Mr. Iddrisu had to come to work early this morning to make up some time that he owed us so we had him clean the guest round house that we put the new thatch roof on earlier this year. The room had never been cleaned and there are some mice living in it. Mr. Iddrisu cleaned it from top to bottom and he used Dettol (an antiseptic cleaner) to wash the floors. Steve is going to spray the house and we are going to put out some rat bait. They mix the poison with smoked dried fish. I guess that the manufacturer figure that since Ghanaians love smoked dried fish the rats and mice love it too!
Zorash went to visit the Balogu chief on Sunday but she did not get to see him because they were trying to identify a witch. Someone’s child fell sick; his throat and neck were swollen and he could not swallow. Steve said that it sounded like mumps or an allergic reaction from something the child had eaten or come in contact with. Children here in Ghana still get mumps too. They did not take the child to the hospital because an old man saw the child and said that it was not a case for the hospital rather it was a spiritual problem and that a witch was involved so they needed to consult the Juju (Fetish – witch doctor) to find out who made the child fall sick. All the while the child is not getting the medical treatment that he needs. Zorash said that the family had brought a couple suspects to the palace and that the Fetish man had come. He used his “supernatural powers” and the aid of a broom to determine which of the suspects was the witch. He divided the broom bristles in half and spread them around the neck of the suspects. The broom will only close on the neck of a witch. The accused was a middle age woman. They were in the process of taking the case to the YaNaa for him to decide the fate of the woman. The YaNaa is the most powerful chief in our area. Human Rights is supposed to intervene in these cases but the problem is most of the Human Rights people also believe in witches.
Timothy stopped by for a visit and to pick up the money for the food for this month’s evangelist / church leader class. He also told Steve that one of the large churches in the Nanumba district made a special ordered for colored metal roofing sheets for their new church building; the roofing sheets were coming from Accra. This is a very expensive venture for the church. Timothy said the truck that was bringing the metal broke down near Bupei. The church members wanted to know if we would take the truck; drive 5 hours one way to Bupei; load the roofing sheets and bring them not just to Yendi but out to the village that is about 20 miles from Yendi. No Thank You! They ordered 280 roofing sheets; the truck could not even hold them if we wanted to go and get them. They said that they were afraid that someone would steal them if they did not pick them up quickly. Steve told Timothy they should send someone to Bupei to sit with the roofing sheets until they fixed the truck. The owner of the truck is responsible for either fixing the truck or hiring another truck to deliver the goods.
Take care and please keep praying for us.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
