Happy New Year and Other After Christmas Specials

Happy New Year to everyone back in the US and elsewhere reading this blog. We would have posted this weeks blog earlier but our internet was down for four days this week, and seven days in the past month - a common occurrence here.

Nevertheless, we are back up and running today. We actually had quite a bit happen this week, so this may be a lengthy blog. It may be even longer due to the fact that I forgot to mention an important detail in last weeks blog - our Christmas safari at Mount Elgon National Park which is West and North of Eldoret, Kenya. The park is situated on the border of Kenya and Uganda and we were debating when we could go, but we were glad that we could go the weekend of December 20 because the weather was beautiful, and that turned out to be the only window of opportunity we had during this busy holiday season in Kenya. Most of the last two weeks in Eldoret it has been raining. This is a good thing since the region has been facing drought conditions for quite some time.

Nevertheless, our weekend at Mount Elgon was beautiful sunny 75 degree weather. The night before we drove into the park, the small cottage we slept in greeted us with some wildlife of its own - a giant moth which captivated us for a few minutes as it was captivated by the porch light in front of our bungalow. As we drove in to the park, we saw the outline of Mount Elgon (about 13,000 feet in elevation) looming in the distance. We also saw quite a number of babboons and water bucks as we entered the gate into the park. We drove further into the park with the assistance of a guide who was well armed to ward off potentially dangerous poachers and animals in the park. We drove into some densely wooded areas and saw more water bucks, gazelles, a very large wild pig (probably 500 to 700 pounds), and other assorted furry creatures. We stopped at two different caves, one being the largest in Kenya, and saw evidence of a wide variety of water buffalo, hyenas, zebras, babboons, water bucks, and other assorted creatures who occasionally took shelter in these caves. We also heard, but didn't see, a lot of bats in the caves. You can hear them but not see them in this eerie video I took.

As wecontinued further up the road, we saw some terrific views of Mount Elgon, Acacia trees, and other scenic vistas. We sat down and had lunch at one of these vistas, some other little critters, unbeknownst to us, were already beginning to enjoy our lunch, as Cheryl enjoyed the experience of having ants in her pants. Nevertheless, we continued to enjoy the panoramic view, but the most spectacular view was five large shadows towering above the middle of the road, which turned out to be four very large and one younger giraffe which resided in the park. The scene was almost surreal as we slowly got out of our truck to take some photos and videos of the beautiful animals. We concluded our day with a few more scenes of more babboons and other assorted creatures before we concluded a wonderful day in the park.

After Christmas, we went out to the village on Sunday, December 27, for what we call Guardian's Day, a chance for relatives or friends of the children to spend time with them. While all of the children are either orphaned or have been abandoned by their parents, most of them have other relatives or friends that want to see them from time to time. Overall, the day was an enjoyable time for the children and relatives as they spent the day together at a church service and shared a meal together.

On Tuesday, December 29, Matt and Cheryl were invited to spend the day at the home of the area chief, Chief Togum, to celebrate the engagement of his daughter. Each province in Kenya, (I believe there are 8 provinces), are subdivided into various districts, and these districts are also subdivided into areas, of which Chief Togum is responsible for, about 20,000 people. Over 500 guests showed up for the party, which had some wonderful food and even a little music as the two families negotiated over the traditional dowry which was to be paid to the bride's family (just the opposite of our ancestral European or Asian traditions of paying dowry to the groom's family). Typically the dowry consists of a number of goats, sheep, and/or cows. After the negotiations were over, the future bride and her attendants cut some cake for the guests and had a few speeches to give just as the rain began to pour on the festivities. Nevertheless, the guests were not dismayed as the festivities carried on for over eight hours.

Later the following weekend, on Saturday, January 2, Matt and Cheryl were able to attend the wedding of the brother of one of the house parents at the village. The wedding was held in Eldoret and about 400 people were in attendance. Many of the events and scenes in this wedding were similar to any typical American wedding with lots of people, a procession of attendants and groomsmen, the bride in white, vows made by the bride and groom, a meal after the wedding, in addition to cake cutting and speeches made by the famiies of the bride and groom. The major differences were the length of the ceremony (3 hours), along with a 5 plus hour ceremony (we didn't stay until the end - the babies were complaining). and the ceremony started two hours later than planned (we are finding that we need to plan on attending all social functions in Kenya about two hours later than originally scheduled). The differences between this urban wedding in Eldoret and the rural engagement party near the small village of Kipsaret revealed a little more about the variety of cultural and economic differences in various parts of Kenya, not to mention some of the differences with typical American culture and economics. The engagement party in rural Kipsaret had about 500 guests and only about 10 older vehicles. The wedding in urban Eldoret had about 400 guests and about 30 newer vehicles. The engagement party in rural Kipsaret had wonderful food, no electricity, and some music playing on battery operated speakers. The wedding in urban Eldoret had a full sound system with electricity and also some wonderful food. At both celebrations, Matt and Cheryl got quite a few stares as the only wazungus (white people) not to mention the fact that they were holding adorable Kenyan babies which brought a lot of attention and willing arms wanting to hold the babies.

Matt and Cheryl also brought in the New Year by having a small party at the Open Arms house/office in Eldoret. They invited Open Arms staff and a few local friends to come and eight people joined to help them bring in the New Year. Even the babies stayed up for a little while as Diana was fascinated by blowing bubbles. After the babies retired, the festivities got a little noisier with a rousing game of spoons. At midnight the room erupted in pandemonium with party poppers and noisermakers and even a spontaneous conga line. Finally the New Year began with some solemn prayer as both young and old alike offered sincere prayers for the New Year. May this year bring you and your family many blessings and exciting new adventures as God leads and protects you.

Matt and Cheryl Tallman