Nov. 08, 2001
Dear Friends,
Richard is usually kept busy with technology needs (sound systems & computers, mostly), "emergencies" and the kids' school, but lately he has also gotten time to do a bit of creative work towards making everyone more comfortable and efficient. We returned from furlough with good tools, making projects quicker and easier.
As part of school, he and Daniel ran a few pipes along the ridge of our metal roof, resulting in solar-heated (extremely hot) water for the kitchen and the shower from 9:30am -6:30pm. This has really been nice. He also built a small shelf adjacent to our stove and a huge shelf for the clinic treatment room. Peter and I are so pleased to be able to have all the supplies in one room, since sometimes we are in the middle of cleaning or dressing a large wound and realize it is going to need something we did not anticipate from the outset.
Jerry Thornton raised corn this rainy season for "benevolence" - the churches in Ghana are always buying corn for the areas that have crop failures, and Jerry decided to grow it, rather than buying it. The Lord really blessed his effort - everyone around is marvelling at his large harvest. But, when it came time to shell the corn, it became obvious that the labor involved was a real problem. The traditional method involves putting the corn (it is hard, like feed corn) into bags and beating on them with a stick until some of the kernels dislodge from the cobs. Those who are willing to spend more time to spare their bags this sort of abuse use a screwdriver to dislodge the first kernels. Either way, the rest of the kernels are then removed by hand. There is a machine for rent that takes all the kernels off, but the rental price is so high that few people use it, and it is not particularly fast. RIchard just couldn't stand seeing people working so hard on something so simple, so he built a simple lever-operated device that pushes the cobs through a narrow slot, taking off about half the kernels in the process. He tried to make something that would be easy to duplicate here and is not a lot of work to use. After Jerry finished using it we began loaning it out to others. Right now Peter Bombande, the head nurse at the clinic, has it. He has very little free time, so having a device his school-aged boys can use is a big plus.
We are also busy with the Primary Health Care Worker training program, village clinics, and Leadership Training for Christ. Please continue to pray for the Lord's work here and for our health. We are better now after having passed around a mild virus, but we remain phenomenally healthy.
In the Service of the King,
Linda Benskin
1st quarter 2005:
HTML
MSWord
3rd quarter 2004:
HTML
MSWord
2nd quarter 2004:
HTML
MSWord
1st quarter 2004:
HTML
MSWord
4th quarter 2003:
HTML
MSWord
3rd quarter 2003:
HTML
MSWord
2nd quarter 2003:
HTML
MSWord
1st quarter 2003:
HTML
MSWord
4th quarter 2002:
HTML
MSWord:
page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
3rd quarter 2002:
HTML
MSWord
May 2002:
HTML
MSWord
February 2002
December 2001
October 2001
May 2001
February 2001
November 2000
August 2000
Jan. 09, 2004: Greetings from the Benskins
Oct. 15, 2003: Prayers of Thanksgiving
Aug. 12, 2003: Tamale Hospital
Jul. 17, 2003: Great Visitors!
Mar. 10, 2003: Furlough
Jan. 07, 2003: New Year's Greetings
Dec. 01, 2002: Thanksgiving
Oct. 19, 2002: A Glorious Day
Jul. 28, 2002: Campaign
Jul. 02, 2002: PHCW course resumed
May 6 & 10, 2002: The Tata
May 01, 2002: Change of Seasons
Apr. 12, 2002: Home again
Mar. 29, 2002: Yendi News
Mar. 13, 2002: Rain!!
Feb. 01, 2002: Tamale
Jan. 03, 2002: New Year Greeting & update
Dec. 12, 2001: a Christmas Message
Nov. 08, 2001: Yendi Projects
Sep. 24, 2001: Ghanaian reaction to 9-11
Dec. 09, 2000: Yendi Update
Nov. 13, 2000: One Year in Ghana
Oct. 18, 2000: Benskin Family Update
Oct. 10, 2000: Attachments
Oct. 05, 2000: PHCW Course Completed
Sep. 23, 2000: Prayer Update
Sep. 04, 2000:
Aug. 15, 2000: Benskins re-united