It rained for part of the morning so none of the mothers brought their children to the Child Center; we wouldn’t want them to catch cold! Since no mothers came we set Meri to frying peanuts; for our personal consumption. She makes the best fried peanuts. First the peanuts have to be shelled, then she boils them for a little while, they are then fried in peanut oil and lightly salted. It takes her most of the morning to fry them so we don’t have her make them very often. They keep a long time; when she fries we have her fry a bunch.
Zorash helped me cut out quilt squares. I marked the fabric and she cut behind me. She loved doing it and she told me to mark lots more so she would have something to do in the Child Center when there were not babies to be seen. I showed her the quilt book and the designs we were cutting fabric for. She was amazed that anyone could make such beautiful patterns out of scraps of material that were going to be thrown away.
Today was the day to pay the taxes for both the IRS and Social Security. Please, what an ordeal! Steve and Mr. Iddrisu made 4 trips to town before they were finished. It is all about this “Withholding Tax” that we are supposed to be collecting from the vendors that we buy from. First problem; we are not government agents authorized to collect taxes. Second problem; no one will reduce the price for us. Third problem; no one has a tax ID number so the IRS people do not know who to credit the money to if it is collected. Fourth problem; it turns out to be a taxation on us because we are unable to collect the money so we just pay it out of our pocket. Enough of that! Steve finally looked on the internet to find out how much we were supposed to withhold from the employees for their Social Security. By the end of the day we were less confused and the taxes have been paid for another month!
The Fire Festival came off peacefully last night but the streets are littered with debris, grass, thatch and sticks. No one seems to care and no one is making any effort to clean up the mess. Nazo said now that they have had a successful Fire Festival it proves there is peace and unity in Yendi.
Dauda and his helpers came this morning and open all the places on the wall where the metal razor wire hangers are going to be attached. He said they would come back tomorrow and start installing them.
Steve is working on the old ironing board. Over the years of heat and steam the ironing board top is no longer straight and flat; it bends down at both ends. He put 2 strips of 2×2’s on each side and straightened the top. He is in the process of reattaching the ironing board cover. It was stapled on. We have a new cover for it. We bought a new one and are planning on giving the old one to Timothy, the evangelist / tailor.
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
