in full he would “squeeze” and manage to get one for them. The church did not have enough money to pay the whole bill so Steve paid it for them. This should take care of their problem. The manager also told us to cross check very carefully to make sure that no one had illegally taped into their meter box.
Steve talked to the doctor this morning who is treating the baby that has a cancerous tumor on his face (Rhabdomyosarcoma). We have been suspecting for a while now that it is cancer but the doctors are reluctant to tell the family that it is cancer. Thanks to those of you who help us with special needs for the babies we will be able to help with this case. The doctor said that the treatments would be long and costly. They have already been long; they have been treating the cancer for 4 or 5 months already. The cancer continues to grow; it was on his face by his eye but now it has moved down to his jaw line and is in his mouth; it is interfering with the child’s ability to eat. The child has had to have several blood transfusions. The child’s prognosis is not good but we have to do what we can to help.
Thank you for all you do for us and the people of Ghana.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
