David and Ophelia

Our gate-keeper David has become a special project for President Thayne.  He and his little family (wife Ophelia and a 4 year-old daughter and 2 year-old son) live way across town in a section called Fiapre.  Every morning David would leave very early to ride his delapitated old bike to our compound to get to work.  The gate-keepers put in 12 hours on each shift and take turns watching days or nights.  For this they are paid 100 cedis per month (about $65).

Gary had two extra bikes that were in such bad shape that the missionaries couldn't ride them, so he let David use one of them as they were still better than David's old brakeless, one gear, seat-missing bicycle.  He was most appreciative.  We all prefered David working the night shift as Yaki (known as the "old man") cannot hear and isn't much security.  David has been attending Church in Fiapre near his home and the missionaries are teaching his family.

A few weeks ago David was working days and a carpenter named Solomon was here, so David left the compound in Solomon's care and went into town to buy medicine for his little boy who was sick again.  The owner, Christopher, called while he was gone and to make a very long story short, David was "sacked".

On his days off David has been supplementing his income by helping mow and clean up and get the chapels and district office in better shape.  Of course, this can't pay enough to support his family, so now he is deperately trying to find work.  Ophelia takes the children and works at a co-op type garden to help out with the food.

We took David home one day and it's difficult to describe their family's living conditions.  They live in a wooden hut down an enbankment by the river-- a huge breeding place for mosquitos.  It has a tin roof atop rough-hewn boards tacked haphazardly together to form a shed with two single rooms and no windows and a cloth for a door.  David's family lives in one side (half the shack), one room about an 8 x 8.  The floor is made of rocks and when it rains (daily now as we are in the rainy season) the dirty water flows freely through the shack and through the holes in the roof.  There is a twin-sized mattress on one side where the whole family sleeps and pots and fufu pans for cooking stacked against the other wall.  A rope tied across the center of the room had a few clothes hanging on it to keep them dry and out of the muddy water.  He introduced us to his 11 year-old nephew, Gideon, who also lives with them, and he sleeps on the rock floor.  The whole situation is deplorable.

We have now paid for a larger, cleaner room away from the river for David and his family to move into.  He will seal the ceiling and roof and we've given him old mosquito nets that I washed and repaired the holes in.  The room is 20 cedis a month but in Ghana it is necessary to pay cash for everything and also they require payment for two years in advance and up front.  We paid the cash so they could move and explained to David that it was a loan and that he needs to pay us back.  David was so happy just to get his family into something that wasn't infested with mosquitos all the time that he was more than willing to work to pay Gary back.  We have decided that we will just put the money away that he pays us and then we plan to give it back to him when the debt is paid off or when we leave.  This way Gary is teaching him to realize that he must pay back a debt, but then he will be able to see the benefits of doing so.  It will be a nice little nest egg for his family, and hopefully we have been able to make a positive influence in their lives.