Today is a national holiday, May Day, who knew? The workers had the day off.
Mr. Adams, the fix-it man, was able to fix my sewing machine! I am one happy camper or should I say one happy missionary! He was not sure exactly what was wrong with it but he tore into it and greased and oiled every possible part. He had blobs of grease (axle grease) dobbed all over inside the machine. I told Steve it would take days for all that grease to drip out of the machine. There was a small puddle of grease in the floor of the van when we got back to the mission house. Steve said we could sit it out in the sun and most of it would run off. A little grease is a small price to pay for a machine that works! When we asked Mr. Adams how much we owed him he said, “You love me so much and are so good to me, I can’t best know how to charge you, whatever you have for me is good.” How sweet is that?
Divine stopped by for a visit. He said that they had gotten enough rain at Kpamang that the people were already planting peanuts. We got almost 1/2 an inch of rain last night so we were able to pump water out of the reservoir into the lower poly tank. We were more than a little excited when we heard the rain at midnight last night. So wonderful!
I found out a little more about Nazo and his new grandson. They are not allowed to see the baby until it is 40 days old. At 40 days they believe the baby has come to “stay” and the mother and child are allowed to go out into public. Nazo’s daughter and new baby will come and stay at Nazo’s house so Nazo’s wife can help Azara take care of the baby.
Nazo’s daughter was not married when she became pregnant. Nazo was annoyed and sent her out of his house. She went to live in Tamale with the boy and his family. Now that the baby has been born they are rushing around trying to get the boy and girl married this week. They want them to be married before the naming ceremony which should be next week so the baby will be a “legitimate” child and have someone to be named as the father at the naming ceremony. Because of the seriousness of the situation Nazo and a delegation including Mr. Iddrisu were called to the palace this afternoon to sit on the case. They had to decide how much Nazo was going to require for a dowry and who the boys family had to go visit and all the other particulars of the marriage. Depending upon how quickly the boy’s family can gather the bride price together will determine when the marriage can be completed. They do not have formal ceremonies like we do. Once the families agree and the money is paid they are married.
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
