Thirty-two babies came to the Child Center this morning. Steve and Meri (one of the interpreters) saw all the babies by themselves because Zorash had the day off and I was in my room working on a quilt. I would have helped out but I had no idea so many mothers came until Steve came up to the house to let me know that a seriously sick baby had come and that he was going to personally take them over to the clinic. He said that the baby could not breathe well and that his O2 saturation was 82%. He is 9 months old and he is also mentally delayed. Many times the children that have a severe case of malaria will have difficult time breathing because the malaria parasites destroy the red blood cells and there is nothing to carry the oxygen. I went to the Child Center to finish out the day and file the charts and cards while Steve went to the clinic. The doctors at the clinic wrote a referral letter to be taken to Yendi Hospital because they suspect the baby would need to be put on oxygen. The clinic did not have a vehicle to take the mother, child and a friend of the mother to the hospital so Steve took them. Steve had Mr. Iddrisu go along as an interpreter and to get permission from the child’s father to take the child to the hospital. Yes, the mother’s have to get the father’s permission before they can take the child to the hospital even if it is an emergency situation like it was today. When Steve left they had put the baby on oxygen and were trying to figure out what was wrong with him. It took a while to get the baby situated, so we had a late lunch today; we did not eat until 2:00.
This morning we put the field corn out in the sun. It had some bugs in it. The sun will kill the bugs. We will have to wash it again before we roast it and grind it for weaning mix. It did not take long for the ants to find the dead bugs. They were having a feast!
There is a tiny goat that has figured out a way to get into the compound. I think that I told you we had to put wire along the fence to try to keep him out. Well, he continues to come in. Yesterday Nazo caught the goat and Steve painted him with red oil paint. Our hope was that the owner would see the paint and pen him up but he was back in the compound this morning.
Hope you have a great day! Hope you had a good “Labor Day” yesterday. Holidays are one of the things we miss when we are over here! I am talking about American holidays; the Ghanaians have plenty of their own holidays.
Keep us in your prayers!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
