We fully expected to see Red today with the poles for the monkey house but he did not show up. Maybe he will be here tomorrow. Ours is not the only job he is doing. He also hauls gravel and now that he has the new truck with the crane, he has a side business moving small metal containers; setting large air conditioning units and generators. He told us that if he had his crane/truck in Tamale he could stay busy just picking up stuff and never have to haul gravel again. We don’t blame him for taking jobs when he can get them.
A severely malnourished little girl came to the Center this morning. This was the first time that we saw her. She was 1-year-old and only weighed 5.2 kilos (11 ½ pounds). Her weight was far below what is expected for a 1-year-old. The baby was being treated by one of the neighboring hospitals but they had run out of the food supplements so the mother came to the Center to see if we could help. Of course, we loaded her up on supplementary foods. The mother does not live in Yendi. She lives a couple hours away but she said that she will come to the Center every 2 weeks for us to weigh the child and to give additional food stuffs. The mother was also using lots of enemas on the child. We encouraged her to stop the practice because it hinders weight gain. The mother seemed receptive to our advice so maybe we will see a weight gain next time they come to the Center.
Steve had a very strange case this morning. The little 2-month-old baby boy’s skin on his stomach was so thin and stretched that Steve could see the outline of the baby’s intestines. The little guy’s stomach is swollen and seemed to be bloated. Steve advised the mother to take the baby to the hospital in Tamale for an assessment. The mother said that he was not vomiting or having any problems pooping. Steve sent a picture to our niece; she is a nurse and worked many years in the emergency room to see if she could shed any light on what was wrong with the baby. She said that she had never seen it with a baby; it is not normal. Of course, the mother has to have her husband and his family’s blessing before she can go to the hospital.
There was a fire at the Akosombo Dam. This dam generates most of the power for Ghana. They announced that we would have no electricity from this Thursday until next Thursday. We are hopeful that the electricity will only be off during the daylight hours. Steve bought 15 gallons of diesel last week and the generator is filled. Proud to have the generator!
Take care and have a good day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Today was a perfect day! I did not get in trouble at all today! My problem is the holes in the yard in front of my jail cell! They are worrying me to death! I find it very difficult to venture outside my cell when Mom comes to get me out! I love to play outside but getting past those holes is almost too much for me! There are 8 holes and they are so deep that if I fell in one of them, I might hurt myself! Another problem with the holes is that they all have a piece of rebar or a stick or something sticking up out of them. Dad put them there so Mom would not accidently fall in one of them but if she trips, she could gouge herself with one of those poles! Every day I think they are going to do something about the holes and every morning when I wake up, they are still there! How about this; how about putting up some of that orange crime scene tape? That would make it much safer! But then the orange tape might scare me even more!
Do you like cucumbers? I only like them when they are cut in wedges so I can see the seeds and pick them out. I eat the seeds and leave the rest of the cucumber behind. I will tell you a vegetable that has lots of seeds and is fun to eat; it is a sweet bell pepper. The parents know how much I love picking out those seeds so they cut out the core so that most of the seeds are left intact with the core. I will sit and pick them off until the core is naked!
Stay out of trouble!
Love, Skeeter
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