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