I had a “moment” this morning! The men came to thatch the round houses today and when the old white haired gentleman that is in charge of the thatchers rode his bicycle in the compound he was being followed by a dog. I asked him if the dog was hungry. He said he did not know. I told him that I had some bones that I would give the dog if he was hungry. He laughed and said, “Yes, the dog is hungry.” I got the dog scraps that we save for Timothy Niligrini’s dog out of the freezer and warmed them up in the microwave. There were chicken bones, a few left over Ramen noodles and some mixed vegetables in the bag. I took them out to the old gentleman; he looked inside the bag and said, “Not chop (food) for dog; food for me!” He promptly took the bag; sat down on a stone and started eating the scraps! As I walked away I could hear him cracking the bones. I immediately thought of the rich man and Lazarus! Talk about scraps from the rich man’s table. I almost wept. Then I remembered that there was another bag of scraps in the freezer. I warmed them up and took them out to the man. By the time I got out there he had already finished the first bag. I handed him the second bag; he smiled and thanked me. He ate about ½ of what was in that bag and then he tucked the bag up in the fork of the tree so the dog would not get it. When he finished his job he took it home with him. The old gentleman brought another old man with him and 6 young men so they would have enough men to finish the work in one day. We bought all the guys porridge for breakfast and gave them money to buy food for lunch. Zorash and Amama made pinkaaso (savory doughnuts) for a mid-morning snack for them. We gave them cokes to drink with their pinkaaso. They finished at 2:00. They were happy when we paid them. We also gave each of the men a ball cap as a “thank you” gift. I told them that we would see them in 3 years when the thatch needed to be replaced. One of the old gentlemen took off his hat to show me all his white hair; he said that he might not be able to do the work in 3 years. It was the old men that were on the top of the roof placing and tying the thatch!
Steve spent the morning and part of the afternoon working with a crew from the hospital. Today they went back to the high school to do the screenings. They stayed longer today because they were supposed to start at 8:00 but did not get away until 10:00.
Today is Yendi’s big market day but we did not stay in town very long because it was just too hot. It was not as hot today as it was yesterday; the high today was only 110 degrees but the humidity was up and the heat index was 124 degrees.
Thank you for all you do for us and for the work! We appreciate the help!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
