Clowns Without Borders - USA

March

Clowns Without Borders International
Logistics and Financing coordinated by Clowns Sans Frontieres, France

Volunteers:

Fany Desruol (French musician)
Anestis Chatzifotiadis (Greek Clown)
Kevin Brooking (American clown, living in Belgium, representing Clowns and Magicians Without Borders)
Moshe Cohen (American clown and representative of Clowns Without Borders USA)
Julien Cottereau (French clown)
Olivier Ouadah (French photographer)
Sébastien Bris (French logistician)

Five artists assisted by one photographer and one logistician composed the Clowns Without Borders team for the expedition. An interesting team with artists who present different skills, backgrounds and experiences. The show reflected this diversity and all the different audiences they encountered found laugher, dreams and magic.

Report

Following our first assessment in December 2005, a second expedition was set up in march 2006, in cooperation with I/LNGOs and the French Embassy based in Khartoum. After 21 years of conflict, a peace agreement and cease fire in the south, and in Darfour has allowed some hope of stabilization. A lot of people were displaced, or fled abroad as refugees, and are still living in camps managed by the UN or various NGOs.

From the 17th to the 28th of march 2006, a team of 5 American, German and French artists performed 10 times for 4500 children in Khartoum IDPs camps, and in Ed Duweim and Soufi (south of Khartoum).

Workshops and games took place with the children in Aza/EMDH, Plan and War child centers.
We would like to specially thank Children of the World – Human Rights, War Child, Plan International, Cheshire Home International, Aza, the French Embassy in Khartoum and the French Cultural Center in Khartoum .
We are also grateful to AFAA which financed transportation.

Assessment
During one week in December, we met potential partners and faced Sudanese administration.
If you are a NGO and you want to be active in Sudan, you need to be registered with the Humanitarian Aid Committee. This institution delivers visa and travel permits. You have to submit your visa application form with motivations to the HAC. After a unidentified period, the HAC will notify you if they will allow you to come in or not, with or without any justification.

Different NGOs were interested by our activities and wanted to work closer. We identified :
- EMDH (Children of the World – Human Rights) which is a French NGO working for 7 years in Sudan, they are based in Wau (south Sudan), in El Fasher ( north Darfur ) and Khartoum. EMDH is a children focused organization, especially concerning children’s rights and child protection.
- War Child-Holland which has projects in Malakal and Juba (south Sudan), Darfur and IDPs camps in Khartoum since 1998, enhancing the psychosocial development of vulnerable children using creative means. War Child’s goal is empowerment of children through arts and sports. War Child Holland’s team of Creative Development Workers (CDWs) is envolved in various activities with children, youth and caregivers. War Child’s target groups include IDP children, street children and orphans.- Plan International which has developed activities in Sudan since 1977. Currently Plan’s operation covers Kassala State (2 field offices), White Nile (3 field offices) and North Kordofan (1 field office). 4 program interventions are under implementations : food security and income development, primary health care and water sanitation, general education, communication and development education.
- Solidarité which is a French NGO working in Sudan for 2 years. Solidarité implements programs in IDPs camps in Darfour : food security, camp management, hygien, water and sanitation,.. Solidarité has started a new project in 2005 : access to water and sanitation in El Fath IDP camp in Khartoum.
- Cheshire Home International is a Sudanese organisation working with disabled children. It was established in 1974 and is registered in Sudan as a Non-Governmental Organization. More than 8000 children were taken care of up to now, most of them paralyzed due to poliomyelitis. Other main diagnoses made during clinics are cerebral palsy and neglected clubfeet. There are two main departments at Cheshire Home: in-patients and out-patients. 50 children can be lodged at the Home when recommended by their volunteer doctors. The following services are provided to their patients: Physiotherapy, surgery, speech therapy, hydrotherapy, orthopedic workshops, clinics, schooling, community based rehabilitation, social activities, etc.
- AZA which is a Sudanese women association. AZA main activities are women empowerment and providing support to children with special needs through different programs such as micro-credit, vocational trainings, psycho-support, advocacy, entertainment and games. AZA is active all around the country and in IDPs camps in Khartoum.
- Ethiopian School for refugees which is a small organisation managed by Ethiopian refugees for Ethiopian children refugees. They teach an Ethiopian educational program. The Sudanese government doesn’t want to support these activities.

Before coming, we prepared in collaboration with all of these organizations the planning and asking of authorisations. We faced one difficulty before departure : visas for American citizens, which we finally resolved through the Sudanese embassy in Brussels.

Itinerary
18th march 19th march 20th march 21st march 22nd march
- Morning :last rehearsal at Cheshire center
- Afternoon : show at Cheshire center
400 people especially disabled children - AM : show at Ethiopian refugees school
- PM: workshops with children
200 children - AM : show at AZA center in Djebel Aolia IDPs camp
- PM : workshops with children
300 children - AM : show at War Child center in Gabelurna IDPs camp
- PM : meeting with CWT
500 children - AM : trip to Ed Duweim
- PM : Show at Plan youth center at Ed Duweim
1500 people23rd march 24th march 25th march 26th march 27th march
- AM : trip to Soufi
- -PM : show at Soufi
600 people - AM : Off
- PM : Show at Cheshire office at Dar Es Salaam
300 people including disabled children - AM : trip to El Fath
- PM : Show at El Fath3 in front of AZA office
300 people - AM : trip to El Fath 2
- PM : show Solidarités office
300 people - AM : show at AZA center in Mayo camp
- PM : trip back to France
200 children

Workshops
In cooperation with our partners we organized 3 small workshops where children were divided into small groups. Each groups worked on a specific topic ;
- Fanny group’s : they sang and played rhythms,
- Anestis and Kevin group’s : they practiced acrobatics,
- Julien group’s : they mimed,
- Moshe group’s : they played Afro-American rhythms.
CWB artists also met the CDWs from War Child which is a specific team using arts and sports as support for psycho social assistance.
The meeting was too short. The Artists and the CDWs has wished to exchange experiences . We should seek to work closer with them on a future collaboration.

Perspectives
We have 2 administrative possibilities :
- Operate through our partners which mean if we want to work outside Khartoum , we will work with one specific NGO which will make it difficult to work with others.
- Open an office in Khartoum in order to request visas and travel permits. In this case, we will be more independant but we have to wait for HAC green line which could take lots of time.
During the expedition, we maintained and developed the network with our partners. They saw what we are able to bring in Sudan. They now know how we can colaborate.
We can focus on 5 sub regions :
- IDPs camps in Khartoum – EMDH, AZA, Cheshire, Solidarités, War Child;
- South and North Darfour, villages and IDPs camps (Nyala and El Fashir) – EMDH, AMI, MDM, ACF, ICRC;
- South Sudan (Malakal, Wau and Juba) – EMDH, War Child;
- East Sudan (ethiopian border, Kassala state) – Plan International;
- Central Sudan (North Kordofan and White Nile State) – Plan International.

Conclusion
We can conclude that our first international experience was interesting and we learned a lot. In Sudan, it was a success everybody enjoy the show and our project. Many I/L NGOs want to work closer with us.