Zorash was not able to come to work again today because she was still in Tamale.  Sometimes after the funeral is over someone from the family has to go around to the important family heads and thank them for coming!  We suspect that was what she was doing today.  Hopefully she will be back at work tomorrow.

Since Zorash was not here today and Steve had to go to the hospital for his continuing education class Meri and I had to man the Child Center until Steve got back.  Fortunately the first hour was very slow; Meri and I passed the time by ironing fabric scraps that I am going to make stars out of. 

Before the seminar started the evangelists and church leaders gave us 25 tubers of yams and a guinea fowl.  The gift was their way of thanking us for the money we gave them in September to buy corn.  It was so sweet of them to give us a gift of food when they are the ones that are suffering!  It is amazing what big hearts they have!  Of course we re-gifted the gifts.  We gave Kwabena the night watchman the guinea fowl because he was the only one at work the night we got the bird; we wanted to give it away quickly before it died!  This morning we divided the yams among the day workers.  They were very pleased to get the yams.  They are all city dwellers so yams are a special treat for them.  Meri and Amama said they were going to make Fufu, boiled pounded yams served with light soup.  I asked Meri what time supper would be ready; she said at 7:30.  I told her to expect me!  She thought that was very funny!

The mason finished using up the blocks at Kulkpeni today.  Next time we come back we will hire someone to mold more blocks and finish the building but for the time being it is securing the land and has blocked the motorcycles from passing through the church property.  It will not be long before they cut another trail.  We hope to be able to find enough money to eventually put a wall around the whole property.  

Mr. Iddrisu has spent the past 2 days raking leaves.  The teak trees that line the property are dropping their leaves.  The trees have huge leaves; some of them are as big as both my hands put together.  He is using the motor king to haul the leaves to the back of the property and spread them on the field that he will use for planting next year.  When the tractor plows it will plow under the leaves. 

We spent part of the afternoon packing.  We only have one bag left to pack and it is a difficult one because I want to bring home a local musical instrument that sort of looks like a banjo that has been made with a ½ calabash gourd.  I bought a larger gourd to put it in to try to protect it and Steve cut me a thin plywood top to protect the goat skin head.  This one has some age to it; the head is mounted with long thorns that grow on one of the trees.  I hope I can get it home without cracking the gourd.

Thank you for the love, prayers and support!

In HIS Service,

Steve and Kandie

The Monkeyshines

When Mom released me from prison after Bible study tonight she said that my hands smelled like poop!  Oops!  I must have stepped in something nasty!  The words were no more out of her mouth before she attacked me with some sort of rose scented body wash!  You would have thought that the hand sanitizer would have been good enough but Oh! No! She had to suds up my hands and then she dragged me to the sink!  I was wet all the way up to my elbows!  Now, there was no way that I smelled that nasty!  I am just happy that it did not turn into a full-fledged bath!  That woman loves to torture me with a bath!

Mr. Iddrisu left this afternoon without giving me my 4:00 bottle.  Dad saved me from starvation by giving me my bottle at 5:00.  I almost drank the whole thing!  A few minutes later he offered me a banana but I was too full to eat it!  

The parents have started giving me a new type of liquid vitamins!  They are delicious!  They have a child safety top.  The top makes a clicking noise when it is taken off!  Whenever I hear that clicking noise I know that I am in for a treat!   I immediately stop what I am doing and rush to the bottle to get a dose!  Dad is usually the one that gives me the vitamins; I get them twice a day!  Mom says my gums are a little pale and the new vitamins have a little bit of iron in them; she hopes to get my gums to pink up a little bit more!  She is such a worry wart!  If it is not one thing with her it is another!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Skeeter

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