More at the Village

So we had a wonderful time at church on Sunday. Saw at least 16 people receive Christ after a stirring message, 11 from the community. and 5 from the team. We went on a lovely hike to the falls after the service, but a sad reminder of how short life is here when a man was found dead beside the gravel marem pit on the way to the falls, having fallen in the pit the night before too drunk to observe the fence around the pit.

We got to take a brief detour in the afternoon to see the widow's greenhouse that we had built last summer. It was amazing to see how tall the tomato plants were at the greenhouse, how many thousands of tomatoes were growing on the vine, and how many hundreds of additional dollars this greenhouse was going to be able to provide in additional income for each of the ten families involved in this project.

In the evening we went to one of the children's homes, Amani home, and had a wonderful time. We got to meet the two newest boys in the home, Edwin and Kiprono, both who just came from the Remand Center, their only crime having been that they were homeless. Nevertheless, when they came to the village, Edwin kept saying, "I love this place"! over and over. He slept in the corner of his bed for an hour expecting to have to share his bed with three or four other children like he did at the Remand Center until Mama Sarah came in and told him that he could sleep in the middle of the bed because this was his own bed. He seemed overwhelmed but very happy and has since adjusted very well to life at Open Arms Village.

We completed the medical camp on Tuesday having treated 1570 people. seeing about 160 people receive Christ, and several hundred more miraculously healed before they ever got to the medical camp. It was a great experience.

We also got to go to the Kambi Teso feeding program a second time and do a little mini-medical camp there as well. It always seems that the feeding program is so very exhausting simply because the children there are so starved for attention but this time it was physically strenuous for both Cheryl and me as we found a way to develop quite a line of children waiting to go on a little ride with Matt and Cheryl.

On Thursday, we spent our last full day in the Eldoret area by taking a break with the team and going to Naiberry, a small resort and restaurant about 15 miles on the other side of Eldoret. It was a fun, relaxing time with a great team (but what's up with the lack of privacy in the bathrooms - this photo was taken from OUTSIDE of the men's bathroom in the hallway)

On the way back, we stopped at Elizabeth's Kiosk for some last minute shopping and then said our goodbyes to the children at the village.

Early the next morning we began our long journey home. We flew out of Eldoret, arrived in Nairobi, immediately encountered the usual horrible traffic, and spent the next 80 minutes trying to get to the Elephant Orphanage.

We made it in time to get in for the show, and it was fun for the team, even if I have been there more times than I can count on both hands. We even got to see a wild warthog outside of the orphanage and were told that recently a wild lion was sighted roaming near the elephant orphanage that was feeding off of the local warthog population (better warthogs than me). We stopped for a yummy lunch at Java House, and popped over to the Giraffe Sanctuary where it was Matt's turn to kiss the giraffe...YUCK!!!

A quick trip to Kazuri Bead Shop had the unexpected surprise of some wild monkeys greeting us, and then an obligatory trip to Karen Blixen's Home was made so that we could truly so we were heading "Out of Africa".

The grueling and long trip home was met with some nice breaks in Zurich and Chicago, but most pleasant was that our luggage was waiting for us in Portland and so was our family. It was good to get back home, but at the same time, we miss our kids in Kenya, and look forward to the time again soon when "Daddy Matt" and "Mama Cheryl" can head back to greet the children at Open Arms Village.

This trip to Kenya has been a whirlwind so far. 15 of our team flew from Portland to Kenya, with 3 layovers, including one in Burundi that we didn't expect (my first time in Burundi even if it was only at the airport - that is about country number #28 I think?). It was a very long 32 hour flight including layovers but we arrived in Nairobi just before midnight, gratefully got through customs quickly, with no delays and no lost luggage out of 15 team members, and arrived at our hotel at about 1AM. In time to sleep for 3 hours, get up very early, and fly out to Eldoret. Nevertheless, the shower at the hotel in Nairobi, and lying in a prone position, if only for 3 hours, felt WONDERFUL!!!

As it turns out, the shower felt even more wonderful when we arrived at the village and discovered they were having water problems. My next shower was 3 days after that. I've been at the village for 7 nights now and I've had 2 showers. The good news is that everyone smells a little ripe with the water shortage. Fortunately, it looks like the water shortage is quickly becoming resolved as we head towards our second week at the village.

Our first day at the village was light duty, but it was wonderful to see some of the progress, the older boys home, Nema Home, completed and occupied with 10 older boys, and Elliot Berry from the UK managing that home. It has been so exciting to see him grown into such a mature Christian man since he first came to the village for a visit in 2010 while Cheryl and I were living there, went back to university to get a child psychology degree and came back to the village recently to pursue his passion and his calling.

The farm has also grown, with the poultry department now harvesting 800 chickens a month. They've got quite a stream lined operation there now - not quite as good as Swansons or Tysons, but they are slowly getting there. The dairy department has a little excitement on our first day with a new calf being born. I went down to the dairy department and saw that the mom was about ready to give birth, went back for tea, and when I came back down, she had already given birth to a healthy male calf. They decided to name the calf Tallman....hmmm, not sure what I think of that, but nevertheless, exciting, and I suppose a honor to have a cow named after my family name.

The next day we had quite a busy day, beginning with a trip to the Remand Center (our equivalent of a Juvenile Detention Center) in the morning. We distributed food, had a quick evangelistic service, and even a mini-medical camp at the center. There were several little children there, 5 to 6 years old, whose only crime was that they were homeless, and gathered up with all the other street children on a police roundup. The center was quite full with about 240 children at a center that can really only accommodate 120, in deplorable conditions in either case. They won't let us take photos there likely because the Kenyan government would be too embarrassed by the conditions these children have to endure. Fortunately, we contacted the Eldoret Children's Department to see if we could at least temporarily house the 6 youngest children from the Remand Center at our village. We took them in temporarily until such time as we find relatives or parents, but it is possible that some or all 6 of these children could stay at our village until they are adults.

We also went to the Tumaini Drop In Center for street children, which is doing well, Elizabeth's Kiosk to buy gifts, and had dinner in one of the children's homes, Upendo Home. It was a great reunion seeing some of the children, and how much they had grown. Also seeing new children, and especially the brand new children who had arrived from the Remand Center. One of the young 5 year old boys, marveled for hours on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, and his new friends saying "I can't believe I get to stay here. This is so great!!

Next day we spent some time at Kambi Teso. There were quite a few more children at the feeding program. The program has increased to over 170  children in the past 6 months, but in the past week, there has been a national teacher's strike, with over 130 additional children showing up at the feeding program. Kambi Teso this time was a bit overwhelming, and with the children there so starved for attention, it was definitely the most exhausting day of the trip so far. We are going back in a few days to do a mini-medical camp, but with the teacher's strike ended it won't be quite as overwhelming.

We set up for the medical camp on Thursday, and began on Friday. We treated 250 patients on Thursday, had 23 people receive Christ, many miraculous healings in the prayer tent. All in all, a good day for the first day at the medical camp at the village. We like to do this medical camp at the village once a year to help build relations with the community and assist those with medical needs.

On Saturday, we saw 350 people treated and nearly 60 people receive Christ, including one member of the team. It was very exciting to see some of these same people in church on Sunday morning at our village church with 11 more receiving Christ with a stirring message from one of our team members, Mike McGurk, a Anglican Vicar from Manchester England. Of those 11, 5 were members of our own team, and 6 were men from the community. We briefly met with them after the service and had a very exciting meeting with the men in the community regarding the future of the church. It looks like I am running out of time, but I will post more later this week. Probably won't include photos or videos until I get back to the US since it takes WAYYYYYYYYY too long to download them here. Talk to all of you soon.

Matt and Cheryl Tallman