Fun at the showground...

On Friday, in the late afternoon, Caleb, Tim, Amanda, Kate, Daniel and I went to the showground. None of us had ever been there before so we thought we would check it out. Caleb and Tim met the rest of us in front of the showground and as we walked to the entry gate, we knew we were being talked about and definitely stared at. The white people, they’re going in to the showground. WHAT?!?!?

We got in and walked around, checking things out. It was pretty neat. There was a lot of agricultural stuff and a lot of vendors selling cool things. Then, Rhonda….there was a camel. I had told Amanda and Kate of mine and Rhonda’s FUN adventure on the camel once and so they had to do it. How many North Americans get to say that they’ve ridden a camel before so they had to try it? The guy originally wanted to charge them double but I told him that it was too much so he knocked it down.

Here were two white girls on top of a camel being taken around in section of all Kenyans. You could hear the people yelling “mzungu” (white person) and there was Kate and Amanda on top of the camel, waving to the people like Queen Elizabeth does in her parades.

After the camel ride, Amanda and I wanted to get our faces painted like the little kids did. So we found a guy who had face paint in his hand but he was too drunk and we thought he would destroy our faces so we passed on him. We found a guy who, again, wanted to charge us double then what the Kenyans paid (thanks to some of our street kids who found us and told us what the face painting rate was). So we went to walk away but the guy finally brought the price down. We still paid five shillings more than the kids did but oh well, it was all good.

Amanda and I drew a crowd of people. “Oh my gosh, these white people are getting their faces painted.” Yeah, they say “mzungu” A LOT. And it’s like they have this image of us white people being boring and bossy and rude. Yeah, I don’t fit that image and I think we proved it that day.

After the face painting, Amanda and I bought balloon hats and walked around with the balloon hats on our heads and our faces painted. We were the talk of the showground. Everywhere we went, we got the stares. I was even told that I looked “smart” with my balloon hat and face painted (smart here means looking good, pretty).

There was booth to go and see the shortest man in the world. It was ten shillings to go in this booth and see so we decided what the heck, let’s do it. Hahaha. It turns out it was a “mermaid” that was in this booth (shortest man was in another booth). The mermaid was a woman sitting in a cut-out bath basin with a box around her. So all you could see was from her collar bone up and she had one dots painted on her and her face painted. Yep, that’s it. Not even a fish tail to make it a little more mermaid life-like. As Jared would say, “Good times!”

Then music, fun dance music, came on. I so wanted to dance. If I saw little kids dancing, I would go over and dance with them, imitating what they were doing. Then we found this little “dance floor” of dirt that a few people were on and I just had to dance. So Caleb, Kate and I decided to go and dance (Amanda and Daniel decided they would take pictures and video of it). It didn’t last long. Within seconds, I had Kenyan men wanting to dance with me and really close to me. They didn’t even acknowledge that Caleb, a six foot two guy, was dancing right beside me, watching over me. Kate and I were surrounded so I pulled the plug on that, grabbed Kate and said it was time to move on. It’s amazing how quickly the word gets around that there are white girls dancing. What started with just a few people, ended up with too many people.

It started to get dark out so we decided to head home. It was a great day; a much needed day of fun, silliness and laughter. The show is over now, no more blaring disco music until 4:00 in the morning. Maybe I’ll go more often to the show next year. It was fun.

On another note, check out the Transformed International (TI) website (www.transformedinternational.org). We have some exciting news about the street girls program that TI is starting. God is totally awesome in providing for this program. This program is definitely something that is close to my heart; I love these street kids and especially the forgotten street girls. They need the love and attention.

When the Glue Boys documentary was being filmed, it was decided that it would be just on the boys because it was believed that North America, the world, wasn’t ready to hear what the street girls go through, the things they endure.

It’s going to be trying, this program; it’s going to be emotional and heartbreaking. I know it is. But to help even one street girl rehabilitate herself and to start fresh, it’s worth it. Every tear, every heart break is worth it. These girls deserve a shot; they deserve love; they deserve people who will believe in them and help them follow their dreams.

It’s exciting; so excited. So check out the website, keep updated on God’s work and what He’s doing.

Love you all,
Meredith
xoxoxo