No one came to work today because today is one of the Muslims’ holidays; they call it Eid al-Adha. This is the day that each house is supposed to sacrifice a ram if they have enough money to buy one and if they do not have enough money they can go together with other family or friends and share one or they can go to the butcher and buy the meat from a sheep. The meat is prepared into a stew which is usually served with rice balls. Traditionally, each family should share part of their feast with someone else. The Muslims are celebrating Abraham’s willingness to obey God and sacrifice of his son. They have made a slight variation to the story instead of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Issac; they have changed the story to Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. The Muslims trace their lineage back to Abraham just like the Jewish people do but their line runs through Ishmael while the Jews line runs through Issac. The rest of the facts in the story are pretty much the same; a ram was provided in the place of the human sacrifice, etc. The workers will take tomorrow off too because tomorrow is the actual day for sharing food. Food was shared today but more will be shared tomorrow.
Steve spent the afternoon working on his continuing education credits for his Ghanaian nurses’ license renewal. He actually has 3 ½ hours more than they are giving him credit for because one of the big classes he took in March has still not been credited to his account. He talked to the lady at the Nurses and Midwives’ Council in Tamale who is coordinating the nurses in the northern part of Ghana. She said that she was going to check to see why it has not been credited. His portal says that he successfully completed the course and is now waiting on the certificate. He said that he might take his documentation to the Accra office when we leave in a couple weeks and see if they can help him get the certificate. Ghana so badly wants to be able to do everything on line and have a general database but it is difficult when the electricity and internet is so sporadic! He has plenty of time to take additional courses but it is the principle of the thing.
While he was working on the computer this afternoon, Skeeter and I took a nap! We were tired from our morning activities!
Take care and have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
We were exhausted and needed a nap because this morning we decided to add some special features to my new condo. First thing this morning, the parents started hauling gravel; Mom did not want me to be walking on a muddy floor so they put down a layer of red native gravel. It would not have taken us so long but Dad had a hard time getting the motor king started. I really hoped that he would not get it started because they scare me. Well, he finally got it started and they got it loaded but when he went to start it the second time to bring the load of gravel up to the condo it would not start. It was a perfect time for a rest! A little later Dad got it started again and Mom told him that he was not allowed to turn it off! The floor looks nice! Then we decided to gather up the big stones that are lying around the compound and line the inside of the condo with red native stones. Dad hauled those in the wheelbarrow. Now, you know why we were tired. Mom knows how much I love small rocks so she decided we needed to go to the local Lowe’s store and buy river gravel and make a sand box type thing to put the river gravel in. We do not really have a Lowe’s store! Since it was a holiday today, the man selling the river gravel was not open. I got to ride in the truck when we went in search of the river gravel. The river gravel is filled with small stones that are just the size for a monkey to pick up; they are smooth and all different colors. Mom told Dad that she thought there was river gravel on the back side of the property left over from the last building project so we went down there and hauled it back up to the mission house.
I rode in the truck on the way to the jobsite but Mom and I walked on the way back. I wanted to catch grasshoppers. I am getting pretty good at catching them! I caught 3 and Mom caught 2; mine were bigger than Mom’s. One of Mom’s was so small that its head fell off when she caught it! I still ate its stomach and its legs were very tender.
There is a lot of sand on the river gravel. Dad rigged up a strainer so that we could sift out the stones and leave the sand behind. We then made a small corral out of the native stones as a container for the stones. I just love the improvements.
Love,
Contractor Skeeter
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