We are hot and tired! We were at the back of the property, at the job site most of the afternoon. The lumber for the roof finally came and the carpenter said he could start putting the roof on tomorrow if we could get the wood treatment painted on the 2×4’s. Nazo and Mr. Iddrisu were going to start the painting after lunch. Steve said that he did not think they could get enough painted for the carpenters to start the work. I told him that we should help the men paint. We dug out the rubber gloves, changed into old clothes, donned our hats, filled a cooler with cold water and headed into the heat. It was so hot out there; there was not even a breeze to keep us cool. Fortunately we put our painting station under a small tree so we were not in the direct sunlight. The high temperature this afternoon was 114 degrees with a heat index of 134 degrees. Before it was time for the men to close for the day we got most of the 2×4’s painted, all the ridge plate and a few of the 2×3’s. As soon as Nazo gets here in the morning he is going to start painting again. Mr. Iddrisu will join him when he comes to work. The carpenters will not come too early so they should be able to keep ahead of them.
Dawda, the mason climbed over the wall so he could say Hi! and watch us paint the boards. He told us that when he starts plastering the building he wants us to get him a pair of rubber gloves like we were using to paint the wood treatment. I don’t know how he thinks he can work in rubber gloves. We are not sure if the chemical we paint on the wood is dangerous or not; we wear the gloves “just in case.” We gave Mr. Iddrisu and Nazo gloves too but Nazo refuses to wear his because he can’t work well with them on.
An older woman came this morning with a seriously swollen breast. She is too old to have a baby. We suspect that she has breast cancer. We told her to go to the hospital and she said that she had been several times but they didn’t tell her anything and the medicine they gave her does not help. We told her that she needed to go to Tamale but she did not have any money for the transportation. We gave her the money she needed plus a little extra to get registered and to have something to eat while she is there.
A mother with 2 albino children came this morning to get sunscreen. We gave her enough to last for a couple months so she does not have to come back so often. Traveling on a crowded bus is a good way to get the virus.
Not much else to tell so I will close for now. Take care and have a nice day.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
