We delayed our walk this morning for about an hour so we could walk to town and go to the market. Today was Yendi’s big market day and usually this is the best day of the week to buy fresh beef but we were disappointed! It had sprinkled off and on last night so it was a gloomy morning with threats of rain. We made the trek to town with the sun shining but by the time we got to the market it had started to rain. The cows, sheep and goats are slaughtered outside of Yendi and brought into the market on motorcycles, bicycles and motor kings. The butchers told us that the fresh meat had not yet arrived at the market but they were more than willing to sell us yesterday’s meat which we were more than willing to leave behind; we were not that desperate for beef! They told us to come back later in the morning. We returned to the market around 10:00, the fresh meat was there but they only had one hind quarter and they had already removed the fillets which was disappointing for us. We just bought some meat to grind into hamburger. There is another meat stall that we seldom go to but we decided to take a chance this morning and see what they had; we were in luck. They also had a hind quarter but the fillets were still intact. These shops are cement buildings with long cement tables and a gutter running down the middle of the building. The meat is just sitting on the tables and you point to the piece of meat you want to buy. They have a scale and weigh the meat; today beef was about 3.50 dollars a pound. It is imperative that you get to the meat market early so you beat the flies! We immediately brought the meat to the mission house and started breaking it down. Meri and Amama helped us. The meat is just roughly trimmed so there is always a mountain of scraps which we share with the workers; they are always excited when it is meat prep day! We will go back tomorrow morning and see if we can find something good enough to make steaks and stew meat out of.
We started the task of cleaning the apartment; my brother Paul will be here in a couple weeks; I am sure he would appreciate a clean place to sleep! One of the bedrooms has been the storage room for the Konkomba Bibles that we bought. We rearranged the room so someone could actually sleep in it; we cleaned the louvered windows and hung new curtains. As soon as the curtains in one of the windows were hung, we packed boxes of Bibles in front of it; sort of defeats the purpose of new curtains! Ha!
Shamuna, the teenager that we sent to Nsawam to get a new artificial leg came back yesterday; he said that he thought they were just going to make adjustments to his old leg and make it longer. They told him that they would have to make a whole new leg; which was going to be double the cost of what he was expecting to pay. Instead of calling Zorash to find out what could be done, he came back to Yendi thus losing his bus fare. We will still help with the additional cost but he was on a time crunch because he is supposed to be reporting for school soon. We will have to wait and see what the family wants to do. They may send him on to school on crutches.
Take care, have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
When I saw the rain this morning, I was afraid that I was going to have to sit in my condo all day and watch it rain! I was so excited when Mom came out in the rain to save me from a day of boredom! It was still sprinkling a little when she put me in the big mango tree but really that tree is like a living umbrella; it has to be raining really hard for it not to provide shelter.
A little later in the morning the sun came out and I did not even have to go back to my condo when the parents ate lunch; now mind you I was not invited to eat lunch with them but I got a bottle and my snacks and ate them while I was still playing in the mango tree. I am a nibbler, I like to eat a little banana, then a little mango and then a few peanuts; throw in a few insects and I am a happy camper! I graze all day long!
Mr. Iddrisu and Amama park their motorcycles under the mango tree. I love it when they forget and park too close to where I am playing because when they are not looking, I pick things off of their motorcycles. I have picked off stickers, rubber grommets, bits of paint and the rubber coating on the wires. It cannot be my fault when they are the ones that park too close to where I am playing!
Nothing is ever my fault!
Love, Skeeter
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