This morning, I was lying in bed drifting in and out of sleep and I found myself
dreaming that I was at my desk at the front, working at my computer. I
could hear voices on the street outside my window. One voice was of what was
obviously a very small boy and another, perhaps two voices, were what sounded like
teenage boys who were apparently taking care of him. The little boy was crying with
that screaming kind of wail that indicates serious distress, more than mere
childhood unhappiness. One of the teenagers was speaking with him in an
affectionate but amused voice and I had the impression that he was tending to
whatever was making the toddler so unhappy.
I woke feeling unsettled and upset. John had been asking for the money to get
little Kodua back to his village because the doctors had said that the climate at
Accra was affecting his health (John and the others live right on the beach and
this is rainy season there) but I had been putting it off in an attempt to budget
the limited funds P9 has to work with for the rest of the month. Kodua needs help
but this is now on the level of a continuing problem more than an emergency that
needs to be taken care of immediately. And with two weeks left of the month who
knows what others might have an emergency that can't be put off?
But I thought the dream was perhaps telling me that it was time to care for the boy
and send the funds he needed to get back home with his grandmother.
But when I went online, I found an urgent message from John. He was at the first aid
station in the local pharmacy with a young woman and her little girl. They had both
been injured in a fall earlier that day. The woman clearly had facial injuries, a
black eye and other bruises, and the little girl needed attention also. In one of
the photos she had obviously been crying. John said that the first aid person
caring for them said that she needed a shot, among other things. John wasn't sure
what kind of shot but a tetanus shot seems most likely under the circumstances.
We sent what we could as fast as we could and we are waiting to hear more.
It isn't easy to have to decide who gets help and who has to wait, but the need in
Ghana is so great that we have to make those decisions every day. At least we can
help some and that is better than not helping anyone at all.
We are very appreciative of the donors who stand by us and make it possible to do
more than we could ever hope to do on our own. Thank you.
