Sikukuu Njema (Merry Christmas in Swahili)

As I write this blog Christmas is over in Kenya and in the continental US (it is still Christmas in Hawaii, and I believe in some parts of Alaska). We spent Christmas eve in Eldoret doing some last minute shopping and errands for the children at the village as we prepared Christmas stockings for all of them. We finally did see the Christmas Eve rush in Eldoret as last minute shoppers prepared to purchase gifts in the local Nakumat, cramming the aisles, and barely leaving any room for us to get to the checkstands. We knew that all was well in the universe as we walked by the large robotic Saint Nicholas and heard him singing Jingle Bells on Christmas Eve (please read our previous blog to understand this). We finally got back to the Open Arms office/home in Eldoret in time to eat a quick dinner and make final preparations for the stockings.

We were hoping to get the stockings done in time to send them to the village on Christmas Eve so the children could wake up with the stockings in front of the fireplace, but it was already too late in the evening for us to travel out to the village so we opted to get up early on Christmas Day and hopefully catch the children waking up. We made our best effort by getting up at 5AM on Christmas Day, but getting two babies fed, diapers changed, babies clothed, and getting us clothed and showered, in addition to loading up the stockings, babies, and other assorted presents took their toll as we arrived at the village at 8AM expecting to find impatient little ones eagerly waiting for their presents.

However, I suppose this is importing Western culture and expectations onto African understandings of Christmas. Here there seem to be very little expectation of the children eagerly waiting to open presents under the Christmas tree although they do give gifts to the children, especially new clothing. Christmas Day seems to be centered around a Christmas Day church service and a Christmas Day feast. We celebrated the church service at the village, and Matt was the surprise guest speaker even though he didn't know this until he was asked to come to the front and speak to the children. Many of the children came up and led songs, even two year old Beatrice did a wonderful job of leading the congregation in a great rendition of "Our God is Able".

However, as Matt and Cheryl arrived at 8AM with two babies, we didn't think the village knew what to do with us other than to give us some tea. The children were busy doing chores, taking showers, and getting dressed for church, but Matt and Cheryl wondered when they would be able to present their carefully prepared Christmas stockings to the children. They had communicated to the house parents that they wanted to give the children Christmas stockings on Christmas morning, but the house parents and the children seemed too preoccupied with chores, showering, preparations for church, and preparations for the afternoon feast. Finally at 11:30am Matt and Cheryl were able to get the attention of the children and the house parents in Upendo Home long enough to lay out the Christmas stockings on the fireplace and explain the tradition of Christmas stockings. The expression on their faces changed from one of nonchalance to one of eager excitement as they began to realize that their were actually presents in these stockings, even new Christmas clothes! We figured that somewhere in our communication to the house parents and the children, something was lost in translation (we theorized that the house parents actually thought all that we were going to give the children for Christmas was a new pair of socks - Christmas stockings).

As we sat in front of the fireplace, we explained how the Christmas tradition of stockings began. For those of you who don't know, this is likely the closest traditional explanation to the historical truth. In about 250 A.D., a baby named Nicholas was born into a small community in what is now modern day Turkey. He was born into a wealthy family, but as a young man he became a Christian and decided to give away all of his wealth to the poor and needy in his community. However, he decided to do this in a unique way that would insure that the proud impoverished people of his community would receive his gifts since many, if not most of them refused charity. When he found about a family in need, he would take some gold coins and stuff them in a stocking. Then he would proceed to quietly climb on the roof of that home and drop the stocking down the chimney. For his acts of charity and his Christian leadership he was eventually appointed as the Bishop of Smyrna in Turkey, and after his death, he was eventually nominated as Saint Nicholas (or jolly old St. Nick as some of us in Western culture have added on our very nicknames and cultural traditions to this story). For those of you who are interested and still want to take the Christmas quiz in my previous blog, I have just given you two answers as a freebie.

We also gave another gift to each house, a Nativity set, crafted in Nairobi, but nevertheless a rare site in Kenya as most houses don't use Nativity sets or even recognize them. However, as we began to explain the Nativity set, the children began to instantly state the characters in the Christmas story as their knowledge of the Biblical story far exceeded any recitation of Western Christmas traditions or decorations. The children also decorated a simple Christmas tree which consisted of a freshly cut fir bough planted in a pot and decorated with tinsel (a tradition they inherited from the West and is honored in some Kenyan households).

The children had lined up patiently listening to this story, but also eyeing these stockings closely, and finally they began to open up the stockings as they pulled out candy, toys, stuffed animals, books, oranges, puzzles, coloring books, and a new Christmas shirt which they all wore to the church service. There was also a new one dollar coin in each stocking in tribute to the origins of Christmas stockings. The children played with their new toys, and gobbled down their new candy, as the house parents profusely thanked Matt and Cheryl for filling these young children with lots of sugar.

After the church service was over, the family prepared to eat a meal of boiled potatoes, sausage, a roasted ram, cole slaw, and sodas. The children were served first as the family began to feast and celebrate. The carefully cooked ram was a little tough, but tasty as a local health inspector came to the village and inspected the meat before it was cooked for the safety of the village. That poor ram had just sired two twin ewes as the newest addition to the Open Arms Village, and what was his reward, but becoming dinner on the Christmas table.

After the feast was over, we gathered back at the Upendo House for some Christmas cookies that Cheryl had baked on Christmas Eve, a tradition which the children quickly embraced and consumed. While the children consumed their cookies, Matt set up his computer to watch a movie with the children, a rare treat for them. Since movie selections here are scarce, and Christmas movies are almost non-existent, Matt selected the movie "Because of Winn Dixie". The other choice was likely "Little Mermaid" but since Matt and Cheryl had already watched this movie with Diana for the 100th time (it's her favorite movie), they opted for this wonderful children's movie.

After the movie and more Christmas cookies, Cheryl and Matt left the children in their sugar induced state and made a hasty departure back to Eldoret with two weary babies and two weary adults. They sat by the small "Charlie Brown" size artificial Christmas tree in the Open Arms office, holding the two babies, drinking chai tea, and eating more Christmas cookies as they reminisced on the activities of their first Christmas in Kenya (and their first Christmas outside of the US).

From Kenya we want to wish you a Sikukuu Njema and a blessed New Year!!

Matt and Cheryl

Signs of Christmas

Here in Eldoret, signs of Christmas are a bit different than they typically might be in the US. Some things we take for granted in the US are rare; some just don't make sense; others are non-existent. Not to say people don't celebrate Christmas here. Actually most do. However, there isn't the sense of overwhelming materialism as people rush to the malls to do their last minute Christmas shopping in America.

First of all, there are no malls in Eldoret in spite of the fact that it has a population of over 600,000. The closest thing is a Nakumat, or an Ukwala, both supermarket chains here that are like a VERY small Walmart but about 10 percent the size of a normal Walmart. One sight that always makes me scratch my head is a lifesize robotic Santa Clause in front of Nakumat who jiggles and shakes (not completely out of the ordinary) but who likes belting out "The Yellow Rose of Texas (a major disconnect even if you are from Texas).

The stores here are not all decked out in Christmas lights and other Christmas decorations and neither are the houses although a few businesses and houses have artificial Christmas trees (the don't grow natural Christmas trees here). Of course we have a Christmas tree at our house/office in Eldoret and we have strung up a few Christmas lights.

We celebrated a Christmas party with the children in the feeding program at Kambe Teso on Friday, the 18th. The party focused mostly on giving these children beef stew for their lunch meal (beef is a luxury here and most families eat it only on special occasions; this is probably the only meal with beef these children will eat all year). Cheryl also baked several cakes the night before, enough to feed 120 children, and it was a big hit with the children. Several families that have sponsored children with Open Arms were also given food baskets purchased at the local Nakumat that will give them plenty of food to feed their families through the Christmas season.

We also had a Christmas dinner with the Open Arms staff here in Eldoret and out at the village. There are 26 employees in total and 22 of them joined Cheryl and I for dinner that evening. We took them out for dinner at Mamma Mias, a local restaurant owned by an Indian businessman who offers some good Indian, African, and American cuisine. We had a great time as most of the staff enjoyed their only dinner out all year, and some of them likely enjoyed their first dinner out ever. We had a Christmas quiz that evening which had some interesting results. I made most of the questions centered around the Christmas story in the Bible, but Cheryl thought some questions were too difficult so she added a few cultural questions that may seem obvious in our culture. Interestingly, most everyone did excellent on the Biblical portion of the quiz but most people didn't do as well at the cultural portion of the quiz (my theory is that most Africans did not inherit the cultural portions of Christmas from their colonial counterparts - in the case of Kenya, the British - but they do tend to be more Biblically literate than Americans or Europeans).

Here is the quiz as follows. I made it up myself, and I've given it or a similar quiz in various venues, but no one has gotten 100% as of yet. The best anyone did at the Christmas dinner was 15 out of 20 correct. Try your hand at it and e-mail the answers back to me.

To be fair to those who took the test in Eldoret, try and take this without consulting the Bible or any other resources other than your own memory.

A Christmas Quiz

1. How many wise men or Magi came to visit Jesus?
a. one
b. more than one
c. seven
d. three

2. Where was Jesus born?
a. Nazareth
b. Jerusalem
c. Eldoret
d. Bethlehem

3. To which continent did Jesus’ family flee when King Herod tried to kill him?
a. Africa
b. Asia
c. The Middle East
d. Europe

4. Which two people prophesied at Jesus’ circumcision?
a. Zechariah and Elizabeth
b. Simeon and Anna
c. Ananias and Saphira
b. Mary and Joseph

5. Where did Jesus grow up?
a. Nazareth
b. Jerusalem
c. Bethlehem
d. Caesarea

6. How old was Jesus when he was circumcised?
a. One day old
b. Eight days old
c. Eight years old
d. Fifteen years old

7. Jesus was born in a manger. The manger was also used as:
a. A storage container
b. A room for storing grain
c. A feeding trough for animals
d. A hostel for travelers to sleep in

8. Who was the Roman Emperor during the birth of Jesus?
a. Augustus
b. Quirinius
c. Tiberius
d. Julius

9. Who witnessed the birth of Jesus?
a. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, and wise men
b. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, King Herod, angels, and wise men
c. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, angels, and wise men
d. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and angels.

10. Which prophet prophesied where Jesus would be born?
a. Isaiah
b. Jeremiah
c. Zechariah
d. Micah

11. Who started the tradition of celebrating Christmas with a Christmas Tree?
a. Jesus
b. St. Nicholas
c. Martin Luther
d. St. Augustine

12. In which modern country was St. Nicholas born?
a. Greece
b. Germany
c. Turkey
d. Israel

13. Where does St. Nicholas currently live?
a. Eldoret
b. The North Pole
c. Heaven
d. Jerusalem

14. Who started the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings under the chimney?
a. Jesus
b. St. Nicholas
c. Martin Luther
d. St. Augustine

15. Who is the most famous reindeer of all?
a. Donnor
b. Blitzen
c. Comet
d. Rudolph

16. What sign did the wise men follow to find Jesus?
a. A rainbow
b. A dove
c. A star
d. A road sign

17. What day is Christmas celebrated?
a. Saturday
b. Sunday
c. 1st January
d. 25th December

18. What is a White Christmas?
a. A Christmas when it snows
b. A Christmas where everyone wears white clothing
c. A Christmas when all the presents are wrapped in white
d. A Christmas when the Christmas tree is sprayed with white flocking

19. What tradition takes place under the mistletoe?
a. A special kiss
b. A special dance
c. A special gift
d. A special poem is recited

20. What does the phrase “deck the halls” mean?
a. Decorating a house with holly
b. Dancing at a Christmas party
c. Attending a Christmas church service
d. Wearing a special Christmas outfit

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we will be spending time at the village with the children and the house parents and introducing them to the tradition of Christmas stockings, a tradition they are completely unfamiliar with. They do exchange gifts every year at Christmas and the children typically receive a gift of new clothing but stockings will be a new and hopefully exciting tradition for them. The second existing home of children at the village, the Upendo house (that is Kiswahili for "love") which includes Peter and Stella Kimeli and the 14 children they care for, moved into their new home just in time for Christmas. The children were excited as they wandered around from room to room exploring their new home.

In addition, shortly before the house was ready, both houses were hooked up with electricity from the generator that runs the well (this is a short term solution for electricity but it provides electrical power for the village at least a few hours every day). As the electricity was turned on for the first time earlier this week, at least one or two of the house parents and all of the children got to experience their very first hot shower. What a great Christmas present (although we have to ration the time some of them want to spend in the shower, with it being such a novelty).

Tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, Cheryl and I will go to the village laden with Christmas stockings for the children and house parents. We'll fill the truck full, eat lots of lamb at the village Christmas dinner, and share the Christmas story with 28 children and 4 house parents. We will send another blog this weekend after all of us have celebrated Christmas with our families. Cheryl and I want to wish you a Sikukuu Njema (Merry Christmas) for you and your loved ones.

Mungu Acuba Riki (God bless you)

Matt and Cheryl

Police, cars, and Cheryl's knee again

This week in Kenya had a few interesting occurrences. The week started out with Cheryl bedridden with a prognosis of a torn miniscus in her left knee and the likelihood of not being able to walk for 4 to 6 weeks and the possibility of surgery according to the physical therapist. She had been stuck in bed for three days already and Matt went into town to find some crutches so she could pull herself and her gimpy knee out of bed.

After one day of hobbling around on crutches and much prayer from a lot of friends and family, Cheryl was happy to have some sense of mobility but her armpits were getting sore from the crutches so she sat down to do some e-mail on the computer. While sitting at the desk doing e-mail, she heard a pop in her knee, and got up to grab her crutches. While getting up she put a little weight on her left knee and realized there was no pain. From then on she has been walking pain free. In fact, yesterday Matt saw her running across the street. Thanks for your prayers and God's healing touch. Now all Matt needs to figure out is what to do with the crutches; but I'm sure someone we'll need them here in Eldoret.

We spent the rest of the week meeting with teachers who are helping us to get the school started. Lots to do between now and January 4th when we open the school, but we are making progress. In the interim, most of the children are taking some extra tutorial help until Christmas with the help of our new teachers in order to catch up on their classes. Many of the children are several years behind in their education because of their circumstances (many of them missed out of several years of school because of the loss of their parents, a loss of income to assist them with school, or simply because some of them were living on the streets).

On the way back from the village this week to meet with the teachers, Matt got pulled over by a policewoman for the first time. Matt was determined not to give the officer a bribe, but she was determined to find something wrong with the truck. She spent several minutes walking around the truck and discovered the annual inspection sticker had expired. Matt caught some interspersed comments between Swahili and English regarding court dates and jail and decided to call the Open Arms office in Eldoret. One of the staff members talked to the police woman and mentioned that they had the truck inspected but that they had still not received the new sticker. Eventually the officer let Matt go and Matt hopped in the truck only to realize the vehicle wouldn't start. Matt called the Open Arms office again and one of the staff members came out and helped him push start the vehicle; later they realized the battery terminals were dirty and needed cleaning. The problem was corrected; the truck, Matt, and Cheryl are mobile again, and no more officers have pulled over Matt. However, Matt is carrying the paperwork for the inspection report with him from now on.

Progress at the village is carrying on at a good pace. The 12 children in Home #1 are beginning to make their new house a home. Homes #2 and #3 will be completed before Christmas and Matt and Cheryl plan on spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Tumaini and Upendo Homes as they enjoy celebrating Christmas in their new homes. Home #4 will be completed possibly before the end of the year and more children can move into the village as we begin a new year at the Open Arms Village. In addition the Visitor Cottages for guests coming from the US and the UK are almost halfway completed with preparations being made to place roofs on all three Cottages before the end of the year so that the Village can accomodate teams and individual visitors as they arrive in 2010. As you prepare for Christmas this year, and complete your busy holiday shopping, as many of you try to stay warm in frigid winter weather, we will keep you informed of our everyday events as we prepare for Christmas. Bear in mind as your hands go numb in this wintry weather that it is 80 degrees and sunny here for Christmas, so consider not only reading our blog but come and visit us in this New Year.

Blessings,

Matt and Cheryl

Cheryl's knee and other assorted news

Most of our interesting news this week has been overshadowed by Cheryl's knee. On Friday night as she was going to bed, she felt a sharp pain in her knee and just about passed out. For most of the night she was in pain and got very little sleep. Matt gave her advil and ice packs but otherwise felt helpless. The next morning she was still in pain and could not walk on her leg or even get out of bed.

By the grace of God, it just so happens that a physical therapist from Connetticut had just arrived to stay with some missionary friends one block away, and we called her. She came over in ten minutes and gave Cheryl a brief examination. Her initial diagnosis was a torn miniscus or torn cartilidge but she will come by again today to examine Cheryl further. Either way, without a miraculous recovery (which we are praying for), physical therapy is the first and best prognosis for treatment outside of surgery which hopefully and prayerfull won't have to be considered as an option. We are very thankful that Kim, the physical therapist, is staying here for five more weeks. We are also grateful to God that with the help of Advil, ice packs, lots of bed rest, and God's healing touch, Cheryl got a full nights sleep last night, her pain has subsided, and she has begun getting a little more mobility in her knee.

Other than this major incident, we are busy with getting the school started. We invited ten people to come and interview with us on Tuesday and twenty people showed up. We had to turn quite a few of them away unfortunately, but I guess word gets around when the unemployment rate in Kenya is over 65%. We are grateful that we found some qualified applicants and we will be meeting with them this week to help get the school started and begin meeting with the children before school starts on January 4.

We are also busy preparing the school building classrooms by refurbishing the old temporary orphanage homes and making them into classrooms. We are knocking out some walls to enlarge rooms, put in new and larger windows to add natural light, and painting the inside of the rooms before January 4th. In addition, the building of the new orphanage homes is progressing nicely. The second and third homes are almost completed and the Kimeli household along with their fourteen orphans will be moving in sometime in the next ten to fourteen days. I included a cute photo of Lizzie, one of the orphans in the first new home, who has already settled in and is enjoying her new diggs. As the fourth house nears completion possibly before the end of the year, we will be looking for more house parents and orphans to fill up empty homes as we approach a new year. On our way to check on the village construction I took this photo of another overloaded vehicle. I don't know how they do it and still keep the suspension of these vehicles above the speed bumps and pot holes on the roads here.

I have included a brief video of the Tumaini household moving into their house along with a few photos from our past weekend retreat to celebrate Matt's 50th birthday. We'll update you on the progress and recovery of Cheryl's knee in the next blog.

Adios or Kwahere for now,
Matt and Cheryl

Move-in Day, Turning 50, and other Assorted Items

Today, November 30, Matt is turning 50 years old. He has appreciated birthday greetings from afar, especially the ones reminding him how old he has become. Last weekend when we were at the village, Matt's lovely wife Cheryl announced to the children that he was having a birthday and she wanted them to guess how old Matt was becoming. The first response came from Joseph who guessed that Matt was turning 100 years old. That seemed appropriate since Matt has not received any rude or funny birthday cards yet. However, as the kids contiued guessing eventually one of them guessed he was turning 50.

Speaking of eventful days, that same day, Sunday, November 22, the children in Tumaini home were moving into their first permanent home. They have waited for almost 2 years while living in temporary housing in a mud hut with no electricity or modern facilities. Electricity and water are being hooked up this week and for the first time in their lives many of these children will be enjoying what we take for granted except when we go camping: a hot shower and a flush toilet. They were so excited to be moving into their new homes, it's like they were celebrating Christmas a month early as the children began running around the house, exploring all the rooms, setting up their beds, and beginning to make their new house a home.

On the way to the village that same Sunday, Matt almost hit a blind man, a goat, avoided a close call with a truck driver, detoured around two broken down cars, passed one car that was operating on one cylinder, and almost collided with two Matatu taxi drivers, which gave everyone else in the car quite a thrill, and aged Matt ten more years, so he is really 60 years old in Matt years.

This weekend, Matt and Cheryl enjoyed a peaceful weekend, celebrating his birthday in the quiet solitude of a small retreat center overlooking the Rift Valley. On Saturday afternoon as they were relaxing, reading a book on the deck of their cabin, they heard a loud cry and screaming erupting from the valley below them. At first they thought either a small war had broken out in Kenya or somebody else was turning 50, but as it turned out, a local village had gathered to honor a longstanding custom in villages throughout East Africa - the rite of male circumcision - a way to painfully introduce young African boys into the joy of becoming men. As several young boys in a small village in the Rift Valley became men, Matt realized he was becoming an old man by some standards (53 is the average life expectancy of a male in Kenya). Of course some of his friends might try and remind him that he is becoming an old man by any standard. To those who would say that, Matt would respond that "you are only as old as you feel" and as Matt drove back to Eldoret from their retreat center, he was feeling pretty old.

Graduation Day, Move-In Day, and Just Another Ordinary Day

Good afternoon (or good night in the U.S.). As all of you in the U.S. are fast asleep with it being 1AM on the West Coast and 4AM on the East Coast, it is noon here in Eldoret. We had a fairly eventful week as we said goodbye to Rachel Gallagher last Sunday as she travelled back to Portland, Oregon with Baby Belle.

The week began fairly busy but uneventful as Cheryl went about her work of learning the process for becoming the interim director of operations, while Matt continued to work as the Open Arms mule, delivering eggs from the farm, picking up supplies for the village, delivering food and workers for the feeding program, and trying to prepare for the start of the new school at the village. On the way to the feeding program, some children took quite literally what it means to be the family mule, as they transported themselves and some supplies to their home.

Towards the end of the week, on Friday, we were invited to a graduation ceremony, for some of our oldest nursery school children, who are graduation into Primary School. Now mind you, I barely remember nursery school but nursery school for Kenyan children is a bit more arduous beginning at 3 years old and continuing for the next 2-3 years as they go through three levels of nursery school in preparation for primary school.

Because Open Arms won't have an operating school until January, we have been sending our older children to a nearby school, and the school decided to have a "simple" ceremony to celebrate that ancient passage of graduation from nursery school to primary school. About two dozen children were being honored in this ceremony, along with 150 parents, family, friends, and about 250 other students, teachers, and administrators from the school. Five children from the Open Arms village were participating in this ancient rite of passage.

We were told that the ceremony was starting at 9AM, and being time conscious Westerners, we wanted to be there on time, but alas the pressures of Kenyan culture are beginning to change us. Matt had to run an errand delivering 20 trays of eggs to the market at 7:30AM. Unfortunately, for various reasons, he was still at the market at 9AM as Cheryl and the other girls were patiently waiting for them. They arrived at the graduation ceremony at 9:40AM and found themselves as the first arrivals for the ceremony. Matt had to go and run a few more errands as the Open Arms mule, and finally arrived with some of the rest of the Open Arms staff at 10:30AM. The ceremony had still not started, but Matt was surprised to find that he was the featured guest speaker at the ceremony. Fortunately the ceremony did not start until 11:20AM so Matt actually had 50 more minutes to collect his thoughts. As the ceremony dragged on with every faculty member, student, and village elder in the community eagerly wanting to share a poem, a song, a speach, or a dance, Matt had 3 more hours to collect his thoughts before he came up and shared a 10 minute speach about the importance of education, perseverance, and a relationship with God. Cheryl was also surprised when she was asked to hand out some of the diplomas during the ceremony. The ceremony ended about 2 hours later with some refreshments. Matt and Cheryl now wonder how long the primary school graduation will be for students at the first Open Arms Academy graduation ceremonies in a few years.

Matt and Cheryl are enjoying a relaxing Saturday as this blog is being written. Tomorrow, they get to celebrate another rite of passage for the children at the Open Arms Village. Moving In Day for the first children at the orphanage as the first permanent orphanage home is completed. After several months of patiently waiting, 12 of the children and their house parents will be moving into Tumani Home (Hope Home in Kiswahili), the first of many homes to be completed in the next few months. Will show some photos and videos of that special day in our next blog. Hopefully it won't be a five hour ceremony that starts two and a half hours late, but you never know in Kenya.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day,

Matt and Cheryl

Planes, trains, and automobiles

Good morning (or good evening back home in Portland - although it's past midnight there now, so it's no longer evening). We are doing well, staying busy with plenty of activities this week. Cheryl got on a plane on Sunday night with Ruth and two of our babies, Belle and Esther, to Nairobi to try and acquire visas for the two babies, so that Ruth and Rachel can take the babies home to family for Christmas. The babies, Ruth and Cheryl, did surprisingly well with the babies, and they were met by David and Rachel who arrived to Nairobi late Sunday evening. They got up at 4:30 or 5AM the next morning to cart babies, diapers, formula, and bottles over to the UK and US embassy where the US embassy had requested a 7AM appointment for which they had to arrive at 6:30AM. The visa for Belle was granted and Rachel is going home with Belle this weekend for a two month stint back in the states. Ruth got a notice that her visa is ready so she is going back to Nairobi on Monday to pick it up. What a process!! Anyway, they got to spend a little fun time during lunch and the early afternoon to shop in Nairobi and eat lunch at Java House, the Kenyan equivalent of Starbucks, and it is a treat. There's nothing like it in Eldoret, and shopping here is still very limited. It's surprising that for a town of 600,000 plus (Eldoret had about 250,000 people when I first came to visit four years ago) and growing fast that Eldoret has the shopping store capacity of a US town of 6,000 with about 4 to 6 moderately sized grocery stores (nothing close to a Walmart). It's interesting that most of the essential shopping here is done in open street markets, where locals often get the best deals but where muzungus (white people in Kiswahili) will often be charged higher prices than in the regular grocery stores (that's why we have Matrine, one of our Kenyan staff, do much of our shopping at the market). In addition, it is quite likely because of the predominence of subsistence farming throughout Kenya, that most people eat what they can grow on their own property and often do not buy groceries at the store or at the open street market.

We have even began our own subsistence farming initiatives at the Open Arms Village with growing potatoes, beans, cabbage, maize and raising hens for eggs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and dairy cattle for milk. So far we have been able to raise enough of all these items to feed the entire village and our office staff plus raise additional money from the sale of eggs, potatoes, and milk to the community. Matt seems to be the local egg delivery man in Eldoret since we are now producing nearly 100 eggs per day at the village, more than enough for the children at the village, the staff in town, and also to assist with the feeding programs. He has a local restaurant in town that regularly buys eggs, and they are encouraging the Open Arms Village to take on their next project, raising broiler chickens for the village and to sell to the restaurants in town. Matt now feels like his next purchase at the local Nakumatt variety and grocery store in town will be a pair of bib overalls.

Matt has also taken over most of the primary driving responsibilities for the village and the Open Arms staff since the other two staff drivers are on leave or on vacation (Metrine is on vacation and Levi's sister passed away so he is on leave). Matt started the week by taking the girls and the babies to the airport on Sunday. Then on Monday he began by taking Daniel, the village farmer and house parent, to the Eldoret feed store to buy chicken feed, molasses for the grain to feed the cows and goats, and a large variety of other assorted items for the farm and the village. Then he began taking three of the staff to assist with the daily feeding program at the Kambi Teso slum of Eldoret. On Sunday he will drive the staff to the village for church in the morning, drive Rachel and Baby Belle to the airport in the afternoon, drive Ruth and Baby Esther to the airport on Monday morning, drive Roselyn to see one of the sponsored Open Arms children at a school 40 kilometers away, and probably deliver some more eggs and other errands in the afternoon. (A lower percentage of Kenyans and exptriates here have drivers licenses or simply prefer not to drive - I can't say that I blame them). He really hopes that Metrine and Levi will be back soon.


Meanwhile, Cheryl is as busy as ever with taking care of babies, changing diapers, sterilizing bottles, filling them with formula, while at the same time learning Ruth's job as operations director so that when Ruth leaves for 3 months in early December, the wheels of this Open Arms operation in Kenya will continue to operate smoothly. We appreciate your prayers so much and hope that all is well at the homefront. We will miss our family, friends, and loved ones this Thanksgiving, but nevertheless we are so thankful for where God has placed us, and the opportunity we have been given while we are here. Of course we will also miss shopping at Walmart, turkey, and pumpkin spiced lattes at Starbucks, but surpisingly, and I know this is shocking news, a human being can survive without these three seemingly basic essentials. We hope to talk, and see you soon. Feel free to Skype with us on the internet or e-mail us at mattandcherylinafrica@gmail.com because we'd love to hear from you.

God bless you,

Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Two months and counting

As of this afternoon, we have been in Eldoret for two months. We are starting to feel like we are settling in, but there are still some unsettling or unusual experiences we have to deal with on a regular basis. Matt was driving through downtown El.doret yesterday, and he is starting to get used to the feel of driving in Kenya. However, there is no sense of common courtesy on the road, it is pretty much everyone for himself (and every chicken, goat, and cow for that matter). As Matt turned right to go down one of the main streets of Eldoret, two cars behind him turning right didn't just follow him - they passed him in the intersection as people, cows, and goats dodged the oncoming traffic. However, that wasn't an isolated incident. The same thing happened about eight times before he got back to the house (and Matt is not normally a conservative or slow driver by US standards - he has quite a collection of speeding tickets in the past thirty years to prove that).

What slows drivers down here in Kenya is not the goats, cows, pedestrians, cars, or even the police, but speed bumps and pot holes, and lots of them I might add. On a one mile stretch of road leading out of Eldoret, one would usually encounter about 25 speed bumps and about 200 pot holes. What usually keeps the mechanics around here pretty busy are broken axles, worn shock absorbers, and bent wheel rims. The tire shops also do a pretty good busy with tires being constantly out of balance.

Earlier this week, Cheryl took a road trip to Kisumu to pick up passports for two of the babies at the house, Belle and Esther. Kisumu is approximately 75 miles from Eldoret but it took about 3 hours to get there (apparently there are quite a few more of those speed bumps and potholes on the road to Kisumu). She left Eldoret at 6:30AM with a car full of people including Ruth who was holding one of the babies, Roselyn, who works as the local child sponsorship director for Open Arms in Kenya, Levi who also works with Open Arms and was driving the car, and a local immigration officer from Eldoret, along with two babies. Actually seven people (albeit two of them being babies) is actually a fairly uncrowded vehicle by Kenyan standards. Kenyans, as well as many other Africans, have taken car pooling to a new level.

After a long day at the immigration office, and a quick glance at Lake Victoria (a first for Cheryl)the five people and two babies clambored back in the vehicle for the long road trip back to Eldoret. Along the way, Roselyn mentioned she needed to drop something off to some relatives of hers just off the main road, which in Kenyan really meant that they needed to drive on a side dirt road for 30 minutes and drink Chai tea for an hour. They arrived back at home in Eldoret very tired at 7:30PM that night and grateful for some dinner and sleep.

In spite of the driving in Kenya, or maybe sometimes because of it, there are a lot of things we love about being here. The people are wonderful, the scenery is spectacular, the climate is perhaps the best in the world (it was sunny and 75 degrees today), and we love spending time with the babies and the children at the village. We hope that things are well back in cold rainy Oregon, where the car pooling is less crowded, and the drivers are a little more courteous.

Matt and Cheryl

Happy Hallow's Eve, Kenyan Costumes, and Drunken Policemen

Greetings (Jambo) on this Hallow's Eve from Eldoret, Kenya. Of course everyone in the U.S. is celebrating with costumes, parties, and giving away candy tonight, but we can't find a trace of that here. Cheryl thought she found a hint of Halloween here when she found a wide assortment of wigs on the supermarket shelf a month ago and asked Rachel Gallagher if the wigs were costumes in preparation for Halloween. Rachel informed her that they were not costumes, but that Kenyan women frequently used wigs and extensions to change their hairstyle.

We all got a laugh out of that one, but none of us laughed at an incident that happened last night when David Gallagher and Matt were out with the ministry leader for our street children in downtown Eldoret. Our ministry leader for street children, Morris Mordecai, does a fantastic job of regularly meeting with the hundreds of street children in downtown Eldoret, counseling them, speaking with them, loving them, and feeding them, helping them get off the street. Open Arms had received a donation of nearly 100 quarts of milk from a local dairy to distribute to the children and David and Matt went downtown with the milk ready to help Morris distibute the milk. Unfortunately, they were met with what appeared to be a mob of angry street children being dispersed by the police with whips.

Matt and David intervened by talking to the police and pleading with them that their interests in helping the street children were entirely peaceful, and eventually the police allowed them to continue their gathering undisturbed while Matt, David, and Morris spoke to the children and distributed milk. Of course the street children in Eldoret face their own challenges in relating to the broader Eldoret community, since many of the children are involved in theft and also addicted to sniffing glue, the local drug of choice (I believe there is a BBC documentary on YouTube about the street children of Eldoret which is well worth watching). In defense of the street children, they are often abandoned, orphaned, and they steal and sniff glue to alleviate their ongoing problems with hunger, homelessness, and all of the related challenges that come with these two blights. Open Arms is beginning to offer short term and long term solutions to the challenges these children face, but there is still a lot of work to do.

However, starving children and children sniffing glue was not necessarily what disturbed Matt the most during this evening. As Matt and David confronted the policemen, they smelled alcohol on the breath of most of the officers. The only thing scarier than a mob of street children or a Freddy Kreuger Halloween costume tonight, was several drunken policemen holding assault rifles and whips in downtown Eldoret. That is something really scary to think about this Halloween. Be safe and enjoy some candy corn today!!

Matt and Cheryl

P.S. Happy birthday to my sister, Beth Tallman!!!

Sour milk, babies, and more Kenyan fun

This week wasn't quite as adventurous or as scenic as last week, but it was nevertheless memorable. We had our hands full of babies (or at least Cheryl did) changing diapers, feeding them, bathing them, and allowing them the priviledge of enjoying our company at 3AM are all part of a day's (and night's) work with the babies entrusted to us. Matt even changed his first diaper all by himself this week (it was a little loose, but at least it didn't leak (praise God for the absorbent power of Pampers).


We got the babies registered with immigration services here, and hopefully we will get them passports in the next week. Belle is planning on going on her first plane ride with Rachel Gallagher for Christmas, and Esther Ruth is going to do the same on a plane ride to the UK with Ruth Major. Otherwise, Cheryl might have to juggle three babies at once during the Christmas season (with a little help from Matt now that he knows how to change diapers all by himself).


We also went through the process of applying as a school over the past month, but this week it seemed to reach a fevered pitch as we were introduced to the bureaucracy of Kenyan government. It seems easier at first because people in government here are too polite to admit how hard it is, but in the end it is just as difficult as American bureaucracy. Ultimately, in the end things were signed, and it looks like, with a little more work, we will be able to start a school in January at the Open Arms village.


Speaking of the village, this week Matt went out to the village several times to check on the progress of the orphanage homes and to assist people from the Public Health Department who were inspecting the village in preparation for the start of the school. After their inspection, Daniel and Lydia, the house parents for some of the children, invited the two inspectors and Matt for lunch. As lunch was set in front of the guests, Daniel proceeded to offer them the local village delicasy to drink...sour milk. They drink it there like we eat yogurt in America. However, as Matt saw the chunks of curdled milk plopping from the pitcher into his cup, he questioned if he would like it as much as yogurt. As he politley slurped down a big gulp into his mouth, the taste of putrid, sour, fermented milk filled his taste buds and his nostrils, and he wondered if he was going to lose the lunch he had already consumed. He tried to sip down a few more gulps and wash down the chunks with a glass of water, but as he looked up, he saw that his guests had already emptied their cups with a smile and he had barely made a dent in his glass.


Well, I think it is back to taking care of babies. I think I hear them wanting more formula, burping up more curdled formula, and wanting Daddy Matt to change some more diapers. Until next week, enjoy a few more baby photos.



God bless you,






Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Hippos, Crocs, and much more at Lake Baringo

Sorry we weren't able to submit a new blog during our usual time this past weekend but we were at Lake Baringo in Central Kenya where the weather was warm, the scenery was spectacular, the wildlife was extraordinary, and the internet reception was questionable. We left Eldoret Saturday morning after another busy week working at the village, trying to get the school started, and trying to help out at the Open Arms office. It was a much needed break from the business of our work in Eldoret and our first adventure outside of the area.

We drove on a long windy road for two hours and 60 miles until we saw Lake Baringo in the distance. Then we drove another 90 minutes and 30 miles until we finally arrived at the lake and began to take in the scenery. The lake is very large, the 3rd largest in Kenya, It looked about 20 to 30 square miles in size, with 3 or 4 islands in the middle. We were greeted at the hotel by three ostriches, 2 peacocks, 20 guinea hens (and a partridge in a pear tree).

The weather in Baringo was noticeably warmer and more humid due to the lower elevation, but we also noticed the effects of drought in the region due to the dry creek beds surrounding the lake and the lower water level in the lake. However, we probably wouldn't be able to get to where we were staying during a regular rainy season since we drove to our final destination through about a dozen dry creek beds that would have been swollen with water in wetter conditions.

The first evening we walked down to the waterfront and were greeted by four or five good sized crocodiles that were happily eating the leftover fish entrails left behind by the local fishermen. The next day we went on a boat ride in the lake and got to see wild hippos for the first time (check out the video at the bottom of this blog), Kenyan fish eagles swooping just like many bald eagles I've seen in the past to catch a fish in the lake (also check out that video at the bottom of this blog, a few other storks, cranes, and of course more crocodiles. When we got back to shore and were walking back to our room, we saw a curious friendship between what's called a cliff rocks hyrax (I think they're related to the badger in North America), sitting on top of the back of a local goat. They sat there for some time, and eventually the hyrax jumped off the back of the goat and they played with each other for awhile longer until we disturbed them as we walked by to go to our room.

That night we watched the sun set over the lake as we fed ourselves, our three babies, and the local mosquito population. In the morning we were greeted by Colombus Monkeys walking around in the yard and the trees just behind our balcony (check out the video at the bottom). After breakfast, we took a leisurely drive back home to Eldoret the next day, looking at more crocs in the Kerio River at the bottom of the Rift Valley, a proper African sized ant hill, and even enjoying lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the Rift Valley (the photo below was taken from our dining room table). It was a memorable trip, but now we get to go back to starting a school, playing with orphaned children and babies, cooler weather, and no hippos or crocs.

Kenyan worship, a herd of goats, and a street fight

Last Sunday Matt was invited to preach at a church in Eldoret (Halleluya Church). The service started at about 10:30 and the church began to sing and dance and celebrate with the worship that is typical for many if not most African churches. The length of the service was also typical of most African churches. After numerous worship songs and about 30 testimonies, Matt was offered the platform at about 12:30. He spoke for about 45 minutes (probably a little brief for an African sermon), but afterwards, as the service continued, the Bishop, his wife, Matt, Cheryl, and two elders exited early to have lunch as the service continued until about 2PM.

They had a wonderful homemade stew with rice, (no goat intestines this time), and some typical Kenyan chai tea. Afterwards, Matt and Cheryl went to the Bishop's house and watched some Kenyan Sunday afternoon television with the family which mostly consisted of various preachers speaking in Swahili, although one show was broadcast in English with an American evangelist. The Bishop invited us to stay for a nearby outdoor evangelistic service they have in a neighborhood every week. As we got out of his car, we saw several singers on a stage singing and several dozen people in front of them dancing and singing. As we continued singing dozens of onlookers watched, dozens more walked by, and a large herd of goats walked right through the middle of the worshippers. Cheryl and Matt smelled the aroma of raw sewage directly behind them in a ditch, and a street fight began to erupt less than twenty feet from the crowd of worshippers. The street fight subsided, the goats managed to find greener pastures, and the congregation of worshippers continued to grow as the night went on.

Speaking of Kenyan worship, every weekday morning, the staff at Open Arms International enjoys a brief time of worship and prayer to begin every work day. Matt took the liberty to videotape one session so I hope you enjoy these Kenyan worship songs as much as we do (at least I hope I'll be able to download the video - we'll see - it's about ten minutes long) (sorry couldn't download it. I will try later).

We are enjoying a nice three day weekend as we are writing this blog. In fact we get two of them in a row thanks to what is called Moi day this weekend, and Kenyatta day next weekend courtesy of the first two presidents of Kenya (this is the equivalent of President's Day in the U.S.). Next weekend we might go out of town for the weekend and go see some wild hippos and crocodiles (we will certainly send photos in our next blog if that is the case). For now we are just busy putting formula into bottles and changing diapers.

At the village, things are progressing at a good pace. It is probable that the first orphanage home will be completed sometime in the next week. However, we still need to hook up water, sewer, and electricity. It looks likely that we might finally get this situation resolved with the well, and get good water supplied to the village so that we can hook up the homes to water in the next week. The sewer might be done in two weeks. We don't know when electricity will be supplied to the village, but we can likely move the children into the first two homes before the end of this month (even without electricity - they certainly don't have any right now, and the homes they will be moving into are much nicer than what they are living in now). We'll keep you updated on our progress and blog again soon.

Blessings,
Matt and Cheryl

Monkeys, digging wells, and roasted maize

This week was busier than some and slower than others. Slower because all the teams that were here last week have gone back home (the film crew and a team from the UK). We started out the week returning some equipment that was utilized by the film crew, and while Levi and Matt were driving around Eldoret, a large grey monkey ran across the road, a rare sight for this part of Kenya. Birds are plentiful here in Eldoret (I think I mentioned that in a previous blog), but land mammals (other than the human type), are more common down in the Rift Valley or further South where we will be going hopefully to visit sometime in the next 4 to 6 months. However, one new mammal arrived at the OAI village last Saturday, a brand new baby cow (the village now has four dairy cows to provide milk for the orphans and the surrounding villagers.



Matt spent the rest of the week working at the village and keeping an eye on new activities related to the construction of the village. The most significant activity this week is the arrival of the well drilling company to repair a well they had dug over a year ago which has never properly worked. The drilling company is still at the property as of the writing of this blog, but hopefully they will be done in the next day or two so that a clean, fresh, and reliable source of water will be available to the village for years to come. Progress on the rest of the village is moving along nicely. One of the orphanage homes should be done in the next few days, and three others should be completed in the next month or two.



Cheryl has been working at the office training to be the interim operations director for OAI Kenya, coordinating teams, the budget for the Kenyan staff, and a variety of other duties. In addition, both Matt and Cheryl have occasionally and eagerly been assigned baby duty, and they will be taking care of Belle for the next several weeks while David and Rachel Gallagher are in the U.S. for several OAI functions including the OAI fundraising banquet next weekend. (Which reminds me, if you are in the Portland area, and you haven't purchased a ticket for the OAI fundraising banquet at the Portland Zoo, feel free to call the Portland office at 503-296-9989 - the banquet is on Saturday, October 10).



While out at the village this week, Matt has been able to enjoy a little more of the local cuisine. He had roasted maize, a much better delicasy than goat intestines. You cook ears of corn over a fire and it tastes a lot like popcorn and it is very filling. However, the favorite Kenyan food for both Matt and Cheryl has been chipote, a flat bread cooked over a hot griddle. It goes well with everything. I need to sign off now, but I'll try and add a few photos and videos to the blog later. We'll keep you updated about the village and the adventures of Matt and Cheryl.