My hands stink! We have been making ointment for ringworm. We used sulfur powder in the ointment. My hands smell like rotten eggs. Making sulfur ointment is one of my least favorite jobs. We made 450 containers of ointment. We would like to get a 6 months’ supply made up so we won’t have to make any before we leave in December.
It has been raining steadily for the past couple hours. We still have electricity which is amazing! It went off for a few minutes but it was not off long enough for us to start the generator. We love the generator!
The ladies roasted corn again this morning. They have roasted about half the corn and about a third of the soybeans. We have 3 fires going and 4 ladies cooking. The grains have to be constantly stirred with 4 foot long wooden paddles. It is hard work to keep stirring. They take turns stirring so everyone gets a break. They enjoy each other’s company and they laugh and talk the whole time they are working.
A severely malnourished one year old boy was brought to the Child Center this morning by his very young unmarried mother. His mother is a student; she said that she is attending junior high and is in the second class. Most people from the villages don’t know how old they are; we estimate her to be around 16 years old. She said that she still goes to school and leaves the baby with her mother. The mother was very thin and weak looking. The child only weighed 9.9 pounds. He is so weak that he does not crawl or try to stand. The mother came from the Zabzugu area which is about 2 hours from Yendi. She does not speak the languages that our interpreters speak. Her English was not too bad. We loaded her up with weaning mix, beans, Cerelac, PPP (peanut protein paste), oil, and vitamins. If she will feed him he will gain weight. He is no longer breastfeeding which puts him at added risk. We could tell the mother was worried about the child. She said that someone at one of the clinics in her area told her about the Child Center. We mixed cereal and fed him before they went home. After he ate he tried to smile a little. It is amazing what a full tummy will do. We sent some cereal with her for the trip home. She said that she will come back in 2 weeks. We are afraid that she will not have the means to come to Yendi every 2 weeks. We might have to help her with transport money.
Thank you for helping us with the work. Please pray for our friends Jimmy and Mary Stroud. Steve talked to Mary yesterday and Jimmy is out of the hospital and they are headed home. They are driving. One of their daughters flew out to travel back with them.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
