Back to Work and Back to School

Sorry it's been two weeks since our last blog. We've had a busy time between getting the school started, getting the office back to work, helping to finish orphanage homes, moving in new house parents, and preparing to admit new children to the village. Last Saturday, Matt left Cheryl and the two babies alone at the house at 8AM in order to help move in our third set of house parents at the village. After driving over 100 kilometers to move in the house parents, he received a call from the carpenters who are building new beds for the children at the village and went to see the first sample bed. He arrived back at the home at 6PM and that was on our day off. Both Matt and Cheryl were exhausted, but now new recruits have come from the US and the UK and more are on their way soon.

We are very excited that Open Arms Academy is offiically opened as of Friday, January 8, and we have 26 children officially admitted into the school - 8 in pre-school and 15 in a primary grade school ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 5. We have hired three primary teachers, one who is the headmaster, and also a nursery school teacher. We will be hiring more teachers as the school continues to grow, but for now we have a very good student/teacher ratio of 6.5:1.

Starting a school took more work than Matt and Cheryl realized: purchasing textbooks, school supplies, blackboards, chalk, workbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, desks, chairs, etc., etc. and the list goes on. We are about 65% complete on the conversion of the old Tumaini and Upendo homes into classrooms. We have 3 to 4 usable classrooms and a school office currently available, and we will have 3 to 4 more classrooms available within the next two weeks.

We also have a new set of house parents, Joel and Sally Too, and their two boys, Caleb - age 4 months, and Tim - age 4 years, who have moved into the village. One more home will be opening up in the next two weeks, and we are already in the process of admitting new children to the village. This week we are preparing to admit one new girl to the village who is an orphan, malnourished, ill, and has a severe case of jiggers (parasites that bore into a person's feet and often leaves them unable to walk until treated). We hope to help her and a lot of other children find shelter, food, medical treatment, and place they can call home.

Today we had a wonderful day at the village with the children and house parents as they had church. Afterwards, we went on a short hike as Cheryl, Matt, two guests from the UK, one of the house parents, and ten of the older children hiked to a waterfall near the property. It was a lovely sunny day, (about 80 degrees for those of you in cold, rainy, or snowy regions of North America right now). We really hope you are doing well, and we hope some of you can come out and visit us soon.

Blessings,

Matt and Cheryl Tallman