November 19, 2025
Gina begged me to write the notes instead of her tonight because she did not make all the trips to Kulkpeni to know what was going on there.
We took a load of materials for the seminar out to Kulkpeni early before breakfast so we could get back before 9AM in order to open the Child Center. The pigs had arrived and the men were butchering them so the women could cook them for the attendees. They use all the pig. Legs, feet, head, ears. Nothing is wasted.
Steve stayed behind and manned the Child Center today while Kandie, Gina, Zorash and I took the corn to the mill. Part of it will be used at the seminar to feed the attendees and some will be used for weaning mix for the babies at the Child Center. We also saw some peanuts being processed into peanut butter. Kandie asked the lady if we could purchase some so that Zorash could show Gina how to make peanut soup and Fufu. Fufu is a pounded starchy staple of their diet. In our case we had Yams as the starch. It was delicious.
After lunch we started folding the programs for the seminar (500). Steve and I took a break to make another trip out to Kulkpeni to deliver the milled corn. On the way we picked up Nana (who is one of the Church leaders) and his wife who had arrived in Yendi by bus. They needed transport to Kulkpeni. Nana had a heavy coat and knit hat on. It was over a hundred degrees!! We made several stops before leaving Yendi to pick up other supplies.
On our return, I took the opportunity to look over my lesson for tomorrow. I teach two sessions tomorrow (1 morning, 1 Afternoon) and one session Friday morning and then a Q&A Friday afternoon. The seminar is over Saturday.
Steve, Kandie and I made another late afternoon trip to Kulkpeni to take more supplies and to bring back a huge water container. Steve also did some electrical work and put up some signs. The local brethren were busy cooking.
Kandie noticed that not all of the toilets, wash stalls, and sleeping areas were not unlocked. They use padlocks and they all have their own unique key. Each room is numbered but the locks are not. The keys are on rings with numbered tags that correspond to the rooms. Well, the Ghanaian brethren are not too disciplined about putting the same lock back on the same room so now the key associated with that room doesn’t fit the lock!! This is a systemic problem the Taylors have concerning padlocks. The Ghanaians solution is to cut the lock off and buy a new one. Kandie asks who is going to pay for a new lock? Are they? Oh, no no.
So, we got a bag of keys with well over 100 keys in it and started to find the key to fit the unopened locks. The Ghanaians assured us they had tried this. Well, after 45 minutes Kandie and I found keys to 3 locks. We believe 70% of the keys in the “Key Master’s” bag are for locks that have been discarded. To illustrate, a few days ago we were at room 1, Timothy was using a key with the tag of 15 which opened the lock. He was going to change room 1 to 15 and paint the number to match the key ring. The problem is there was already a room 15. I suggested he take the key off ring 15 and put it on ring 1. “Oh, good idea”.
Well, I am getting long and it is getting late so I will sign off.
Please pray for the safety of the brethren as they travel and for a successful seminar.
Perry & Gina Martin
with Stephen and Kandie
