Life in The Family International

It’s the one day of the year when all of Kampala comes out to party. Besides being the biggest joke of all, cuz everyone knows goats don’t really race. But this is Uganda.

The annual Goat Races are supposed to imitate horse races, where everyone shows up in their “My Fair Lady” best, coming to bet and booze-out. Hats are the order of the day, and at the Goat Races, they come in all kinds of creative styles, everyone trying to outdo each other, to snag first prize. There are prizes for Best Dressed Man, Best Dressed Woman, Best Dressed Child, and Best Hat. And of course, there are the winning goats. It’s a big fundraising/festival event and various corporate tents are spread through the resort. If you can get into the tents, there’s free food and alcohol for everyone. Party revelers, gate crashers, pick-pocketers, and families…everyone is here today. And I do mean everyone.

(Lots of pics!)

Each year, the organizers of the event hire us for face and body painting, ballooning and kiddy entertainment, so it usually means a full day of work in the hot sun before relaxing in whichever tent we can get into. This year, I felt daring enough to go in full body paint. Well, almost full. I went as a painted tiger. They said they wanted to list me as Best Unusually Dressed (my friends thought it should be “Best Undressed”) but there was no such category and no prizes for that. Aww…

But the day was fun, the beer was flowing, people were carefree and in a happy mood (of course). I spent four hours face-painting then went to enjoy the festival—Scaring my friends here and there, rooting for the goats, and always being followed around by the cameras and TV crew. I’ve never been so photographed in my life! Needless to say I’ve been in the papers almost every day of this week and haven’t heard the end of the text messages: “I wanted to call and tease you…”

Did I mention that when the start of the race is called, there’s actually a guy walking behind the goats, shoving them all with a bar in an attempt to get them to run? The goats are the most chilled-out things at the festival; they stop here to eat grass, and over there to gambol. And all the while, the crowd is screaming themselves up into a frenzy, as if.

Crazy, crazy Kampala.

Nyx is a vounteer Missionary Member of The Family International. Her missions have taken her through South East Asia, India, East Africa and South Africa. She currently runs charity projects for terminally-ill, indigent children in The Philippines and is also a child-education consultant, youth counsellor, freelance writer for TV, radio, magazines, a voice-talent, illustrator, artist, Events Host and Music Marketer. She is the eldest of 13 siblings, and a Taurean who enjoys spicy food, open-bar nights, long baths, photographing people, and throwing festive parties. Dislikes: Whiny women, bratty children, spoiled men. More about Nyx

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2005 at 10:10 am and is filed under Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.