Two new orphans were brought to the Child Center this morning. One of the mothers died when the baby was a couple weeks old. The Auntie said that the mother complained of pain in her left rib cage and not being able to breathe well. By the time they got a ride to take her to the hospital she had passed away. The other orphan came from Bimbila and he was a little older; we have not gotten all the details on this one yet. Sometimes it is difficult to get the information because many times the caregivers live in a different area than the mother did.
A middle aged mother brought her son this morning; he was seriously clubbed footed. He also has 3 fused fingers and no toes on one of his feet. His mother was very distressed about his condition. She said that when he was born her husband and father-in-law would not have anything to do with the baby. We told her that she needed to take him to Tamale to see the specialist. She said that she wanted to go but she and her husband did not have the money to take him. Thanks to those of you that give us money for the babies we were able to give her the money for transportation and the examination fee.
This afternoon a young man that had lost one of his legs just below the knee came to see if we could help him get a prosthetic leg. We told him that he needed to get his health insurance, and register with the social welfare department to begin the process. We told him that we would be willing to help him once he got an appointment and found out the cost. He said that his leg had to be amputated because several years ago he got bitten by a Gaboon Viper. His family probably waited too long to take him to the hospital. Many times they try local treatment before they go to the hospital. Local treatment is much cheaper than ASV (anti-snake venom medicine).
The work on the reservoir is moving along slowly. All the rebar, lumber, plywood and mixed cement have to be handed down into the reservoir through a 2 ½ foot square opening. Lot of back breaking work! We are trying to rig up a funnel / PVC type thing so that they can pour the cement into the forms. Dawda is going to hire a couple more workers to help tomorrow. Nazo will be back at work tomorrow too; he can help haul cement.
Thank you for the love, prayers and support.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
