I wish I could have posted my thoughts in real time while I was in Kenya, but it seemed like the internet service in Kenya wouldn't cooperate with me, so I will do the best I can, trying to remember as many of the sights, smells, sounds, and feelings I experienced while we were there on this trip.
Our team was phenomenal. A group of young women from George Fox University, and while I was uncertain about how they would adjust in Africa, and interact with each other, they worked fantastic as a team.
We had a good start with everyone showing up at the airport on time. A lot of goodbyes were said and several fathers told me to be sure and bring their baby girls back in one piece. One father gave me such a stern look I thought he was mad at me (and he probably was...for taking his little girls halfway across the world). We had no delays and no lost luggage so things worked out well on the trip. We did the elephant orphanage and the giraffe center on the front end of the trip and it was a lot of fun having the girls kiss the giraffe so they could send the photos to their families and their boyfriends. We also had a great time at Kazuri Beads, but honestly, the highlight of the whole trip was when we arrived at the Eldoret airport that night and walked into an airport filled with millions of flying termites swarming the airport. We forgot to prep our team on this one, and it is hard to predict when it will happen, but generally once or twice a year, after the heavy rains, the termites will come out of the ground by the millions, and swarm around any source of light. While some of the girls were mesmerized by the bugs, many were freaking out as the bugs flew into their hair and tried to fly into their mouths. Cheryl and I were just smiling and saying "Welcome to Eldoret".
We arrived at the village at about 8PM to a warm meal and promptly went to sleep after our meal. The next morning everyone woke up, and the sights and sounds of Kenya were amazing and exciting to the girls for the first time, and they never grow old for Cheryl and I. I looked across the veranda and saw one of the best views of Mt. Elgon that I have ever seen in my time here. It is not a Cascade Mountain filled with snow like we have so much of in the Northwest, but it is an extremely large and gradually sloped mountain of over 14,000 feet at the peak.
We also woke up to the sounds of a beautiful pair of horned bills with bright red beaks that greeted us in the morning. In fact, they showed up almost every morning we were there and often perched right outside of our living room on the veranda railing. Apparently, it is a type of horned bill in Kenya that is endangered, but this pair have chosen to spend most of their time at our village. Perhaps they will nest and have a family their at some point as well.
Well, I have to go now, but I will post more later.
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you),
Matt and Cheryl Tallman
Monday, June 2, 2014
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
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.
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)
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.
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.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
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
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
Saturday, August 18, 2012
I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. I guess I've been busy. My "week off" between teams turned out to be busier than I thought but still somewhat relaxing compared to the time since the team arrived.
Since my last post, I began with a little tea time with Esther, Diana, and Belle to celebrate Esther's 3rd birthday. It was adorable. Then on Sunday, I got to listen to Paul Maswai preach, and after I surprised all the children at the village by giving out kites to each of the homes. They got their kites all the way to the end of the string pretty quickly and then some as at least one kite broke the string as the kite floated away into the neighbors farm. It was quickly retrieved, but I haven't seen the kids flying kites since that Sunday (not sure if they lost interest, the kites broke, or they all floated away, or is it just possible that we have had an extraordinary amount of rain the past two weeks and it has not been good kite flying weather).
I was able to meet with every long term missionary at the village one on one during the week between teams. It was a nice time of catching up with them, finding out their challenges, their hopes, their goals, and their prayer requests. I look forward to catching up with a few of them, the Whitemans and the Wilsons in particular, to see how they are adjusting to being back in America for some well needed time off.
I also got to meet with some of the staff, and meet with old friends like Levi. It seemed like The Nova, the new hot spot in town, at least for good mocha milk shakes, was my hangout for at least one or two days that week. I also got to meet with Teach Lillian, and the rest of the teachers and see how the school is progressing. It was really fun to see how the children have progressed and how much they have advanced as a school, especially since they opened up the school to the community. They now have a debate club, a math club, a lot of sports clubs, and they have made a lot of progress. There are 13 or 14 teachers on staff. Most of the children have improved, especially in math and science, and they are advancing in sports and clubs as well. I, and the whole village let out a huge cry when we found out that little Johnny had advanced to the "third position" or third place in his class academically after he had been in last place almost every term since the school started.
On Sunday before the team arrived I got to preach again. It seemed like a good response but I wasn't sure until I had heard from two separate house parents and also someone in the community that they, and their children were really touched and made significant life changing decisions, especially in the areas of forgiveness and shame by giving up shame and unforgiveness. The 10 days between the teams was very quiet in lodge 3 but that all changed when the next team arrived. Though they were small, they livened things up, and with Kendra joining us, it became a party.
We started out digging holes for the tree planting ceremony, and then digging some more. Finally when the tree planting ceremony came on Thursday, August 16, we had 200 people there but no trees. We were supposed to have 5000 trees donated by the local Lions Club, but they said they couldn't get them from Nairobi to us in time. Of course things are always exciting in Kenya, and at the last minute, we managed to purchase 300 trees in town, and have an additional 200 donated by a local nursery. We could have probably planted at least 500 more trees with all the additional help that day, but 5000 would have been pushing it, and as always in Kenya, it is always about the people and the ceremony. I also got to spend some quality time with Mocha, Java, and Chai, our three "guard dogs" at the village, who never missed a bit when they saw me, and just wanted to play and lick my hands, but when the rest of the team tried to get closer, the dogs let them know to back off. I had to frequently go over and calm them down when a bunch of volunteers came over to plant trees by the dog run. We even had a lovely time planting some trees down by the river, and Betty, one of the staff at the Open Arms feeding program, and myself, each named a tree after ourselves, so hopefully the "Betty Tree" and the "Matt Tree" will grow up to offer shade to many visitors who come to the village for decades to come. It was a lot of fun, and it was good to see some old friends like Chief Togom and meet some new ones as well.
We have continued to work this week, finishing some landscaping around the baby home, mostly rerouting the rain water in front of the baby home and Ushindi home, along with trying to finish the greenhouse for the widows in the community. We almost finished the greenhouse, and I know that Ted and Brenda were disappointed because they really wanted to finish this project before they leave on Monday. Of course, we almost got done, and the project should easily be done with one more short shift by a volunteer work team, but hopefully it can be finished sometime in the next week or two so that these ladies and their families can quickly begin to raise some tomatoes and be on their way to feeding their families and becoming self reliant. We also almost finished the baby house drainage area, and hopefully we'll finish that and some more landscaping around the baby house before the next week is over, but tomorrow is our day to rest, worship the Lord, and have some fun with the children at the village. I will sign off for now but try and fill you in sooner on how the rest of our week goes.
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Matt
Since my last post, I began with a little tea time with Esther, Diana, and Belle to celebrate Esther's 3rd birthday. It was adorable. Then on Sunday, I got to listen to Paul Maswai preach, and after I surprised all the children at the village by giving out kites to each of the homes. They got their kites all the way to the end of the string pretty quickly and then some as at least one kite broke the string as the kite floated away into the neighbors farm. It was quickly retrieved, but I haven't seen the kids flying kites since that Sunday (not sure if they lost interest, the kites broke, or they all floated away, or is it just possible that we have had an extraordinary amount of rain the past two weeks and it has not been good kite flying weather).
I was able to meet with every long term missionary at the village one on one during the week between teams. It was a nice time of catching up with them, finding out their challenges, their hopes, their goals, and their prayer requests. I look forward to catching up with a few of them, the Whitemans and the Wilsons in particular, to see how they are adjusting to being back in America for some well needed time off.
I also got to meet with some of the staff, and meet with old friends like Levi. It seemed like The Nova, the new hot spot in town, at least for good mocha milk shakes, was my hangout for at least one or two days that week. I also got to meet with Teach Lillian, and the rest of the teachers and see how the school is progressing. It was really fun to see how the children have progressed and how much they have advanced as a school, especially since they opened up the school to the community. They now have a debate club, a math club, a lot of sports clubs, and they have made a lot of progress. There are 13 or 14 teachers on staff. Most of the children have improved, especially in math and science, and they are advancing in sports and clubs as well. I, and the whole village let out a huge cry when we found out that little Johnny had advanced to the "third position" or third place in his class academically after he had been in last place almost every term since the school started.
On Sunday before the team arrived I got to preach again. It seemed like a good response but I wasn't sure until I had heard from two separate house parents and also someone in the community that they, and their children were really touched and made significant life changing decisions, especially in the areas of forgiveness and shame by giving up shame and unforgiveness. The 10 days between the teams was very quiet in lodge 3 but that all changed when the next team arrived. Though they were small, they livened things up, and with Kendra joining us, it became a party.
We started out digging holes for the tree planting ceremony, and then digging some more. Finally when the tree planting ceremony came on Thursday, August 16, we had 200 people there but no trees. We were supposed to have 5000 trees donated by the local Lions Club, but they said they couldn't get them from Nairobi to us in time. Of course things are always exciting in Kenya, and at the last minute, we managed to purchase 300 trees in town, and have an additional 200 donated by a local nursery. We could have probably planted at least 500 more trees with all the additional help that day, but 5000 would have been pushing it, and as always in Kenya, it is always about the people and the ceremony. I also got to spend some quality time with Mocha, Java, and Chai, our three "guard dogs" at the village, who never missed a bit when they saw me, and just wanted to play and lick my hands, but when the rest of the team tried to get closer, the dogs let them know to back off. I had to frequently go over and calm them down when a bunch of volunteers came over to plant trees by the dog run. We even had a lovely time planting some trees down by the river, and Betty, one of the staff at the Open Arms feeding program, and myself, each named a tree after ourselves, so hopefully the "Betty Tree" and the "Matt Tree" will grow up to offer shade to many visitors who come to the village for decades to come. It was a lot of fun, and it was good to see some old friends like Chief Togom and meet some new ones as well.
We have continued to work this week, finishing some landscaping around the baby home, mostly rerouting the rain water in front of the baby home and Ushindi home, along with trying to finish the greenhouse for the widows in the community. We almost finished the greenhouse, and I know that Ted and Brenda were disappointed because they really wanted to finish this project before they leave on Monday. Of course, we almost got done, and the project should easily be done with one more short shift by a volunteer work team, but hopefully it can be finished sometime in the next week or two so that these ladies and their families can quickly begin to raise some tomatoes and be on their way to feeding their families and becoming self reliant. We also almost finished the baby house drainage area, and hopefully we'll finish that and some more landscaping around the baby house before the next week is over, but tomorrow is our day to rest, worship the Lord, and have some fun with the children at the village. I will sign off for now but try and fill you in sooner on how the rest of our week goes.
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Matt
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Tuesday and Wednesday were work days. We spent Tuesday doing some work at the village, but it seemed like we didn't get as much done because I think people were tired and people were wanting to spend time with the children as well. On Wednesday morning we helped Ted and Brenda build a greenhouse for the local widows in the community that will enable them to grow tomatoes for their families and also to sell to the community. It should be a great sustainability project for the widows and their families. We worked hard and were able to get almost the entire frame of the structure installed in about 6 hours. I think the team felt good about what they accomplished on Wednesday, and on Thursday we got to play.
It was fun going up to Kerio View. Cheryl and I hadn't been there in a few years, and the team really enjoyed their time there. We got a rare treat as well, because several Kenyan Olympians were eating lunch there as well, getting in some last minute training before they ran the marathon next weekend in London. They were flying out this Tuesday, but we got to meet Wilson Kapsang (winner of the London Marathon) and Abel Kirui (2009 and 2011 World Track and Field marathon champion). We're not completely sure they will both get medals at the Olympics, but it is very likely that at least one of them will, and probably gold. I got my photo with Abel and I think he will probably win but we'll see.
On Friday morning, I had to say goodbye to our team and Cheryl as well as they headed to Nairobi and back home. As I write this blog, I called Cheryl this morning and she had arrived home safely after the long flight. After the team left, things at the lodge got pretty quiet, but first I found out I was the special guest speaker at the closing ceremony of the school for the term with all of about 12 hours notice. It was fun though, and it was great to see how much the children have learned and improved in school. There were a few wonderful surprises at the school as one child from the community, Peggy, got a perfect score on her end of the year exams in the top class of the nursery school, and numerous children from the village and the community improved significantly over the past year. The biggest surprise perhaps was little Johnny, who had been having significant problems learning in school over the past three years, and we found out at the ceremony that he was third in his class of 15 in overall testing scores. We were all so proud of him, and all the others that had improved so much.
On Saturday, I got to relax, do laundry, catch up on some e-mail, and have fun with three of my favorite girls: Belle, Esther, and Diana. Of course, Cheryl and I changed a lot of dirty diapers for them while we lived in Eldoret for a year. They have grown quite a bit, and the girls got to have a little tea party to celebrate Esther's third birthday.
On Sunday, I had Diana, Belle, Mama Rachel, and Kendra over for breakfast. I cooked everyone a yummy french toast and bacon breakfast along with some fantastic fresh pineapple. Yum yum!! After that we went up to church, and Paul Maswai, the house father at Amani House, spoke this morning. He did a great job, and we even had a guest choir come from the local Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was a great time. After church, I brought kites over to each of the homes that Cheryl and I had bought. I still think they are out there playing with the kites now. Some of the children were able to get the kites all the way to the end of the string and keep them up there for quite awhile. Seems like they catch on quick or some of them have done this before. It was a lot of fun. Now I am finishing up e-mail and this blog before I get ready for dinner and Skype Cheryl. I already miss her terribly.
I will try and get photos to have with all this text soon but they take too long to download with the internet here. Maybe I'll add them when I get back home at the end of August.
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Matt
It was fun going up to Kerio View. Cheryl and I hadn't been there in a few years, and the team really enjoyed their time there. We got a rare treat as well, because several Kenyan Olympians were eating lunch there as well, getting in some last minute training before they ran the marathon next weekend in London. They were flying out this Tuesday, but we got to meet Wilson Kapsang (winner of the London Marathon) and Abel Kirui (2009 and 2011 World Track and Field marathon champion). We're not completely sure they will both get medals at the Olympics, but it is very likely that at least one of them will, and probably gold. I got my photo with Abel and I think he will probably win but we'll see.
On Friday morning, I had to say goodbye to our team and Cheryl as well as they headed to Nairobi and back home. As I write this blog, I called Cheryl this morning and she had arrived home safely after the long flight. After the team left, things at the lodge got pretty quiet, but first I found out I was the special guest speaker at the closing ceremony of the school for the term with all of about 12 hours notice. It was fun though, and it was great to see how much the children have learned and improved in school. There were a few wonderful surprises at the school as one child from the community, Peggy, got a perfect score on her end of the year exams in the top class of the nursery school, and numerous children from the village and the community improved significantly over the past year. The biggest surprise perhaps was little Johnny, who had been having significant problems learning in school over the past three years, and we found out at the ceremony that he was third in his class of 15 in overall testing scores. We were all so proud of him, and all the others that had improved so much.
On Saturday, I got to relax, do laundry, catch up on some e-mail, and have fun with three of my favorite girls: Belle, Esther, and Diana. Of course, Cheryl and I changed a lot of dirty diapers for them while we lived in Eldoret for a year. They have grown quite a bit, and the girls got to have a little tea party to celebrate Esther's third birthday.
On Sunday, I had Diana, Belle, Mama Rachel, and Kendra over for breakfast. I cooked everyone a yummy french toast and bacon breakfast along with some fantastic fresh pineapple. Yum yum!! After that we went up to church, and Paul Maswai, the house father at Amani House, spoke this morning. He did a great job, and we even had a guest choir come from the local Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was a great time. After church, I brought kites over to each of the homes that Cheryl and I had bought. I still think they are out there playing with the kites now. Some of the children were able to get the kites all the way to the end of the string and keep them up there for quite awhile. Seems like they catch on quick or some of them have done this before. It was a lot of fun. Now I am finishing up e-mail and this blog before I get ready for dinner and Skype Cheryl. I already miss her terribly.
I will try and get photos to have with all this text soon but they take too long to download with the internet here. Maybe I'll add them when I get back home at the end of August.
Mungu Akubariki (God bless you)
Matt
Monday, July 30, 2012
Whew. What a whirlwind of activity in the past several days. We just completed a 3 day medical camp in Kipkaren just outside of Eldoret, Kenya. We concluded the camp on the final day by treating 1227 people - by far the most people that Open Arms has ever treated on one day at one of their medical camps. The most previously might have been somewhere around 700 people.
We felt it at the end of the day, tearing down the tents, loading up, and driving the doctors and ourselves into town to eat at Mamma Mias - I just about fell asleep in my mashed potatoes, or in my pizza in this case.
We saw a total of 2300 people in the 3 day medical camp, plus 700 children at the school that were given de-worming pills and toothbrushes. It was an interesting camp, and sometimes, especially on the last day, it felt like the lines of people would never end. We did get to the end of the line though, and I got the last of the people through the prayer tent at about 4:20. Although there were still about 200 people in the medical camp at that point, about 60 people waiting to go into the Triage tent, about 80 people waiting to see the doctor, and about 60 more waiting at the pharmacy. We finally got the last of the people through the pharmacy about 5:30, tore down the tents, and loaded up the truck, shortly before dark. Perhaps the hardest part of the day were the 3 or 4 dozen people at the end of the day who arrived late while we were packing up the truck, who wanted us to see them as well. Unfortunately, we had to say no to them, with the limits of daylight and exhaustion reached, but we did pray with some of them who were willing to receive prayer.
The best part of the day, were the dozens of people who said thank you as they left the tent, some with tears of gratitude; the 58 people who received Christ on the last day including the 57 people who received Christ on the first two days, and the dozens of people who were miraculously healed in the prayer tent. In addition, it was interesting how many Muslim people came to the medical camp, more than I had ever seen at any time in Eldoret. While some of them declined to be prayed for in the prayer tent, we still treated them medically, and I trust that our Christian witness was demonstrated by our actions in those cases. Nevertheless, about half of the Muslims who came to the medical camp gratefully received and appreciated our prayers for them as they went through the prayer tent.
On Sunday, we had a wonderful, relaxing day, as we slept in. However, it wasn't quite as relaxing for me as I was invited to preach that morning. I think the service went really well and my message was well received by everyone. It was a wonderful, sunny afternoon, as we, and the older children at the village, went on a hike down to the waterfall next to the village. We concluded the day with some wonderful dinner at the lodge as we prepared for another busy day on Monday.
As I post this blog on Monday night, we had another phenomenal day although not quite as busy as the medical camp days. We had a nice surpise this morning as two large, beautiful tucan birds (think of Tucan Sam), greeted us outside of our bedroom window this morning. We tried to get a photo but they flew off too soon. We got breakfast ready and then I went for a run, feeling like the pied piper as several children from Open Arms Academy followed me while I was running down the road.
Later in the morning we went to the Tumaini Drop-In Center. It was great to see the director of the center, after spending some time with him when we went with him to see the chief of police. After the drop in center, we had lunch at the Chinese Siam Restaurant (delicious!!) and said hi to Mr. Yu. The afternoon was phenomenal with 170 children allowing us to sing with them, perform a skit for them (I got to be Goliath with one of the kids on my shoulders), and at the end, 30 to 40 children received Christ. The team worked together so well as we did this presentation at the Remand Center (kind of like our Juvenile Hall). It was really good, but there was a conversation I had with two boys, one named Josie, and the other Paul, that really kind of haunts me, as they were begging me to get them out of the Remand Center.
It is getting late now, I am getting tired, and fading fast, but I hope to give you more interesting glimpses into our life here in my next posting.
Tuanane Kesho (See you tomorrow)
Matt and Cheryl Tallman
We felt it at the end of the day, tearing down the tents, loading up, and driving the doctors and ourselves into town to eat at Mamma Mias - I just about fell asleep in my mashed potatoes, or in my pizza in this case.
We saw a total of 2300 people in the 3 day medical camp, plus 700 children at the school that were given de-worming pills and toothbrushes. It was an interesting camp, and sometimes, especially on the last day, it felt like the lines of people would never end. We did get to the end of the line though, and I got the last of the people through the prayer tent at about 4:20. Although there were still about 200 people in the medical camp at that point, about 60 people waiting to go into the Triage tent, about 80 people waiting to see the doctor, and about 60 more waiting at the pharmacy. We finally got the last of the people through the pharmacy about 5:30, tore down the tents, and loaded up the truck, shortly before dark. Perhaps the hardest part of the day were the 3 or 4 dozen people at the end of the day who arrived late while we were packing up the truck, who wanted us to see them as well. Unfortunately, we had to say no to them, with the limits of daylight and exhaustion reached, but we did pray with some of them who were willing to receive prayer.
The best part of the day, were the dozens of people who said thank you as they left the tent, some with tears of gratitude; the 58 people who received Christ on the last day including the 57 people who received Christ on the first two days, and the dozens of people who were miraculously healed in the prayer tent. In addition, it was interesting how many Muslim people came to the medical camp, more than I had ever seen at any time in Eldoret. While some of them declined to be prayed for in the prayer tent, we still treated them medically, and I trust that our Christian witness was demonstrated by our actions in those cases. Nevertheless, about half of the Muslims who came to the medical camp gratefully received and appreciated our prayers for them as they went through the prayer tent.
On Sunday, we had a wonderful, relaxing day, as we slept in. However, it wasn't quite as relaxing for me as I was invited to preach that morning. I think the service went really well and my message was well received by everyone. It was a wonderful, sunny afternoon, as we, and the older children at the village, went on a hike down to the waterfall next to the village. We concluded the day with some wonderful dinner at the lodge as we prepared for another busy day on Monday.
As I post this blog on Monday night, we had another phenomenal day although not quite as busy as the medical camp days. We had a nice surpise this morning as two large, beautiful tucan birds (think of Tucan Sam), greeted us outside of our bedroom window this morning. We tried to get a photo but they flew off too soon. We got breakfast ready and then I went for a run, feeling like the pied piper as several children from Open Arms Academy followed me while I was running down the road.
Later in the morning we went to the Tumaini Drop-In Center. It was great to see the director of the center, after spending some time with him when we went with him to see the chief of police. After the drop in center, we had lunch at the Chinese Siam Restaurant (delicious!!) and said hi to Mr. Yu. The afternoon was phenomenal with 170 children allowing us to sing with them, perform a skit for them (I got to be Goliath with one of the kids on my shoulders), and at the end, 30 to 40 children received Christ. The team worked together so well as we did this presentation at the Remand Center (kind of like our Juvenile Hall). It was really good, but there was a conversation I had with two boys, one named Josie, and the other Paul, that really kind of haunts me, as they were begging me to get them out of the Remand Center.
It is getting late now, I am getting tired, and fading fast, but I hope to give you more interesting glimpses into our life here in my next posting.
Tuanane Kesho (See you tomorrow)
Matt and Cheryl Tallman
Thursday, July 26, 2012
We have already had several busy days on site at Open Arms Village. We have a team of 13 Westerners here, mostly from Oregon, but a few from Texas. We went to the feeding program on Tuesday, and we were amazed at how large and developed the program has become, feeding 150 children 4 days a week, and meeting with 40 mothers weekly for mentoring and training programs.
On Wednesday we set up for the medical camp on some school grounds in an area called Kipkaren. Kipkaren is a slum area between Open Arms Village and the city of Eldoret. I have visited this area many times when Cheryl and I lived here, but this was the very first medical camp we have done here. It was interesting looking at the area, realizing that there were no shambas (farms) in the community on which people could do subsistence farming. This meant that most, if not everyone living in this community was living in extreme poverty, most of them not able to find jobs, and most of them not able to provide adequate nutrition for their families since they didn't have any farms nearby. Although many people did have chickens and a few people had some pretty fat pigs which we almost ran over with our bus.
We had a great turnout at medical camp for the first day. We saw about 500 people, mostly students at the Kipkaren Elementary School (not Open Arms Academy). It was definitely a worthwhile and busy first day and a wild burst of rain at the very end of the camp flooded the pharmacy tent - no damage, but a wet mucky tent and tomorrow morning we get to move the tent about 10 feet further North so we are not dispensing drugs at Lake Med. The prayer tent also got quite a bit of rain and especially mud.
We also were able to give out anti-worming pills and toothbrushes to about 700 other students at the Kipkaren School. Something tells me tomorrow we will be swamped, and I'm not just referring to the rain.
On Wednesday we set up for the medical camp on some school grounds in an area called Kipkaren. Kipkaren is a slum area between Open Arms Village and the city of Eldoret. I have visited this area many times when Cheryl and I lived here, but this was the very first medical camp we have done here. It was interesting looking at the area, realizing that there were no shambas (farms) in the community on which people could do subsistence farming. This meant that most, if not everyone living in this community was living in extreme poverty, most of them not able to find jobs, and most of them not able to provide adequate nutrition for their families since they didn't have any farms nearby. Although many people did have chickens and a few people had some pretty fat pigs which we almost ran over with our bus.
We had a great turnout at medical camp for the first day. We saw about 500 people, mostly students at the Kipkaren Elementary School (not Open Arms Academy). It was definitely a worthwhile and busy first day and a wild burst of rain at the very end of the camp flooded the pharmacy tent - no damage, but a wet mucky tent and tomorrow morning we get to move the tent about 10 feet further North so we are not dispensing drugs at Lake Med. The prayer tent also got quite a bit of rain and especially mud.
We also were able to give out anti-worming pills and toothbrushes to about 700 other students at the Kipkaren School. Something tells me tomorrow we will be swamped, and I'm not just referring to the rain.
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