show me the show

So as promised, I will do my best to describe my experience at the “show”. Every year at the end of October the agricultural show comes to Kitale town. There is a show ground that is dedicated to the show, sort of like the fair grounds in Orange County. The show is probably the biggest thing that happens every year, and people come from all around Kenya to go. It is so big, that most schools give one day off during the week so that the students can go, and “learn”. In reality the show is just a place for a bunch of people to get together, eat some sweets, look at some things, and interact with other people.

For me, it sucks. Now I know that is being insensitive, and just rude, but hear me out. There is nothing worse for me then standing in the sun all day and looking at the best cows, corn and grass in town. The only redeeming part of the show is watching the kids enjoy it so much. Really I can’t see what the big deal is, but the fact that the children find so much joy out of walking around the show, is reason enough for me to spend three hours there, dying of thirst.

Every time that the show come to town, Oasis gathers all of their kids from the center, houses, and even students that they have enrolled at boarding school, so that they can spend a day at the show. There is really no way to tell you how exciting this is for a kid who has spent the last 5 years sleeping on the street, I don’t think anyone could understand it, unless they went through it.

So although the show is nothing to me, the idea of having a day free from focusing on the hardships, desperation and heartbreak that these kids lives involve, is worth the world.