Oh! What a happy day for a young 18 year old crippled girl, Asana! We took the handicapped tricycle to her house this afternoon but she had not gotten home from school yet. But when she gets home she will be so excited! Her parents were home and they were so excited about the tricycle. Her mother said she was so happy that she did not know what to say! Her father kept clapping his hands and saying “Mama Kandie, Mama Kandie, Mama Cindy is not dead, Mama Cindy is not dead!” You have to know the whole story to understand what he was saying! More than 18 years ago this family brought their 6 month old baby girl to my Mom and Dad for help. Asana had serious deformed legs and feet. The family did not know where to turn and did not have the means of getting help for the baby. In those days most of these children were killed. Mom and Dad raised the money and paid not only for the child’s surgery but for the braces and crutches. They continued to help as Asana grew and needed additional corrections. Asana used to be able to walk with her braces and crutches but as she grew it became easier for her to use a wheel chair. Now she is totally dependent upon the wheel chair. Any of you that knew my mom know how much I look like her; many of the people here still call me Mama Cindy and many say that as long as I am in Ghana Mama Cindy has never died! Last year Asana and her mother came to the mission house with an appeal for a handicapped tricycle. We did not have one and did not know who was making them. We wrote a letter of appeal for Asana to the Social Welfare Department but they were not able to help. Earlier this year we commissioned Red to make one for her. He used an old one we had at the mission house for the pattern! Her mother said that she would ride the tricycle to the mission house tomorrow after school to thank us and so we can take pictures of her and her new tricycle. She will proud to go to school tomorrow!
Amama was late coming to work this morning. She was attending and “outdooring” for one of her friends new baby. It is sort of like a baby shower. They have the “outdooring” when the baby is 40 days old and the mother is allowed to take the baby out into public for the first time. The mother gets a new outfit usually white or blue and white. She also gets new shoes, jewelry and a head covering. It is quite the celebration. The new moms like to stop by the Child Center and get the baby weighed.
Nazo spied the paint roller that Steve was using yesterday and asked if he could try and use it today to paint one of the round houses. He said that he would wash out the roller so he could use if for several days. He did a pretty good job of rolling on the paint. We are not sure how well the roller will stand up after he scrubbed it. Maybe he will get a couple days of painting out of it.
Take care and thank you for helping us with the work so we can in turn help the people in this area.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
