Today was the day for carrying the non burnable stuff to the dump. Mr. Iddrisu and Nazo don’t want us to take anything to the dump until they have had a chance to go through it. They always find something to take home. I had thrown away a pair of sandals that I had worn the bottoms out of and also a pair of tennis shoes that had the toe out. Nazo tried the sandals on and put them in his pile; won’t he look good sporting a pair of sandals with red flowers? Mr. Iddrisu wore the black tennis shoes the rest of the day. They also claimed socks, tee shirts and blue jeans with holes. They also took all the cans that had tops and the empty bug spray cans. Some of these items they can use to make pull toys for their children. We have never been poor or hungry! When they got through we only had about half as much stuff to take to the dump as when we started. There were a few children pilfering through stuff that had been thrown away. They could not wait for Steve to dump our trash before they were gathering up the tin cans.
Today was Yendi’s big market day. We waited to go until after 4:00 because it was just too hot to walk around in the sun. The high temperature today was 114 degrees. We can hear thunder in the distance; someone is getting rain. Perhaps it will come around to us.
Simeon the young man who graduated from the preacher training school in Tamale came to Yendi today. He is from the area that is having the fighting. His brother was shot in the leg and spent this past week in the hospital. He is doing better. Last year Simeon wanted help starting a small business. He decided he wanted to sell frozen fish and he needed a small freezer to keep the fish frozen until he sold them. We bought a used freezer for him. Well, the business did not work out because the frozen fish is too costly and his village is near the river so lots of the men fish in their spare time. He also said that the freezer had put him into trouble with his land lord because his land lord wanted him to pay for the electricity. Imagine that! Simeon said that because of the fighting in his area he needed to move to a safer place and he did not have any money to start farming. We told him that we would buy the freezer back from him so he would have money to farm. He was happy with the idea and brought the freezer to Yendi today. Maybe he will be a better farmer than a fish seller!
We had more help today than we normally do on Saturday. Amama and Mr. Iddrisu both came to make up days that had missed earlier in the week. Mr. Iddrisu painted on the veranda. Amama is a very hard worker; we tackled the storage / tool room. She worked so hard that we let her go home early.
Thanks so much for your help.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
