We Have a Place Prepared for You, Down on the Farm, the Open Arms Choir, and other Assorted Events in Eldoret

We have spent the last two weeks working at the office and spending time at the village helping to get things running with the school and the farm. Of course sometimes things don't always go as planned down on the farm. Last week we found out that one of the milking cows was not pregnant but just old (that's why she had stopped producing milk) and so she was sent off to the butcher. This week we were at the village playing with the children during a school break and one of the young calves broke her right front leg while playing with the other calf in the field. The verdict is still out if the young calf will wind up being veal, but we are hoping for a longer life for this little calf. In the mean time, one of the sheep broke its hind leg and so the village has been eating mutton for a few weeks. Such is life down on the farm.

The chickens are doing fine laying eggs, but we have also been raising broiler chickens, but they don't seem to be getting bigger so I guess we'll have to change the feed. At least the children at the village are getting fed plenty of eggs, lots of "ugale" for the maize we raised last year, and some milk (much more milk in the future due to two generous donors who are going to buy two milking cows for us). We honestly didn't think we would be quite this involved with farming when we got here, but it is all part of running a village.

Of course we can't have a decent blog without an obligatory photo of Baby Esther and Baby Belle having a little play time.

The school is doing well, but we had to have two interview sessions in the past two weeks to hire new teachers. We are still a young school, but we are starting to find our groove as teachers are helping the children learn and grow. It has been a learning experience getting the school started but we will have completed our first term of Open Arms Academy at the end of next week, and some of our children are already advancing one year ahead in school (some of them need to because they have lost so many years of school already, and others are bright and learning so quickly).

Sundays at the village have always been a joy spending time with the children and having church at the village. The Open Arms choir at the village keeps on growing, and we are definitely looking forward to a great celebration with the children and the staff on Easter Sunday. We have already had some funds donated for musical instruments at the village so some of the children are learning how to play an electric keyboard. Hopefully I'll be able to buy a guitar in town in the near future so that I can teach some of the children how to play the guitar. Soon we'll not only have an Open Arms Choir but also an Open Arms Band.

One of our first long-term guests at the village, Elliott Berry, will be going back home to England after a three month stay in one of the homes. He has been an excellent house-guest, helping on the farm, helping to teach the children English in the school, and spending a lot of time playing with the children during their free time. We have also been spending some time getting the guest rooms in each orphanage home furnished over the past few months so future guests won't have to live in quite the spartan manner that Elliott has grown accustomed to. In fact, we have put new beds, wardrobes, carpets, and curtains in the rooms in the past month. In addition, we hope to have a permanent electricity supply installed at the village sometime in the next two months, and internet service won't be too far after that.

We are also completing our visitor cottages in the next two months so larger teams from the US and the UK won't have to stay at a hotel in Eldoret, when they can stay at our village, just a short five minute drive from the airport. Fortunately, it looks like we'll hopefully be ready just in time for our summer teams in June, July, and August. The roofs are up on all three cottages; plastering is completed on all the walls in the first two homes; and tile work, plumbing, and electical installations will commence in the next week or two. Finally, we can say we have prepared a place for you when you come to visit us at our Open Arms Village.

Even better yet, when electricity and internet service our installed at the village, we can also move the Open Arms Office in Eldoret, and ourselves, to the Open Arms Village in Mlango. We are looking forward to that day. Maybe you can come out and visit us this summer, join one of the summer teams, or become another long term guest like Elliott Berry. We hope to see you soon.

Pie Day, Future Cheer Leaders, and other Kenyan News

Just saying hi again from beautiful Eldoret, Kenya. We have had a great week in Kenya with beautiful sunny weather, a high of about 78 degrees during the day, and a low of about 55 degrees at night. While the rest of you are adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, there is none here. Not really a need for one. The sun rises and sets at the same time every day of the year: about 6:30 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening.

This weekend was a great weekend for food and a little play time with the babies. Diana dressed up like a little cheerleader and a future cheerleader for Open Arms Academy. I will have to forgive whoever gave her the miniature Ohio State cheerleading outfit, but it did look cute on her.

On Saturday evening we were preparing dinner and quite by chance realized that everything we ate was a form of a pie. Cheryl and Renee made some Shepherd's pie, and Rachel and Renee made peach pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. In addition, Elliott ordered pizza pie since he is a 19 year old teenager who doesn't like much else other than pizza. The irony of eating all this pie is that I suddenly realized it was already "pi day" in Tokyo (get it - pi day - 3/14 - March 14). The student ministry I used to lead would always celebrate "pi day" by gathering together and making and eating as many different types of pie as possible. Here we are in Kenya once again, accidentally, celebrating that wonderful tradition.

On Sunday we had more leftover pie for breakfast, and leftover Shepherd's Pie for dinner, but in between we went to the village and celebrated our weekly worship service with the children at the village. The children at the village help lead the worship and also helped lead some skits during the service. Matt delivered his fourth sermon of the week at the village, a little higher than average. Matt also spoke at to the children at the village a week earlier, spoke to the Open Arms staff at the Open Arms office in Eldoret on Monday, and spoke to the construction workers at the Open Arms village on Wednesday.

Today seems to be a catch up day for everything we didn't get enough of this weekend. I think I'll go back to bed for awhile and sleep off some of the extra pie I ate this weekend, but not before I have another piece of peach pie!

Blessings,

Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Our time in Mozambique, and Back to Kenya

Sorry we have neglected our blog site for the past three weeks, but we promise to be more diligent in the future. Quite frankly, we were enjoying our time of rest and relaxation in Mozambique to be concerned about writing things down in a blog. While most of the United States was being blanketed with successive snow storms during much of February we spent February 16 to February 27 on a sunny, warm beach in Pemba, Mozambique getting a sun tan, and enjoying all the amenities of a beautiful view staying in a beautiful hotel. Sometimes it really pays off to be doing missionary work in Africa!

Just before we left for Pemba, we had one last Sunday at the Open Arms Village with the children. Rachel Gallagher came with her mom to the village and we got to hand out new school backpacks for the children that a generous donor provided. Two year old Beatrice helped lead worship on Sunday morning, and Matt gave a sermon on the story of Gideon in the Bible. We also viewed the farm at the village, and got to see the new broiler chicken project at the village with the addition of over 100 chickens who will provide many future chicken dinners for the children at the village.

After one of many busy weekends along with dozens of extremely busy weeks in Eldoret, we really needed the rest in Pemba. We got a great deal on a beautiful 5-Star resort in Pemba right on the beach. Just sitting by the pool all day was as relaxing as it appears in these photos. One day we went snorkeling, another day we went shopping in Pemba, one day we went sea kayaking, and one day we walked around old-town Pemba, but most of the time we spent time at the pool or taking long walks on the beach. (Don't you just want to join us in Africa right now). While snorkeling we saw all sorts of tropical fish, coral reefs, and dolphins. While sea kayaking, we mostly saw a lot of waves, as both of us capsized while trying to exit or enter the surf.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife in Pemba, mostly the largest snails we have ever seen, lots of crabs on the beach, and on one late night stroll along the beach, we saw dozens of eels trying to apparently spawn in the tidepools during a full moon. They splashed around quite a bit when we approached the tidepools, but it was quite a site. We also saw the largest baobab trees we have ever seen (they apparently grow quite well along the coast of Mozambique and Madagascar).

After 12 days in Mozambique, we were rested and relaxed and ready to go back to Kenya. We stayed two more days in Nairobi before we headed back to Eldoret. The last night we were in Nairobi, we went and watched a movie in a movie theater for the first time in six months (there are no movie theaters in Eldoret but Nairobi has several of the dozen or so movie theaters in East Africa). We decided to watch Avatar in a beautiful theather (unfortunately it wasn't in 3-D so we'll have to wait until we come back to the US to see it in 3-D), and after 3 hours of sensory overload in the theater (the special effects were amazing), Matt took Cheryl to the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi for some gastronomical overload. Cheryl had never been to the Carnivore before but it is one of the most famous restaurants in East Africa for good reason. After they sat us down at the table, they began to pile roast beef, 3 types of chicken, 3 types of sausage, ostrich meat, crocodile meat, 3 types of pork, and probably a few other types of meat on our plate, until we finally said enough (not a place for vegetarians).

We arrived back in Eldoret on March 1, and we have been busy since then catching up on overseeing the Open Arms staff, hiring a new teacher at the school, a new staff employee at the office, overseeing construction at the village, selling eggs from the village, and introducting ourselves to the new children at the village. Before we left for Mozambique, the Open Arms Village had just brought Mary to the village and they had just hired a new set of house parents, Paul and Sarah Maswai. Now they have accepted four more children to the village: Desmond, Naomi, Rhoda, and Caleb. The number of children at the village is now at 31, with 3 babies at the home/office in Eldoret. With the new set of house parents, and a new orphanage home just completed (the Amani Home, which means "peace" in Kiswahili), the Open Arms Village will continue to grow rapidly over the next few months.

Other changes that occurred while we were in Mozambique included the addition of some furniture for the new orphanage homes. Rachel Gallagher and Renee Scobel purchased some carpets for the children's bedrooms and also some carpets, sofas, and chairs for the living rooms. In addition, washing machines, dining room tables, and other assorted items are helping to convert the Orphanage Houses into homes.

We wish all of you the best and we miss you, but right now we don't miss the cold, rainy weather back in Portland, and even more snow in other parts of the country. Come out and visit us this Spring or Summer. It stays warm (but not too warm) and sunny here in Eldoret year round.

Have a blessed week.

Matt and Cheryl Tallman

Going on Vacation and Other Assorted News

We are preparing to leave Kenya for a forced vacation, courtesy of the Kenyan immigration office. Not that we aren't complaining, we are actually looking forward to a little rest and relaxation. However, we were supposed to leave Kenya on Friday, heading for Tanzania, but a funny thing happened as we were about ready to head out of town. We knew that after six months were done we would have to leave Kenya for about a week or two, but we didn't know that Kenya had just changed their immigration laws in January requiring us to leave East Africa for a week or two if we wanted to return to Kenya.

Matt had already spent a great deal of time planning a vacation in Tanzania spending some time at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and visiting some of the national parks to see some more scenery and wild animals. It is surprising how much harder it is to plan a vacation here since no travel search engines include the continent of Africa and no local travel agents cater to planning trips outside of Kenya. Nevertheless, Matt persevered to create the ideal itinerary only to be detoured after a brief visit to the local immigration office the day before we were planning to leave for Tanzania.

The detour has left us in Eldoret a few days longer, but rest assured we will leave Kenya before our visa expires. We were actually able to throw together another vacation at a beach on the coast of Mozambique. Nevertheless, we will be back in Kenya in two weeks with a new visa. Perhaps all this is for the best. We will probably enjoy a more relaxing vacation on a warm sunny beach and we won't run the risk of being eaten by lions in the Serengeti (Matt actually watched a movie a few years back where tourists ran out of fuel in the Serengeti and they consequently became a tasty meal for some local lions).

Speaking of tasty meals, Matt and Cheryl enjoyed a delicious Valentine's Day dinner today at Mamma Mia's Restaurant in Eldoret. It wasn't what Matt had quite envisioned, spending the evening looking into Cheryl's eyes at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but it was nevertheless a romantic evening in Eldoret.

Things are progressing well at the Open Arms Village this week. We will be bringing on a new set of house parents, Paul and Sarah Maswai tomorrow. As they move into Home #4, we will prepare to accept 20 more children over the next few months. We are already planning on accepting 4 or 5 new children at the village in the next week.

We are also doing well at the school. We are planning on hiring one more teacher in the next few weeks to help prepare for the influx of new children at the village. Of course the babies are doing well also. We have had a lot of fun with all three babies back in the house. You'll enjoy this video of Baby Esther using the Johnny Jump Up to do a little dance.

There will be a lack of hands to help with the babies when Matt and Cheryl depart for Mozambique on Tuesday. Rachel's mom Miriam will be leaving on the same day which only leaves Renee to assist Rachel with three babies while we are gone. Please keep Rachel and Renee in your prayers as they will be knee deep in dirty diapers, formula, and baby wipes while we are gone.

Babies, buildings, beautiful views, and bodily hair follicles

It seems that as the weeks progress, our perspectives, or at least what we think is important has been altered by Africa.

Take ear hair for instance. When I was a young boy I was always fascinated by the amount of ear hair that my 7th grade social studies teacher could collect in one ear, or the one single long strand of hair on my mother's chin that, no matter how long I would stare at her chin, my mother seemed oblivious to my fascination (actually she was purposefully ignoring me so she could avoid the fact that she was going through menopause).

However, no matter how long I may try to ignore the fact that I am getting older, the reality is that I am growing hair everywhere except the top of my head. About two months and a half months ago, my electric razor and my beard and mustache trimmer both gave up the ghost during the same week, probably due to the fact that they didn't convert very well to 240V electricity under the East African system. I tried to strain as much battery power out of each of these devices as I possibly could, but after a few weeks nothing happened. I finally resorted to shaving with foam and a hand razor which was fine for most of my face, but did nothing for my neatly trimmed beard.

I went around Eldoret shopping for electric razors and beard trimmers that would be suitable for my purposes, but all I found was a 1950s era razor that was good for giving the top of my head a buzz cut (one that I already had due to the natural erosion caused by aging and alopecia) but it did nothing for my goatee style beard or worse yet my nose hair and ear hair. After a period in time, I had more hair in my nose and my ears than I had on top of my head, and my goatee became noticeably straggly and bushy. The other American and UK staff here began teasing me recently about the amount of hair in my ears, and my dear sweet wife Cheryl even noticeably reduced the amount of times she would kiss me on any given day due to my straggly beard or possible the sight of ear hairs poking out of the side of my head (To the Kenyan staff and other people we have encountered in Kenyan culture, they seem amazed that we kiss our spouses in public. Any public display of affection between spouses here is shunned upon culturally, but when they look at us kissing, they think we are just crazy wazungus (white people), and they shake their heads). May I say on the record right now, that I am a crazy wazungu, crazy in love with my wife, and I would like to kiss her when I can, but when my bushy hair was getting in the way, it was time to get serious about this issue.

I called Rachel Gallagher, whom I knew was coming in a matter of weeks, and explained my predicament, she agreed to purchase a nice mustache and beard trimmer (with a nose and ear hair trimming attachment) at Costco, and she brought it with her. After she arrived this week, she eventually placed the trimmer in my hands, and after much more ribbing and teasing about the length of my nose and ear hair, I charged up the trimmer (with an adapter so that I wouldn't burn out the battery) and I proceeded to trim my goatee, my nose, my ears, and my entire face. I even went to the local barber in Eldoret, and got a haircut (if I haven't mentioned it already, I get the best haircut I have ever had in my life, and all for only about $4 US dollars).

Having said, all this, I might mention that not one Kenyan bothered to notice or tease me about my scruffy beard, my nose hair, or my ear hair. Perhaps it's because they are too polite to comment; perhpas it's because they just don't care. There are more important things to comment on or talk about on a blog than ear hair or scraggly beards.


Which brings me to the more important parts of this blog. This week has been less hectic in many ways with the arrival of Rachel Gallagher. She has been dearly missed with her organizational and leadership skills. Things have been progressing with the building of new orphanage homes, new visitor cottages, staff housing, and the school at the Open Arms Village in the past week. We are just weeks, if not days away from completing our next two orphanage homes, although one of them will be temporarily used as a central office for Open Arms. We are also making significant progress on our visitor cottages which should be ready in time for summer teams that are coming to the Open Arms Village in a few months.



The school is continuing to progress nicely now that all the facilities and teachers are in place. We still have to think about starting a library at the school, and eventually, as the village grows with new homes, we will need to hire more teachers, but things seem to be going well with the school as it adjusts and grows.

Mary, whom I blogged about last week, is doing well. She is playing with the children, smiling, laughing, and going to school in the nursery school. She is doing well, and she seems very energetic and well adjusted in spite of what she has gone through in her four young years.

Since Rachel has been back, our lives have also been full of babies. All three babies, Diana, Esther, and Belle are back in the house again, and we have had our hands full. It has been a fun experience, and with the arrival of Rachel's mom, Miriam, we have had even more hands to care for and feed babies.

We got to begin this week with another trip to Cario View to admire the view of the Rift Valley and relax. Diana got to play in her very first inflatable playhouse while we enjoyed the view. Today, we are relaxing again, but just enjoying the view of Eldoret from our house. The dogs are out front relaxing and actually asleep (they save their noisy howling for late at night when we are deep asleep). The neighbor is building a new fence (probably to keep our dogs from sneaking into his yard). Sounds of all different birds are echoing from the windows of our house. It is relaxing...think I'll go take a nap. Bye for now, until next week.

Matt and Cheryl Tallman