We woke to the sound of rain! It rained most of the night and part of the morning. It stopped around 9:00 am. When we finished our walk, we headed out to Kulkpeni to talk to the mason and to talk to the guy that wants to sell us trees that he planted on the church’s property for an exurbanite price. By the time we got to Kulkpeni the man had gone to his farm. His wife was at home so we got the number from her and John, the mason, talked to him to help negotiate the price. Yesterday John said that he was fed up with the man so he dug a second footer that by-passed the trees and the pig barn so he did not have to deal with the guy. Tichak, the night watchman, talked to the guy and told him that if did not sell the trees and they fell down on the wall and broke it he would be responsible for paying for it. The man calmed down and said he would accept any amount that we wanted to give him. He originally asked 1,000 Cedis for each tree; we paid him 250 Cedis for each tree. He said was happy with the money; one problem solved!
Donkey did not come to work again today; this is really his day off but he took days off to go to the Damba festival and to harvest his peanuts so he owed us days. He was surprised when we called him to see if he was coming to work. He just knew that he had paid back all his days. He came to work and we went over the calendar with him, we keep pretty good records of when people are here and when they are not. Sure enough, he still has 5 days that he is going to have to pay back. He said that we should have called him yesterday to tell him to come to work! Really! Does your employer call you to tell you when it is time for you to come to work??? That is just crazy! The Ghanaians have a saying that fits this situation perfectly, “I cooked your T-Z (pronounced T-Zed) for you and now you expect me to cut it and feed it to you?” T-Z is very stiff cornmeal mush that is served with a vegetable stew.
Timothy went to Tamale today with his teenage daughter Abigail. She graduated from high school and is going to attend a technical school in Tamale. They did not ask her what she wanted her course of study to be; they just assigned her to the refrigeration department! What in the world! She has no interest in repairing refrigerators and air conditioners! There is no way anyone would hire her after she graduates because that is considered a “man’s” field. Besides, how much repair work is there to do out in the village? We hope that he has success getting her changed to another department.
Take care,
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
A few days ago, Amama dropped a glass and it shattered! Amama only thought that she picked up all the glass! She dropped the glass on the floor in front of the cabinet I sit on when we are cooking. I can see under the cabinet and if I turn my head just right, I can flatten out my body and reach my hand under the cabinet and get whatever is under there. Three times today Mom took shards of glass away from me before she realized where I was getting them from; then my fun was over! I don’t know why but I like to chew on the pieces of glass; I like the way they click on my teeth. Mom says that if I swallow a piece I will die! I am not so silly that I would swallow a piece; I know they are not food! Mom worries too much! Mom is quick! Instead of holding me down and trying to retrieve the pieces from my mouth she just waited until I took a piece out to look at it; they are lovely and shiny and I can’t resist taking them out and looking at them. The moment I took one out of my mouth Mom slapped my hand and knocked the piece to the ground! She quickly snatched it up off the ground! I can tell you right now if I snatched and grabbed that way I would be in serious trouble! Doesn’t she know that she is teaching me bad habits?
Don’t add glass to your diet!
Love, Skeeter
