Having worked for a few hours in my studio yesterday, I called Val to see if she was doing something interesting - she was headed out for a doll show in Grapevine and she let me tag along.
Let me just say this, if Barbie was an explosive device, we could have taken out most of Texas. I don't believe I've ever seen so many in one (large) room. There were other types of dolls there, of course, but the Barbies were pretty overwhelming in their presence! And I saw few signs of an economic downturn...those doll people were spending money!
The purpose of going to the show was to meet up with another Hitty and her person, Josie - I was able to talk them into a group photo and then the Hittys and I went off and had a private photo session.
There wasn't a huge amount of shopping available for the Hitty girls as most of the items weren't at a 1:10 scale, so after the doll show, we grabbed a quick lunch at JITB and went to Lancaster for a bookfest - Val was scheduled to introduce one of the writers and also wanted to attend his session. Before the last session started, I was able to meet this guy, who was having a great time with the children!
While Val was busy in her session, I attended the one with Beverly Parkhurst Moss who has written the book,
Dark Exodus: The Lost Girls of Sudan
...I was very interested in attending this after I realized it was non-fiction and not some genre book. Everyone is familiar with the 4000 'lost boys' the U.S. government helped bring over from Sudan, but almost no one has heard the stories of the 89 girls. There were so few girls and women because they were in the villages when the Arabs attacked and did not have the opportunity to escape (a lot of the boys were in the outlying areas with the herds and, therefore, had more time to escape when they saw the bombs and the fires).
Here is Beverly with Nyanwuor Deng, one of the lost girls who is managing to make a new life for herself here in the Metroplex, along with a small group of Sudanese.
Nyanwuor spent 5 years in a refugee camp before coming to the US, and while she appreciates the money contributed for their cause, what she mostly asks everyone for is prayers for peace in her country.
It's pretty sad how even Oprah was only interested in the story of the boys. Especially since that part of the world is still so unstable. The book is, basically, self-published - Beverly can't put it in the bookstores because they take 50-60% and proceeds from the book and bookmarks go toward helping the group establish and support themselves here - food, clothing, education, etc. - so if you are interested in helping, you can find the book at
http://www.lostgirlsdarkexodus.com/.
Tell other people about it. And if anyone knows Oprah, tell her too.
There wasn't a huge amount of shopping available for the Hitty girls as most of the items weren't at a 1:10 scale, so after the doll show, we grabbed a quick lunch at JITB and went to Lancaster for a bookfest - Val was scheduled to introduce one of the writers and also wanted to attend his session. Before the last session started, I was able to meet this guy, who was having a great time with the children!
While Val was busy in her session, I attended the one with Beverly Parkhurst Moss who has written the book, Dark Exodus: The Lost Girls of Sudan
...I was very interested in attending this after I realized it was non-fiction and not some genre book. Everyone is familiar with the 4000 'lost boys' the U.S. government helped bring over from Sudan, but almost no one has heard the stories of the 89 girls. There were so few girls and women because they were in the villages when the Arabs attacked and did not have the opportunity to escape (a lot of the boys were in the outlying areas with the herds and, therefore, had more time to escape when they saw the bombs and the fires).
Here is Beverly with Nyanwuor Deng, one of the lost girls who is managing to make a new life for herself here in the Metroplex, along with a small group of Sudanese.
Nyanwuor spent 5 years in a refugee camp before coming to the US, and while she appreciates the money contributed for their cause, what she mostly asks everyone for is prayers for peace in her country.
It's pretty sad how even Oprah was only interested in the story of the boys. Especially since that part of the world is still so unstable. The book is, basically, self-published - Beverly can't put it in the bookstores because they take 50-60% and proceeds from the book and bookmarks go toward helping the group establish and support themselves here - food, clothing, education, etc. - so if you are interested in helping, you can find the book at http://www.lostgirlsdarkexodus.com/.
Tell other people about it. And if anyone knows Oprah, tell her too.
