This morning we decided to walk to the back field and see if we could find mangoes for Skeeter. We were surprised when we saw 2 women and 3 children in the back field. At first, we thought maybe they were Donkey’s wife and daughter. One of the women was far away; the other woman was closer to us. When we got close enough to talk to her, we realized that we had no idea who she was. She was a young woman; she was busily trying to clean the poop off one of the children’s bottom. She had no real means of washing the child so she was using leaves. We asked her who she was but she could not tell us. She had gathered a bunch of mangoes in the cloth that she uses to wrap around her mid-section to carry a child. She had also gathered a bunch of sticks to use for firewood. When we got close to the other woman, we recognized her as Mr. Iddrisu’s wife. She showed us that she was cutting sticks. Her English is a little better. We made it very clear to her that she was not to climb the trees or let the children climb the trees to knock down the mangos. That is a sure way to fall out and hurt yourself and we would then be responsible for treatment. We were not happy that the women were inside the field. Donkey has a key to the back gate so he had to let them in. None of the worker’s families are supposed to be inside the gate unless the worker is also present. As soon as we got back to the house Steve called Mr. Iddrisu and asked him why his wife was in the yard and who was the other woman and children that were with her. He said that the other woman was Yussif, his nephew’s wife. He never told us who the children were but we figured they are his nephew’s children. Mr. Iddrisu said that he told the ladies to go to the back field and cut cassava sticks so he could plant them in the front field. Steve told him again that his family is not allowed to be on the property unless he was with them. He said he understood. Hopefully he will come with them next time.
Steve spent part of the day working on the computer trying to reorganize the files and put like files together. It should be easier to find stuff now. The problem is that sometimes you can’t remember which file you put the document in but it has to be better than it was.
Mr. Oldman sent a message this morning to let Steve know that his wife delivered a baby. I think he said that it was a boy. We did not even know his wife was pregnant. His oldest daughter is in her early 20’s but the folks here keep having children as long as they can and when their first wife gets too old to have children, they will take another wife so they can have more children. Many of the men think that having children proves that they are a “MAN”.
Thank you for the love, prayers and support.
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
You should be proud of me! When we went for a walk this morning in the back field, I single handedly caught 3 grasshoppers all by myself! Mom and Dad caught 2 in addition to the ones I caught but their grasshoppers were not nearly as good as the ones that I caught myself! Yum! I also found a new food on our walk. There is an evergreen weed type plant that was in bloom. It has huge flowering heads on long stalks. No one knows what they are called and no one does anything with them but they are all over the fields. I found and ate a couple as we walked. Well, at the point I was eating the flower heads I was riding on Dad’s shoulders. I have little legs and they get tired easily especially when it comes to walking!
Mom decided to fix a new run for me today and I love it! She hooked my long leash onto a metal bench that is under the big mango tree. She tied the leash so that I could climb in the tree and play around in the branches and leaves without getting my leash tangled. She had to break off a couple of the smaller branches to clear a path for me. Her idea worked well. The whole time I was climbing around in the tree I did not get tangled but I scared the bats! They did not like sharing the tree with me.
Play hard but stay safe!
Love, Skeeter
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