Mr. Iddrisu missed 5 days of work last week while we were gone because his back was bothering him. This morning Steve sent him to Yendi hospital in hopes that they would do an x-ray of his back but they did not. They gave him Tramadol with acetaminophen and another tablet that he did not know the name of. He is going to bring the medicine to work tomorrow so we can see what they gave him. His excuse for not coming to work was not only that his back was hurting but that he needed to stay close to his house because he had hired a traditional healer to treat his back. He said that the healer has him boiling herbs and applying them to his back 3 times a day! Please! We asked him if the local treatment was working; he said that it was working. He had no answer when we asked him, “If the treatment is working so well why you have not been able to come to work?” Many years ago Mr. Iddrisu had TB of the spine and we suspect that the damage to his spine is getting progressively worse. He forgot to tell the doctor this morning that he had TB of the spine.
A severely mentally delayed baby came to the Center this morning; the child has something wrong with his back, neck, legs, and arms; he has no use or control of them. He is just like a floppy baby doll. He has no expression or reaction when he is talked to even by his mother. Zorash was annoyed with the mother because she has lost 2 ID cards and has not been coming on a regular basis. The mother has never taken him to the doctor. Steve gave her the money she needed to go to Yendi hospital. We hope that they refer the child on to Tamale.
The baby formula still has not come to Ghana. Abochi, a grocery store owner, has a brother/friend in Nigeria. Abochi contacted him and there is formula in Nigeria. Nigeria is a couple countries over from Ghana. We met with the guy this afternoon and he is going to order 10 cases of formula. No one knows for sure how much the shipping and the tariffs will be but if we do not get some soon we will run out. He said that we should have it in a week. Maybe that will tide us over until Ghana gets her shipment.
The Social Welfare department still has not been able to find the Child Center’s license. The new director is in Accra for the next 6 weeks for training. The cell phone has a log of the incoming and outgoing calls. We searched through the calls for last November and after a few misdirected calls we found the number of the lady that had called us in November and told us that the license was ready to be picked up. She was very kind but she said that they lost a lot of documents when the office was looted after the presidential election. Evidently someone was not happy that their candidate did not win! She said that she was going to make a thorough search of the offices and see if by chance she could find ours. Later in the afternoon we talked to the director; she was surprised that the license was in the Tamale office. She thought for sure that it was lost in the Accra office. We discussed starting the renewal process over. We are going to give the lady a chance to look for the license before we move forward with the renewal process.
Steve got almost all of the workers’ GRA (IRS) annual returns filled out and filed today! It took him most of the day; he only has the watchmen’s left to do.
We talked to Evan this morning and he was excited about going back to school! Oh, the stories he will have to tell!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I told you that I was not going to like the new “Time Out” box! It is absolutely awful! I had to go in it 4 times today! Now you know that I was not that bad today! All of my infractions were for biting! I did not make anyone bleed; that should have counted for something! The worst part of being in Time Out is that I can’t cuddle. I am a cuddler! Fortunately, Mom did not leave me in Time Out very long! A couple times she could see that I was thinking about biting and she would stick out that finger and say in that mean voice, “No biting! If you bite you will go back to Time Out!” She saved me from going in that box! I nipped Mom because she would not let me destroy Dad’s box of granola bars; it annoyed me when she took them away from me! I got her again when she took a mechanical pencil away from me; I totally destroy them when I get a chance; I pull off the eraser; I dump out the lead and try to eat it and then I ruin the end so that the lead can never come out of it again. I also bit Mom’s nose when she lay down on the bed for a rest. Once again I have to say that I did not make anyone bleed! Can you imagine Mom with only half a nose? I can’t even remember what my 4th offense was for but I remember that I did not want to go back in that cage and I tried my best not to go in! I held onto the office chair; I thought for sure that would save me because that big thing can’t fit in the Time Out box but Mom uncurled my hands and in I went anyway!
Other than that I had a good day! I went to the Child Center for a little while. While Dad was working on the workers’ annual returns I destroyed the office / bedroom. I dumped out all my toys; I shredded paper; I pulled things off the shelf; I ate a ton of food; I had a wonderful time! The only thing I did not get to do today was nap with Dad; he was so busy that he did not have time to take a nap with me!
I make a motion to get rid of the Time Out box! Do I hear a second?
Love, Skeeter
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