Several new people have signed up to receive the Yendi Notes and I was wondering if the new people had any idea who the folks that we talk about really are and what role they play in the work so I am going to list most of the people that we talk about and give a brief description of them. If you have been reading the Yendi Notes for a bazillion years you probably feel like you know them personally. Feel free to skip down to the main body of the notes.
The full name of the Child Center is The Good News Child Development Center (GNCDC). We also refer to it as the Child Center and the Center.
Zorash (Zuweria) – She is the lady who is the receptionist / bookkeeper / interpreter at the Child Center. Zorash has some education; she went to high school. She is 50; she has 2 children; Pa-Na is in her third year of college and Sherif is in his first year of college. She also has an adopted son who is about 12 or 13 years old. Zorash is divorced; she used to be married to our part time driver Red. Zorash works part time as a volunteer for the government programs such as helping with immunizations, distributing of free items, (oil mosquito nets, etc) she is also involved with several Non-government organizations as well as helping with the peace keeping force.
Meri (Meli) – Meri works in the Child Center as an interpreter and cleaner. Meri knows almost all the women in Yendi. She’s illiterate but she does very well with numbers and she recently learned to write her name so she can sign her pay packet each month. Meri has lots of children. She is in her late 30’s. She does not actually know how old she is because no one recorded her birth. A few years ago when she needed a birth certificate she just picked a date and year to be her birthday. I think Meri has had 8 children but one of them passed away. She said that she is not finished having children because her husband is a polygamist and she wants to have more children than her rivals (sister wives) do. Her children’s ages range from early 20’s to 2 years.
Amama – Amama is the lady that cleans our house; she is the hardest worker we have! Anyone that has ever cooked with me knows that I love to cook but I make a serious mess while I am cooking! Amama makes it possible for us to spend our time on more worthwhile activities than cleaning. Amama is illiterate. Amama has learned to sign her pay packet with a capital “A”. She has 3 children and almost died when her last child was born and had to have a C-section. She said that was the end of her child bearing career! Her oldest child is in her twenties and her youngest is a teenager. Amama’s husband is a polygamist; he has 3 wives besides Amama but she is the first wife so she holds the highest position amongst the wives. Amama has a small business selling plastic bags. When she finishes her work at the mission house she rides around on her motorcycle selling plastic bags of all sizes.
Mr. Iddrisu – Mr. Iddrisu is the steward / painter / interpreter for the Child Center. Mr. Iddrisu is 55. He was a polygamist but he sent his first wife away because she liked to fight too much and bit the neighbor lady’s ear during one of her fights. Mr. Iddrisu has several children. I called him a few minutes ago to ask him how many he had and he could not quite remember. He is going to call me back when he figures it out. Isn’t that funny? He called back and said that he had 8 children but one passed away at 8 months from Malaria which leaves him with 7 children. Mr. Iddrisu is educated; he went to high school but did not finish. Mr. Iddrisu had some training as a tailor but he does not use his training. He is a part time farmer but he is not very good at it.
Donkey – (AKA Nazo) these names are just titles; his real name is Yahaya Dokugru. He goes to the palace almost every day. His father was an elder at the palace. The first title he had was Nazo which means “friend of the chief”. His duties included fanning the chief, rubbing his feet, fetching cool water for him and any other small job that the chief needed done. A year or so ago he got a new title which is Gbuna which is translated “Father of the Donkeys”. He said that we could shorten it to “Donkey”. We are finding it difficult to call him Donkey! It almost sounds like we are insulting him but he likes it. Donkey’s new job actually involves pulling a live donkey in front of the King when a new King is getting put into place. As he pulls the donkey he stops every so often and says the donkey is hungry and refuses to move until it is fed; those on the parade route that want the parade to move forward have to give Donkey money for the donkey. Donkey does not know how old he is. When he wanted to sign up for the Ghana Card he had to find some old person who knew that he had been born, pick a date and year. The old person then signed a form that said they knew he was born. Donkey is the Day Man / painter for the Child Center. The job of the day man is a groundskeeper and gateman. Donkey only has one wife; he does not have enough money to get a second wife yet. He got his first wife Amina cheaply because she had been married before and her husband sent her back to her father’s house because she did not appear to be able to have children. Donkey said that he did not care if she could have children or not, he just needed a wife so he would have someone to cook for him and wash his clothes. Donkey and Amina have had 6 children but only four of them are still living; they lost a set of twins. Donkey is a grandfather; his oldest daughter is married and has 2 or 3 children. Donkey’s oldest son just completed the police academy and his 2 younger children are in junior high. Donkey tries to do some farming but he is just about as bad a farmer as Mr. Iddrisu is.
Tichak – Tichak is one of the night watchmen. He is the one that sleeps at the mission house. Tichak is a Christian and lives at Kulkpeni. He does not know how old he is but he is a grandfather so we presume that he is in his 50’s. He is illiterate but he has learned to sign his name. He has 9 children; only a couple of them are boys and his oldest son has seizures. When we ask him if he is finished having children he always says no he wants to have a whole football team of children. When someone in Ghana says football they mean soccer. Tichak’s oldest daughter is not married; she and her children live with Tichak. He has only ever had one wife; I feel tired for his wife. Tichak is also a farmer; he seems to be a good farmer. He needs to be to feed all those children!
Kwabena – Kwabena is also one of the night watchmen. He sleeps at the Child Center. The Child Center is only about 50 yards from the mission house. The watchmen spend a lot of time sitting on the veranda at the mission house in the evenings. Kwabena is a member of the Church; he also lives at Kulkpeni. We are not sure how many children he has but Timothy thinks he has 6 children. Kwabena does not know how old he is but we figure he is in his late 50’s. He supplements his salary by farming.
Timothy – Timothy is the evangelist that we work with the most. He is Steve’s right-hand man. He is a fantastic interpreter and a great Bible teacher. Timothy does not know how old he is; when he went to get his driver’s license he just picked a birth date. Timothy has 5 children. His first born child is a boy; the next 3 were girls. Timothy and Rita only planned on having 4 children. His 5th child was an accident. We told Timothy that if the accident happened to be a boy he would be very proud that there was an accident! On the day that Philemon was born Timothy was all smiles; he said that he remembered what we said about the accident turning into a blessing and it was true! It goes without saying that Timothy is a Christian. He is also a very good farmer, he is not only a tailor but he is an instructor. On top of all that he runs a small shop out of his house selling sewing notions.
Daniel and Nana – Daniel and Nana are the other two paid evangelists that we work with. They do not live near Yendi. It takes about 3 hours to get to Nana’s area and it takes about 2 hours to get to Daniel’s village. Nana is the oldest of the employees; he is actually past retirement age. He is in his late 60’s. In Ghana the people can retire at 60. Daniel is in his mid to late 40’s. They both supplement their salary with farming. Nana has grandchildren.
Now you know more about the employees than you ever needed to know! Ha!
Have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I have learned a new trick and it does not make Dad happy! Did you know that if you go into the closet and stand on the outside edge of a hanger and give the piece of clothing hanging on it a little tug the garment will slide right off into the floor? It is an amazing trick and such great fun! I am still working on some of the hangers because they have these little hook things on the ends and it is near unto impossible to get those clothes to slide off. I will have to think a little harder to figure out how to get those off! I love playing in the clothes! Mom and Dad do not have a regular closet with a door on it so there is no way they can shut me out. Their clothes hang on a wooden clothes rack so there are the clothes hanging in a row; such beautiful colors; I just can’t help myself!
Mom drove the truck to the back of the property today to help Donkey and Mr. Iddrisu move the 4 foot square water containers. While she was back there she caught me a nice fat grasshopper! What a treat! I just love a juicy grasshopper! I only wish she had brought me more than one; I gobbled it up and looked around for more. You know there was a famous man in the Bible that ate grasshopper and honey. I have not tried honey yet but I am sure that it is delicious!
When I grow up I want to work in the dry cleaners!
Love, Skeeter
