Today in Ghana the national Muslim holiday of Eid-al-ADha is celebrated. Since it is a national holiday the child center is closed. This holiday is to commemorate Abraham sacrificing the ram for Isaac although some Muslims hold that it was Ishmael. It is important if you have enough money here to purchase a ram to do so and kill it for the holiday and to have meat to give out tomorrow. Everyone buys new clothes that can afford them to show off as they walk around the town. It would remind you of the Easter parading that was done in some of the big cities in the U.S. years ago.
Our morning began with the door bell ringing at 5:30 am by a man who had spent the night with the night watchman telling us he was leaving. Please, I know it is a courtesy to do this but this morning I wouldn’t have minded him being rude and just leaving without saying goodbye.
Kandie worked on the computer for a good part of the morning while I worked installing the pump on the cistern. I had just started to work on my second pipe fitting for connecting the pump using my “saws all” to cut a plugged one inch pipe when out of the blue I was being shot by a spray of water. I quickly ran to turn off the water. After Kandie and I had a conference we agreed that we are going to have to run another pipe from the cistern down to the polytank for this system to work; Thus ending my work on the pump for today. I did have time to put a good final coat of white enamel paint on the communion table that we had brought from Kulkpeni last week.
When Jack rolled out of bed we all decided to use the green pickup and pull the Nim tree trunk away from the standing Nim tree trunk pit. Timothy’s brother Simon will be coming this week or possibly next to dig up the roots of standing tree so we wanted a cleared area ready for him to dig. We also cleaned up some of the limbs that were still scattered around and put them in the piles of wood that we will take to the worker’s houses later this week. Kandie and Jack moved child center’s share of the wood back to one of the round houses to be kept dry until the next time we need to roast grain for weaning mix. The reason we had to move the tree trunks is our electric chain saw is still not repaired.
Jack tried the rice balls and stew that Nazo’s wife sent to us this morning. That is one of the customs that is observed around here. The rice is cooked until it is so soft it can be molded into rice balls and stew is poured over them in a dish. Jack said the rice balls were very filling. He loved the peanut and fish stew the balls were covered with.
Well, that’s about it for the day. We will tell you more tomorrow. Have a good day!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie, Jack
