Yesterday Steve noticed that there was something wrong with 3 of the teak trees. It appears they have some sort of disease or maybe a parasite that is causing the bark to fall off and the leaves to turn brown. When Osman, the agriculture man, came this morning to spray the mango trees Steve showed him the teak trees. He took a sample to his boss and his boss said that we would need to cut the 3 down that were dying to keep them from infecting the other trees. He said that they would try and find a systemic treatment for the other trees.
This morning we hired Mr. Iddrisu and Nazo to move the cement rubble that was left when the cement wall fell down. We told them that we wanted them to put the rubble against the wall to protect it from erosion when it rained heavily. Well, we had a problem with our language barrier. They evidently thought we wanted the rubble put against the new gates we put between the pillars to close the wall. Steve fell out laughing when we went to check on the work and saw that they had piled the rubble half way out the gates. Please! A single row of rubble at the base of the gates would have been fine. There is no way we can leave it like it is. I guess we will have to pay them to move the rubble a second time.
We needed new brake pads on the green truck but there were none in Yendi. Gomda had to order some from his friend in Tamale. He sent the money to him through his cell phone. It sure is a nice way to get money from point “A” to point “B”. The brakes seem to work fine and we have a parking brake again.
This afternoon we made more ointment for the Child Center. We only made 440 containers of diaper rash ointment because that was all the containers we had. The mothers love this stuff. It is just shea butter with baby powder added to it to give it a nice fragrance. Straight shea butter makes a great moisture barrier. After working in the shea butter for 2 days our hands are nice and smooth! The shea nut trees are all over this area. The ladies gather the nuts and process them in small batches to sell on market day. Shea butter is used for many things including the oil to fry banana flavored fritters that are traditional served at funerals. Lots of the shea nuts are exported. When we buy the shea butter we use 10-15 pound balls. The balls are pack in calabash gourds. If it is not used quickly it will become rancid.
As we were entering the market we noticed a young boy about 9-10 years old struggling with a plastic bag of dried black-eyed peas. His mother had obviously sent him to the market to buy the beans. The problem was the bag broke when he put it the basket of his bicycle. The beans were falling out of the basket faster than he could put pick them up. He was distressed and did not know how to solve his problem; I am sure he did not have any extra money to buy a new bag. He was sifting through the dirt picking up each bean. He knew he would be in trouble if he did lost the beans before he got home. We went in the market and bought a new bag. We put what was left of the beans in the new bag and then squatted on the ground and helped him pick up all the beans. A couple other children were standing around watching us so I solicited their help. It took about 15 minutes to pick up all the beans. When the boy left he was all smiles. What a story he will have to tell!
Keep praying for the work.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
