VBS

Matt and Cheryl Tallman brought a group of students from George Fox University and Linfield College to the Open Arms village in Kenya during the month of May. The group provided Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the Remand Centre (juvenile detention facility), Kambi Teso slum in Eldoret, and Open Arms Academy (school at the OA Village). The African children were not familiar with VBS, but they really enjoyed the activities. 

The university/college group performed a skit depicting the story of David and Goliath as told through a pair of puppets. Children were recruited to be characters in the skit. They were provided with plastic capes, balloon helmets and swords, and paper shields for costumes. Goliath was created by putting a boy on Matt’s shoulders. It was reported that one of the OAA community children reproduced the play when he got home from school. He assigned characters to his family members and directed them in a reenactment of the story.

Other VBS activities included drawing and coloring crowns while they learned about Ruth. They dawned balloon crowns and played games as queens and kings. The Western game of Simon Says was transformed to The King/Queen Says.

group hug for Matt & Cheryl

The original plan was to only do the VBS for the preschool children at the Village. The class 1-3 children saw how much fun the “babies” were having in the morning session that they requested their own VBS. More balloons were pumped up and formed into helmets and swords during the lunch hour, and the group rallied to do another VBS session that afternoon.

I think some of the children went to bed with balloons 

on their heads that night.

Work Teams

There are always projects underway at the Open Arms village in Kenya as growth continues on a regular basis. Work projects range from landscaping to building construction. We are thankful for all of the work teams that come to the Village. They are always eager to roll up their sleeves, and do the dirty work. 

 The most recent work teams came from Oregon - New Hope Church (April) and George Fox University (May). 

One down (foreground) & starting on the second

Both teams were impressive with their demolition skills as they carefully took down some of the original mud houses to make room for a Medical Resource     Building. 

The floor leveling and frame post setting phase of construction on the new kitchen was interrupted momentarily by a tree falling into the work site. It narrowly missed one of the workers, but no one was injured and only one post was knocked out of alignment. Ted Whiteman fired up his chain saw. Once the fallen tree was removed, the post was reset and construction resumed.

The useable materials from the old buildings were salvaged to construct a new kitchen for Open Arms Academy (OAA). Our cooks are very happy with their more spacious kitchen and new location.

New kitchen

Another work team from Texas will build a covered eating area near the new kitchen in June. The “cafeteria” will be welcomed by the 208 children enrolled in the OAA primary school. It will provide shade during the dry season and a dry place for dining when it is wet.

Asante sana (Thank you very much) work team members!

Sports Day

The primary schools in Kenya hold sports competitions for boys and girls beginning in late January. The sport events include volleyball, netball, handball, and football (soccer). The children from Open Arms Academy (OAA) enjoy sports, and competing against other schools in the area, with hopes of progressing to the national competition in April.

This year, OAA had teams competing in all four sports for boys and girls. The process of advancement is different than what we are accustomed to in the USA. Instead of school teams advancing when they win at a certain level, players are chosen from the final two teams (in that day’s tournament) to compete at the next level. The focus is on individual athletes rather than teams. 

(photo by Ted Whiteman)

Open Arms Academy had five girls and one boy compete at the division level on Friday, March 21^st. The girls (Ruth, Phylis, Leonida, Maureen, and Rebecca) competed in football, and the boy (Danson) played netball. The teams they played on won their games that day. All six were selected to play at the next level on district teams.  

(photo by Karleigh Vroman)

As expected, the competition at the district level was more challenging for our young athletes. The district competition was held on Friday, March 28^th. All of our OAA students competed well. 

The five football girls were selected for the next level of competition! Their selection to the county team is the furthest any of our OAA student-athletes have ever advanced! They will play three games at the county competition, which will take place on Friday, April 4^th.

There are three more levels of competition for the primary schools– county, regional, national. With God’s help, our female OAA student-athletes will continue to advance in the competitions.

We are very proud of our OAA athletes!

Cecelia

I was invited to preach at Pastor John Maloba’s church. It was humbling to be a guest at Hopewell Baptist Church, which is basically a wooden shack attached to a stone building. The space was large enough for six rows of four plastic chairs. The children sat on a wooden bench along the exterior wall. Of course, they had a VERY LOUD sound system with one speaker directly in front of me and the other outside broadcasting to the surrounding area (common for churches in Africa). 

The children were lined up to greet me when I arrived. Two women put foil garlands around my neck, and the children sang a marching song as we proceeded into the building. There were two teachings before I preached. They had a small worship team (barely enough space for 4-5 people up front) that worked us into a sweat during the offering. Worship is aerobic in Africa! The service started at 11:00am and I preached at 12:20pm. My sermon theme was from Mark 10:46-51 “What do you want Me (Jesus) to do for you?” We ended with an invitation for prayer. Several came forward to receive pray for physical or emotional healing, job needs, etc. (Note: Some were healed instantly. Others gave testimonies of healing and victory the following Sunday.)

The women presented me with a gift at the end of the service. They wrapped a beautiful cloth around my waist as we sang a song together. Then we went outside where the congregation had formed a line for the pastor and me to pass by each person to shake their hand. Next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the circle of church members to pray a blessing over all of them. A group photo was taken before we ended our time together.

The pastor then informed me that we were going to his house for lunch. It was a delicious meal of rice, beef stew, and chapatti (flat bread)! The pastor and his wife asked me to pray for their family after the meal. They kneeled down on the dirt floor while I prayed for them.

One of the church members was not able to attend the service, because his mother was not well. He asked us to come to his house to pray for her. So off we went to make a “house call.” The woman, Cecelia, was sitting on a sofa and showed us her very swollen right leg, ankle, and foot. I asked to look at her x-ray, and they pulled out her medical file. She had been in great pain for three months with a blood clot in her leg. Of course, the medical bills had drained their finances and she was still not well or able to work. 

We started to pray, and God began to heal her leg. The swelling was visibly decreasing as we prayed, but we knew Jesus was at work when tears of joy started to run down her face and she exclaimed, “Asante Jesu! ” (Thank you Jesus!) over and over again. She knew Jesus was healing her, and the pain was leaving her leg. 

Pastor John called Cecilia the next day. She reported having a good night of sleep without pain. That was her first pain-free night in three months! 

Tuesday night I received a text message from Pastor John that read:

GOD is good. Cecelia is healed there is no more swelling. I wish you can come see the miracle of God. Total healing. I’m in the house with her now. She is very thankful.

I sent a prompt response:

Praise the Lord! Great report. Greet her for me.

When my phone rang shortly after sending that message, I knew who it was. Pastor John put Cecelia on the phone and we exclaimed “Bwana asafiwe! (Praise the Lord!)” simultaneously. She was VERY happy and thankful to God for healing her. 

Praise be to GOD for what He is doing among His people throughout the world!!!

Moving Day

The Open Arms village is located in Mlango, Kenya (about 30 minutes from Eldoret) on 52 acres. Within the village are several children’s homes with Kenyan parents, an assistant, and 20 children; a baby house for 15 infants; and a primary school - Open Arms Academy (OAA). Property has been purchased to build a permanent school about a mile from the village, but construction has been halted by governmental red-tape. Thus, we have been using various buildings at the village for classrooms.

There are several dilapidated mud-walled structures at the village that were on the property when it was purchased. Those buildings have served a variety of roles, including children’s homes for our first two families. Most recently, they have been utilized as classrooms for the younger aged children in OAA – preschool through class (grade) 3. 

The three preschool classes (ages 3-5) were moved into a temporary, tin-walled building several months ago. An identical structure was recently built for classes 1-3.

 

Thursday, March 13, 2014, was moving day for classes 1, 2, & 3. When I arrived at the mud buildings that afternoon to help move desks, I found all of the children sitting at their desks outside the buildings. They were waiting for a “surprise” that was highly anticipated. 

The older children recited a poem, which was photographed and video-taped by a multitude of mzungu (foreign visitors) before the processional across the village to the new classrooms. The parade was led by the head teacher (Lillian) and Open Arms president (Rachel

Gallagher) while the children sang a spirited song.

They were greeted by a gauntlet of older children who welcomed them to their new classrooms. Once they had all arrived at their destination, the head teacher requested Open Arms co-founders David and Rachel Gallagher to cut the ribbon. Cheers and applause filled the air as the severed ribbon fell to the ground. The keys to the three new classrooms were handed to the respective teachers. 

The teachers were nearly trampled by the awaiting children as they open the doors to the new classrooms. The children ran around the rooms, arms raised high, with screams of glee. Such exuberance reminded me of participants in a home makeover episode. Too bad we did not have a bus available to unveil the new building.