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
No comments:
Post a Comment