Divine called and told us that he met with the structural engineer and that the engineer did not accept his hand drawn plans for the hospital that he wants to build. He said that he would use Divine’s drawings for the basis of his architectural plan and the plan would cost him 2,000 Cedis; about 200 dollars. He also said that Town and Country Planning was going to have to come out and look at the land. This is another problem. Divine does not have land papers for the parcel of land that he is planning on building the hospital on. We tried to advise him about the plans and the ownership papers but he would not listen because he thought that since it was out in the village these things do not matter. The chief in his village gave him permission to use the land but that chief is not the chief over the land; he is the chief over his people and has no authority to distribute land. The only chiefs / kings in this area that have a say about the land are the YaNaa, the Gunda-Naa and the Balogu-Naa. These chiefs are Dagomba chiefs; the chief where Divine lives is a Konkomba chief; he is the leader of his clan. Divine is hoping that they will consider him since he is trying to do something to build up the community. We will see how all this plays out. The Child Center is doing something for the community and all her services are free of charge and we had to jump through so many hoops and it took almost 5 years to get the lease. Hopefully since he is a Ghanaian there will not be so many restrictions. The hospital is a for profit hospital.
Donkey’s pains are still shooting down his leg and his hip is hurting; he told us this morning that the pain medicine the doctor prescribed for him had finished. We encouraged him to go to Yendi hospital and see if they could take an x-ray or give him a referral to Tamale but he told us he does not want to go because it is not his back that is hurting; he said that this happens to him every year and it will travel through his whole body and end up in his stomach and head and then leave. Really! I am not sure what a doctor could do with those symptoms anyway! We hate to see him in pain but what can we do if he refuses to get help?
I spent the morning washing fabric; the fabric was new and had never been washed. I have to wash the fabric multiple times to get all the dye out of it. As I was washing the fabric I did all the laundry. Steve hauled most of the water outside and poured it on the plants; I am sure they were happy to get a good drink of water even if it was dyed purple and had soap bubbles. We were in hopes of getting some rain late this afternoon; the sky got dark but the rain blew past us. Maybe it will circle back around and we will get rain tonight.
This morning Steve cut up a tree that had fallen across the lane leading to the mission house. It just uprooted itself. He also entered the receipts that we have generated this month. This afternoon he vacuumed up the worst of the dust that was on the floor in the apartment. Amama and Meri will start cleaning it next week in anticipation of our guests who will be coming in the second of May.
Take care and enjoy your week-end!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I have been enjoying this tiny fuzzy fruit that the parents bought for me when they were in Tamale. No one knows the name of the fruit; it is mostly eaten by children; once you peel off the fuzzy outer layer there is a thin layer of dry pulpy fruit covering the seed. Really, the thing is mostly a seed! According to Mom the pulp tastes like an orange flavored baby aspirin. It is something good to snack on but it would be difficult to make a meal off of them.
Mom is trying to teach me some commands! Good luck to her! She is trying to teach me to put my hand in hers when she takes me out of the jail cell. I am actually getting good at that one because I really want to get out of jail! Today, she started saying, “Come” and doing a hand motion that looks like she is waving bye-bye. When I don’t come, she pulls on my leash! Of course, I have no choice but to come then but I have to ask you if she forces me to come, am I really coming? Am I really trained? I think not! She is actually not very good at this training thing but maybe she will get better with more practice!
I could come if I wanted to but I would rather ignore her!
Love, Skeeter
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