Adamu’s mother is staying at the hospital with her! We are so happy that Adamu has been reunited with her mother, Jamilia. We are not all that sure how her mother feels. I asked Jamilia if Adamu was happy to see her; she said that she could not tell. Adamu has been a very sick little girl and very close to dying. The nutritional nurse is very happy that Jamilia has come to take care of her. She told us today that she did not think that the aunt who was staying with Adamu was quite normal mentally. She said that she was very difficult to work with and very stubborn about how they wanted Adamu cared for. Every day the aunt told the nursing staff that she wanted to go home. Well she has been free to go home since Friday morning and she has not gone anywhere yet. She was back up at the hospital this morning. On a happy note when they weighed Adamu this morning she weighed 5.2 kilos! The weight would have been up more if the aunt had left her in the hospital and fed her all the food she was supposed to get. The nutritional nurse said that Azara, the green leaf seller, had done a very good job of taking care of Adamu; we will keep her in mind if things don’t work out with the mother but we are very hopeful! Adamu had a fever this morning when they took her vitals. The doctor has ordered another round of IV antibiotics because they think she has an infection of some sort. We are pleased that she had a fever, not because she is sick but because it means she is getting better. Very severely malnourished children do not have enough energy to produce a fever when they are sick.
We passed out clothes in the Child Center again this morning. We will continue to distribute clothes for the rest of the week because most of our mothers come back every two weeks. This will give everyone a chance to get a set of clothes. This morning I looked over our records and so far we have given 455 children a set of clothes. Our thanks go out to all of you who provide help for the children.
Donkey rang the doorbell at 6:30 this morning. Sunday and Monday are his days off so we were surprised when we heard the doorbell ring. Donkey wanted to know if he could borrow herbicide from Steve so he could spray the corn he planted yesterday. He said that he would pay it back when he got his monthly pay. Steve did not have the herbicide that is for vegetables; all he had was the one that kills everything; he sure does not want to use that on food crops. Donkey then said he did not have any money to buy the spray so Steve ended up paying all the workers. They got their pay a couple days early which no one complained about. Today was a good day to get paid because today was Yendi’s big market day.
The set of triplets came back this morning. They are doing very well and all of them are gaining well. The mother said that these babies were number 7, 8, and 9. She said that she had a set of twins too. She said that she did not know she was having triplets; she had a scan done at the hospital but they only saw 2 babies. She said that she got so big that she could not sit down and be comfortable. The mother is exclusively breast feeding the babies; they are all girls. Isn’t God wonderful?
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
The Monkey Shines
Mom taught Mr. Iddrisu how to mix my bottles this morning. “I can’t like that!” Because this means Mr. Iddrisu is going to be feeding me my bottles! She knows I don’t like Mr. Iddrisu very much! When he walks past I screech at him especially if he is wearing that skull cap! Mom said that I should not worry about it because she is also going to teach Donkey to make my bottles. She says that on the days Donkey is not working Mr. Iddrisu will feed me so most of the time my friend Donkey will feed me. I am a little confused about this new turn of events. I don’t really understand why Mom and Dad have to go away and leave me here with them anyway! You would have thought they could have found someone else to leave me with; they aren’t much fun!
You will be so proud of me! I figured out how to pull out the edge of my diaper and look inside. This afternoon I jumped over into Mom’s lap and pulled open my diaper to see what that awful smell was! I was surprised to see a poop inside! Mom saw it about the same time I did so she turned me upside down and dumped the little poop out on the ground! Presto! A clean diaper with no muss, no fuss, no poop stuck in my fur and no cold wet wipes! Now that’s the way to get the job done!
Mom found a cashew fruit that had fallen out of one of the cashew trees. She cut off the bad part; removed the seed and gave it to me to eat. I liked it but it made my teeth sharp! I sure hope that she can find more of those for me.
For my next trick I will poop in the pot! NOT!
Love Skeeter
