When Donkey came to work this morning he was very upset about an accident that happened on the main road near the turn off to the mission house yesterday afternoon. A pickup truck full of people (when we say full of people it is seriously full of people; they said that the cab had 6 people in it and there were 12 people in the bed of the truck). One of the tires of the truck blasted; the driver lost control of the vehicle and the vehicle rolled. One person died immediately, another died on the way to the hospital, one person lost an arm and several people were transferred to Tamale. Donkey, Zorash and Mr. Iddrisu all knew the people that died and several others that were in the vehicle. Donkey was helping at the scene. Many people in town are talking about the accident because most of them are natives of Yendi.
Zorash got a call this afternoon from Adamu’s father. Adamu is the very malnourished abandoned child. Adamu’s father said that the nurse at the hospital called him and told him that the little girl only had enough food for today and then she would be out. We have about decided that the father is useless! He told the nurse that he would call Zorash and tell her to call us. Excuse me! The father should do something for the child! We took milk and sugar to the hospital and Steve went to the pharmacy to buy more liquid vitamins. When we went to drop off the things the flies were crawling all over Adamu; her aunt was doing what she could to shoo them away but they were like the flies at a picnic, no amount of shooing will make them go. Adamu was trying to sleep but they were crawling all over her, making her miserable. After we left the hospital I told Zorash that we were going to buy her a baby tent. They look very much like those things we take to a picnic that open up to cover the food, only they are big enough to cover a child. We told them to use it when she is sleeping and especially at night; it will keep the mosquitoes away too and might prevent Malaria. Adamu weighed 4.34 kilos today. She is stronger and has learned to give a “high 5”.
We went out to the lumber yard this morning to try to find the owner. We have to pay withholding tax on the lumber we bought for the building at Kulkpeni. We need either their company tax ID number or their Ghana Card number. The guy was nice but he did not have the card with him so he is going to take a picture of it and send it to Steve. Timothy has not had any luck getting the tax number from the guy we bought the cement from.
Steve spent the morning finishing the monthly report and part of the afternoon trimming trees. The yard is littered with branches and leaves again! I am sure Donkey won’t be pleased when he sees the mess!
Thank you for all you do for us and for the work.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
Skeeter’s Monkey Business
I have figured out how to hide from Mom and Dad. When I hear them calling me I quickly run behind something and lay flat on the ground! When they spot me I jump up and run to another hiding place. It is especially fun with Dad because he is not as agile as I am; it is easy to sneak behind stuff so he can’t catch me! It is great fun to see how many times I can make him miss me! Mom on the other hand is quick; she will snatch me while I am in the middle of jumping from one place to the other.
I have decided that my favorite day is “wash day”. Today was wash day and we washed 4 loads of clothes. I figured out that I can climb up the clothes line poles and crawl across the clothes line to the next pole. I even figured out that I could jump on a piece of clothing and use the clothes as a ladder to get to the clothes line. Mom’s dresses are the best for climbing because they are long and easy to reach. Of course Mom complained the whole time because the ground is dirty and I was making paw prints on the clothes but like she always says, “It is clean dirt”!
The clothes line is very close to my jail cell. The door to my cell was standing wide open today and when I got tired I climbed in the jail cell all by myself. There is a tree inside my cell; and the jail is in the shade in the morning so it made a nice place to rest; I kept an eye on the door. I was ready to make a run for it if they tried to close the door and lock me in there!
“OMO” is our preferred laundry soap!
Love Skeeter
