I have spent hours and hours today trying to find the problem with the books. I even enlisted Steve’s help. No matter how I figured them I came up 71 dollars short. That is just too much of a discrepancy to let go! If it was just a few cents I could have chalked it up to “rounding the numbers”. Finally just before supper I figured out that the problem was the exchange rate between last year and this year. We have started working on the end of the year audit. We pay for everything in Cedis but the excel program exchanges all the figures into dollars so it is easier to know exactly how much we are spending. I was so happy we made the one small change and everything for the month of January 2020 balanced. My brain is fried; we will continue tomorrow.
The wire bender came this morning to tell us how many pieces of rebar we need for the pillars and the reinforcements above the window, doors and verandas. Of course he tried to get us to pay him more for the job we had just contracted him to do last week. He said that he had only figured 4 pillars instead of 5 pillars. I whipped out my note pad and showed him that we had an agreement for 5 pillars. I told him I would not pay him more than we had agreed on; he just smiled and Steve laughed! He told us that he had a friend that was just starting a business selling rebar, cement and building supplies. He asked us if he could introduce us to his friend and then buy the materials from him. We said we did not mind as long as his prices were reasonable. Actually his prices were very good; his cement is 1 cedi (20 cents) a bag cheaper than the other places. Next time we need cement we will get it from him.
The outdoor toilet contractor has almost finished Papa Zachariah’s toilet; he wanted to be paid. We only gave him part of his money; he still had to install the door and paint the building. He did get the other 2 painted. We will have one built for Tichak, one of the watch men and Timothy Niligrini if he wants one. Someone asked why we are not making toilets for the ladies that work for us. Zorash already has one at her house; Amama’s husband is a mason and I think he made one for their house. Meri told me that when her husband built their house he put in a regular flush toilet. We will have to check and see if the flush toilet is functioning; if not we will make one for her and Amama if she needs one.
Thank you for all you do for us and for the work. We really appreciate the help.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
