FS: The Circus!
“A group of Australian volunteers is coming to teach us circus tricks,” Flat Sujata** bubbled excitedly.
This statement seemed ludicrous to her best friend Sami. “Circus tricks?” Sami spluttered. “What are you talking about?”
Sami had seen 15 people in a single auto-rickshaw once, but somehow she knew that wasn’t what her friend was talking about.
“Sounds dangerous!” Flat Sujata mused.
At dinner that evening, Flat Sujata and Sami met a lady. She told them her name was Meena.
Meena began to tell them an interesting fact.
“I was adopted from Mukti. In fact, my picture is in the main entryway,” she explained.
“I’ve seen those old pictures,” Flat Sujata stated.
“But I don’t remember seeing you in any of them,” Sami questioned.
“What were the odds that she was in one of those few old pictures? I asked her to show me.
“Well, why don’t I show you after dinner?” suggested Meena.
The three new friends gathered in the entryway to the Mission and Meena pointed to a photo of the Mukti nursery, where a group of boys and girls were gathered around a nursery attendant. “That’s me!” she said, pointing at her image in the group. “I always looked at the camera even when the others looked away,” she explained.
“Wow! And now here you are today!” Sami exclaimed.
“Yes,” Meena mused. “Many years later.” She chuckled. “I want to give back to the Mukti family that has given me so much.”
“Are you in the circus?” Flat Sujata inquired.
“Oh, No!” laughed Meena. “But I learned circus tricks and I’m going to teach some of the girls here at Mukti who will put on a show.”
“I’ll be there!” Sami promised.
“Me too,” echoed Flat Sujata.
The entire campus was abuzz with training for the circus. All girls were given opportunities to train, even the blind and special needs families.
Before the performance, girls in face paint ran around the campus. Later everyone discovered that they would wash off their face paint and come back to be painted differently – sometimes two or three times!
Everyone arranged themselves outside by the stage. “These teams have only had one or two practice sessions,” Meena explained. “I think you’ll like the results.”
“I can hardly wait,” Flat Sujata enthused.
The circus band consisted of mostly blind girls, who kept the percussion going during the acts. The special needs children marched quietly in their clown faces. Older special needs ladies swung flags with precision. Clowns traded hats and got the crowd laughing.
Teams of girls precariously balanced themselves in varieties of pyramids.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and no one fell or was hurt!
“That was so much fun!” Flat Sujata declared afterward.
I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Meena said. “Hopefully when you are older you can come back to Mukti and share some fun with the girls then too.”
*Names changed for privacy and security. Images representative.
**Flat Sujata is a little girl who, like Flat Stanley, is as thin as a piece of paper because she got flattened by a box of mangoes. Flat Sujata moved to Mukti Mission where she loves her new life and all the friends she has made. These stories will help you understand what life is like for children at the Mission – children about the same age as YOU! We hope that you enjoy these stories of Flat Sujata and her friends so that you can pray for them every day. *Note: These stories are inspired by real-life stories from Mukti Mission.