When Donkey and Mr. Iddrisu came to work this morning they were dressed in their good clothes because we were going to go to the palace to greet the Ya-Na, the king of Dagbon. We had not seen him since we have been back and it is tradition to pay him a visit to let him know we are in his land! So much pomp and circumstance! Sometimes we just give him money but sometimes we give him a gift along with the money. It is difficult to find a gift that he needs because he has so many visitors but when we were in the states our son Aaron and his wife took us to a very cool warehouse somewhere that had lots of butcher block table tops and all sorts of stuff. They also had a rack of cow hides with the hair intact. The skins were full cows minus the head and tail; they were tanned, soft and beautiful. We thought one would make a perfect gift for the Ya-Na because the Dagomba king does not sit on a throne like European kings do and he does not sit on a stool like the Ashanti King of Ghana does; rather he sits on animal skins; mostly cow skins. They keep the skins from generation to generation. Their skins are not tanned; they are raw hide so they are not soft and pliable. Before we bought the skin we called Red to see if it would be an appropriate gift because who knows with all the customs and traditions the skin could be an insult to get a skin from a foreigner. When we got the skin to Ghana we showed it to the workers and they thought it was the most beautiful skin they had ever seen. They had a hard time believing that the tanned leather on the back was not added as a lining. When we got to the palace the Ya-Na was not there; he had gone with the disaster relief people to see his farm and take pictures so maybe he would qualify for relief money. We left the skin and our monetary gift with the elder that was in charge. The men in the palace that saw the skin were impressed. Donkey will go to the palace this evening and give us a full report in the morning about the king’s reaction to the gift. Before we left the palace we were given kola nuts (the traditional gift to give visitors, they are eaten and are full of caffeine, they are rather bitter and not very pleasant besides which they turn your teeth orange) and we were also given a gift of yams and a live guinea fowl. We re-gifted the yams and fowl to Donkey, Mr. Iddrisu and Zorash.
Before we could leave for the palace an old man and woman and a young girl came to the mission house with Zorash. The girl was about 6 or 7 years old; she was an orphan that we fed from the time she was born until she was 2 or 3 years old. They brought the little girl so we could see how well she had grown. They also brought us a gift of yams to say “Thank You” for helping keep the baby alive! How sweet is that? We in turn gave the little girl a small bag of cookies and candy and a baby doll.
After visiting the palace Donkey and Mr. Iddrisu started hauling blocks. We told Donkey that he could hire a man to help him. Later in the morning we gave them their chop money (food money) for the day and found out that he had hired 2 men instead of 1. We told Donkey that since he hired 2 men they were going to have to haul 600 blocks today instead of the 400 we had originally planned on hauling. The men had to work longer than normal but they got all 600 blocks hauled. They will sleep well tonight!
Thank you for all your help!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
No one was in the compound shortly before noon today so Mom let me play outside; I did not have to have a leash on either; it was a good day! Mom went in the house to check on lunch; she asked me if I wanted to go in with her but I refused to get down out of the tree so she went inside and left me outside. Something scared me and I could not get in the house so I ran around to the back of the house and climbed the stairs and got onto the roof. When Mom came back outside she could not find me! She alerted Dad that she could not find me and she started calling me in that super loud voice of hers. I think everyone in the neighborhood could hear her calling me! It was a little embarrassing to say the least! When I heard her call I started chattering back to her. It still took them a few minutes to figure out where I was. I came to the edge of the roof and wanted to jump down but Mom quickly darted away. She said that I would hurt myself if I tried to jump down from the roof. She walked around to the stairs and I followed her. I met her at the top of the stairs. I sure was happy that they came to find me! There are some really tall skinny trees all around the house. I believe I could have gotten down off the roof by using one of those trees. I may have to try that next time I get scared.
This morning when Mom came to release me from prison I was sitting in the new house that they added a couple days ago. I like to be in the highest place possible and that new house is about 3 feet taller than my prison cell. The verdict is still out but I think I might actually like the new sleeping quarters.
Mom Don’t Embarrass Me!
Love, Skeeter
