As soon as we finished our walk this morning we asked Nazo and Mr. Iddrisu if they wanted to go with us to look at the river. We had a terrible wind / rain storm last night. We wanted to see if the Daka River was flooded. Steve felt sure that we would see some roofs that had storm damage. We noticed the bats near the hospital were disturbed about something; the sky was filled with them. It was sort of like a horror movie. When we passed the hospital they were trying to clear the road from the trees that had been damaged. The chain saws were what put the bats to flight. The river was full but not overflowing. On the way back from the river Nazo told us that Red (the part time driver) father-in-laws family house had storm damage. He said the wind took the roof off. We decided to go and see how bad the damage was and if we could help. The roof was off of parts of 3 rooms. The wood was also damaged. All the ladies were in the back yard washing the pots, pans, and clothes. The furniture was in the yard trying to dry out. It was a mess! The men of the house were sitting under a little shelter talking. They said they were confused because they did not know what to do or where to find the money to secure the house. No one here has home owners insurance. There is a government agency called NATMO which is supposed to help but it takes weeks for them to come out and inspect the damage and there is very little money in their fund. They were very excited when Steve offered them some of the tin roofing sheets that we had taken off the mission house. We saved them back in case anyone needed them. They said they did not care that the roofing sheets were used. We went to the mission house to get supplies for them. On the way we stopped and bought roofing nails, regular nails and some metal strips to help secure the roof to the building. We found 12 new roofing sheets and added 8 used roofing sheets. We also had some tar paper left and 15 pieces of lumber that was already treated against termites. They were so excited when we pulled up with the supplies. Red’s wife was there to greet us and thank us for the help. The owner of the house said he did not have the words to know how to thank us for helping them. On the way back to the mission house we nicknamed ourselves “CHILD CENTER AID”. Ha!
While we were in town this afternoon I spied a sewing machine at a shop as we drove by. We stopped to look at the machine and while Nazo, Iddrisu and I were looking at the sewing machine a young man (in his late teens to early 20’s) that was obviously not mentally sound walked past us and climbed into the van and sat down. Mr. Iddrisu asked me who was in the van with Bro. Steve. I told him that I did not know who it was but that he was not normal. When we got ready to leave the young man did not want to get out of the van. He was so kind and pleasant looking that we did not have the heart to try and force him to get down. Some of the people from his family house came and tried to get him to come down. We told them that maybe he just wanted to take a little ride. We figured after the ride he would be happy and get out willingly. Five or six of the men from his house got in the van with us and Steve drove around Yendi. One of the men in the van called the young man’s brother and he said he would be waiting for us at his house to take the young man out of the van. I was resting my arm on the back of the seat. I felt the young man feeling of my fingers and fingernails. I guess he wanted to see if a white lady felt like a regular person. When we got back to his house everyone got out of the van and we coaxed our new friend out. It took him a little while but he came out willingly and even tipped his hat at us as we left. I think we made his day!
Thank you for all you do for us and for the money you give us for “whatever comes up”! Without your help we could not have helped the family that had the storm damage.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
