Mr. Iddrisu did not come to work today; we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if he was feeling bad or if he had a function to attend. When Donkey called him this morning all he said was that he would not be coming in today but that he would be here tomorrow.
Steve and I spent the whole morning working on the Social Welfare report. We scoured the charts for all the information we needed to complete the report. Today we were working on the statistics. This is the fun part of compiling the report. This physical year 1,243 new babies were brought to the Center; of that number 50 were sets of twins and 1 set of triplets. This year we started feeding 25 new orphans, 3 babies that were abandoned, the child of a mother with HIV and a mother with Hepatitis B. One of the things the Child Center does is screen babies and toddlers to find the malnourished and low weight children. This year we identified 22 children who were malnourished and started them on the feeding program to help them gain weight and become healthy. This year 5,119 visits were made to the Center; this includes all the repeat visitors; the mothers are invited to bring their children back every 2 weeks for weighing and vitamins. We also keep track of the total number of babies / children we have seen since the Child Center opened in 2002; after adding today’s figures our grand total is 31,301 different children. That is a bunch of babies!
This afternoon Steve and Donkey loaded the motor king up with the tree limbs and firewood. One of the cashew trees died a couple years ago. Donkey cut most of the branches off the tree last year and this year Steve was able to use the truck and pull the tree trunk down. Donkey spent the past couple of days hacking the tree up into usable pieces. His wife will be very happy when she sees the firewood.
Just before I started cooking supper we decided to hang a piece of fabric inside the new house we made for Skeeter to sleep in and to sit in when it is raining. He only uses the house when he wants to get up higher so he can see what is going on in the yard; he does not stay in it when it is raining and we know that it cannot be comfortable to be cold and wet especially when it rains all night. We hope the cloth entices him to sleep in the little house.
Thank you for the love, prayers and support. We appreciate everything you do for us and for the work in Ghana.
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
You should have seen Mom today! She cracks me up! I was outside jumping from one tree to the other when I see her trying to crawl into my jail cell! Now the door to my cell is about 3 feet square and she is no small woman. I kept watching to see if she was going to get stuck but she did not. Then she pulled in a ladder and set it up. The whole thing was so funny to watch; I think she should take this act on the road! She had a piece of my favorite material which is actually a piece off an old night gown that she had sewed onto a piece of wire. Dad was on the outside of the cage on another ladder with his drill. Finally I could take it no longer; I climbed out of the tree and got inside the cage with her. There was not much I could do but at least I was there to lend moral support. Dad drilled 2 holes in the side of my new house and Mom climbed to the top of her ladder, contorted herself so she could see inside the house; the hole to the house is small and could only accommodate one of her arms. She fished the wire through the holes that Dad drilled and hung up the fabric. They think that they are going to trick me into spending more time in that house with that piece of fabric. We will see how well that works for them! I am pretty stubborn!
I left the avocado on my plate today but I really enjoyed the tangerine sections. I had never eaten a tangerine; the thing was amazing! It was like a water fountain; I would bite it and then lick the juice off the bottom before it dripped on the floor. I especially enjoyed picking out the seeds.
This afternoon Mom did not know that I was watching her when she got ready to take her medicine; she thought my leash was short enough that I could not reach her. When she was not looking I reached up and snatched one of her pills and then the chase was on. I was in so much trouble! Mom can move fast when she wants to. In 2 seconds flat she had me in a death grip and had my mouth pulled open and that pill was on the floor. It was in 2 pieces but it was no longer in my mouth. Mom said it was the antibiotic that they take to keep away Malaria; maybe I need to be taking those every day too!
No more pills!
Love, Skeeter
